Guidance Counselor

JoeySwink

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Joined
Jan 14, 2016
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60
I spoke with my guidance counselor a while back about the ROTC and that something may be sent their way. Through the ROTC portal I had to put their information in, but I have not been back to talk to my counselor since. They did submit what was required though because it says complete. I was just wondering, what was it that they had to submit?
Was it a signed transcript?
Was it a sign off on all of my EC activities? If so, how do they know of everything we participated in for sure? I known they don't have files on all of these things at school. Thanks

BTW this was b4 the deadline
 
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I know for AFROTC the transcript is very detailed, it includes what one would call school profile. The GC will answer questions like the following for the school:
~ Grading system
~~ 7 point scale, 10 point scale
~~ Weight for std/honors/APs
~ Ranking system
~~ Uses wcgpa or just a cgpa
~ # of AP/Honors offered
~ % of students that take AP/Honors
~~ If pre-reqs are required to take AP/IB classes
~~~ IE you can't take AP Chem until you take Honors Chem, or you can't take any APs until the earliest your junior year.
~ % of students that attend Ivy vs 4 yr Private/Public vs 2 yr CC/Trade school vs straight into the workforce.

All of this gives them a look into how rigorous your school is according to their algorithm. IF you are on a 7 point scale, and have every AP offered, with a rank of top 15%, and 25% go to Ivy than your cgpa will be looked at differently than the candidate that has a higher cgpa since it is a 10 point scale (an 84 on 7 point is a C, 10 point is a solid B) and 0% go to Ivy with your rank being the same. The first says they do not hand out As like candy on Halloween.

The transcript will also provide (at least for my kids---2 different HS in 2 different states) your info:
~ CGPA, weighted and unweighted
~ Class rank
~ Your AP/IBs
~ Dates and scores of all SAT/ACT
~~ Caveat the HS only will have them on file if you had collegeboard send them to the HS when you registered for the exams
~ Team sports/ECs at the HS
~~ NHS selection year
~~ Clubs --- positions held
~~ Sports---verification of JV/Varsity

They will not be able to verify anything outside of the HS aspect via the GC. IE you did a travel team for a sport(soccer) instead of HS soccer.

Hope that helps, but remember that is what I know from the AFROTC/SA aspect. A/NROTC may do it differently.

FWIW, I found this all out because I was nosy for my 1st child and asked for an additional sealed transcript. What I saw was the personal info for my DS and than asked the GC about the process. She than said that they as GCs when it comes to many colleges or scholarships are asked to submit more information which is the school profile.
~ If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense that they want to see the school profile.
~~ My earlier example touched upon this aspect. Here it is a little deeper. If you ask 100 candidates if their school is competitive, the majority will say they attend a competitive HS. There are over 2K HSs in the nation.

Now take 2 candidates just on this site from the chance me threads and see how quickly your opinion may change.
~ Candidate Smith's stats:
3.65 cgpa, 4.07 wcgpa
~~ 7 point scale, and 4.5 for APs, std and honors are 4.0 weight. You do not know it is a 7pt scale and weighting aspect for APs
17% class rank
~~ 25% go Ivy, 60% go 4 yr, 15% CC, 0% work force. Again you do not know this info
1360 SAT
~~ Median is 1320

~Candidate Jones
3.78 cgpa, 4.37 wcgpa
~~ 10 point scale, 4.5 honors, 5.0 AP. Same as above, this is blind to you as a poster here from a chance me/
10% class rank
~~ 5% go Ivy, 45% go 4 yr, 25% go CC 25% work force. Again...blind.
1360 SAT
~~ Median is 1250...blind.

Both candidates have sports and ECs.

At 1st glance when you read Candidate Jones stats, it looks like they have the edge on paper, but once you look deeper, you realize that Smith has the edge because the school's profile is more competitive than Jones's school. A lower ranking seems bad, but if 25% go Ivy, than they are better than Jones where 5% go and they are not at the Ivy level like Smith.

This is why many of us will never say yes or no when it comes to chancing if a posters posts their stats. We understand that what the official transcript can be a game changer.
 
Yes very true my sons high school was ranked
#1 in State last year with huge kids going to Ivy or top colleges or State schools honors. Think SA know competitiveness of certain schools & districts:)
 
I agree with @Blessedmom The kids from my boarding school who have gotten into SA's in the past few years have generally NOT been at the very top. School does not give exact ranks, but looking at the GPA percentile distribution, most of those who received appointments to USAFA,USNA,and USMA(cant speak for ROTC), have had GPA's that put them around the 45-55% of the graduating class, and SAT's of about 1950(avg SAT for school is a 2150, ACT 33), whereas at most smaller public schools, you would likely need to be top 10%. Just for comparison, my school sends about 35% to IVY/MIT/Stanford, with another 30% or so going to schools ranked in the top 25 in the nation, and 99% going to 4 yr institutions(the 1% are taking a gap year before college) . It's also almost impossible to take AP's until junior year because of the core curriculum, and the school specifically chooses not to designate AP level courses as AP, for the exact purpose of stopping admissions boards at any college from comparing our students with those who go to schools that offer 15 AP courses. Around 90% of seniors are taking or taken AP Calculus. Less than 1% of the student achieve a perfect 4.0 GPA(we use a different numbered scale though) To get back to the essential point of all of this, SA/ROTC admission boards receive all of this information, because simply comparing GPA/rank/basic course rigor is far too subjective and narrow.
 
Last edited:
I know for AFROTC the transcript is very detailed, it includes what one would call school profile. The GC will answer questions like the following for the school:
~ Grading system
~~ 7 point scale, 10 point scale
~~ Weight for std/honors/APs
~ Ranking system
~~ Uses wcgpa or just a cgpa
~ # of AP/Honors offered
~ % of students that take AP/Honors
~~ If pre-reqs are required to take AP/IB classes
~~~ IE you can't take AP Chem until you take Honors Chem, or you can't take any APs until the earliest your junior year.
~ % of students that attend Ivy vs 4 yr Private/Public vs 2 yr CC/Trade school vs straight into the workforce.

All of this gives them a look into how rigorous your school is according to their algorithm. IF you are on a 7 point scale, and have every AP offered, with a rank of top 15%, and 25% go to Ivy than your cgpa will be looked at differently than the candidate that has a higher cgpa since it is a 10 point scale (an 84 on 7 point is a C, 10 point is a solid B) and 0% go to Ivy with your rank being the same. The first says they do not hand out As like candy on Halloween.

The transcript will also provide (at least for my kids---2 different HS in 2 different states) your info:
~ CGPA, weighted and unweighted
~ Class rank
~ Your AP/IBs
~ Dates and scores of all SAT/ACT
~~ Caveat the HS only will have them on file if you had collegeboard send them to the HS when you registered for the exams
~ Team sports/ECs at the HS
~~ NHS selection year
~~ Clubs --- positions held
~~ Sports---verification of JV/Varsity

They will not be able to verify anything outside of the HS aspect via the GC. IE you did a travel team for a sport(soccer) instead of HS soccer.

Hope that helps, but remember that is what I know from the AFROTC/SA aspect. A/NROTC may do it differently.

FWIW, I found this all out because I was nosy for my 1st child and asked for an additional sealed transcript. What I saw was the personal info for my DS and than asked the GC about the process. She than said that they as GCs when it comes to many colleges or scholarships are asked to submit more information which is the school profile.
~ If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense that they want to see the school profile.
~~ My earlier example touched upon this aspect. Here it is a little deeper. If you ask 100 candidates if their school is competitive, the majority will say they attend a competitive HS. There are over 2K HSs in the nation.

Now take 2 candidates just on this site from the chance me threads and see how quickly your opinion may change.
~ Candidate Smith's stats:
3.65 cgpa, 4.07 wcgpa
~~ 7 point scale, and 4.5 for APs, std and honors are 4.0 weight. You do not know it is a 7pt scale and weighting aspect for APs
17% class rank
~~ 25% go Ivy, 60% go 4 yr, 15% CC, 0% work force. Again you do not know this info
1360 SAT
~~ Median is 1320

~Candidate Jones
3.78 cgpa, 4.37 wcgpa
~~ 10 point scale, 4.5 honors, 5.0 AP. Same as above, this is blind to you as a poster here from a chance me/
10% class rank
~~ 5% go Ivy, 45% go 4 yr, 25% go CC 25% work force. Again...blind.
1360 SAT
~~ Median is 1250...blind.

Both candidates have sports and ECs.

At 1st glance when you read Candidate Jones stats, it looks like they have the edge on paper, but once you look deeper, you realize that Smith has the edge because the school's profile is more competitive than Jones's school. A lower ranking seems bad, but if 25% go Ivy, than they are better than Jones where 5% go and they are not at the Ivy level like Smith.

This is why many of us will never say yes or no when it comes to chancing if a posters posts their stats. We understand that what the official transcript can be a game changer.

Thanks
I agree with @Blessedmom The kids from my boarding school who have gotten into SA's in the past few years have generally NOT been at the very top. School does not give exact ranks, but looking at the GPA percentile distribution, most of those who received appointments to USAFA,USNA,and USMA(cant speak for ROTC), have had GPA's that put them around the 45-55% of the graduating class, and SAT's of about 1950(avg SAT for school is a 2150, ACT 33), whereas at most smaller public schools, you would likely need to be top 10%. Just for comparison, my school sends about 35% to IVY/MIT/Stanford, with another 30% or so going to schools ranked in the top 25 in the nation, and 99% going to 4 yr institutions(the 1% are taking a gap year before college) . It's also almost impossible to take AP's until junior year because of the core curriculum, and the school specifically chooses not to designate AP level courses as AP, for the exact purpose of stopping admissions boards at any college from comparing our students with those who go to schools that offer 15 AP courses. Around 90% of seniors are taking or taken AP Calculus. Less than 1% of the student achieve a perfect 4.0 GPA(we use a different numbered scale though) To get back to the essential point of all of this, SA/ROTC admission boards receive all of this information, because simply comparing GPA/rank/basic course rigor is far too subjective and narrow.


Thanks everyone for the reply and the description. It really helped me understand the roll of the guidance counselor in everything. I belong to a public school with a competitive class and I am too 15 % thanks
 
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