FOCUS: Public vs. Private

Catherine Rosato chose to attend the University one year ago after weeks of counseling and advice from her college guidance counselors. Throughout her senior year, College sophomore Rosato met regularly with her counselor, who helped her decide what sort of schools she wanted to attend, how to apply to them and, finally, where to matriculate. Rosato, like other University students from prestigious private high schools, was lucky to get the sort of counseling which helped her choose the right college. She was fortunate to attend a small high school where she received individualized attention and help in getting into college. Eve Greenspan was not so lucky. Her path from a local public high school to the University was not filled with good advice or encouragement from guidance counselors. In fact, the College sophomore met with her advisor only twice during the year and was told she probably would not get into the University at all. Like Greenspan, many University students and high school guidance counselors think a private school education -- and all that goes with it -- gives some University applicants a distinct advantage over applicants from public schools. · Rosato's counseling at Episcopal Academy in Merion, Pa., began with several meetings with her college counselor to determine what sort of university she was looking for. Her counselor was able to suggest some "safety schools" -- where she should definitely be admitted, some where she might have a chance of being admitted, and "reach schools" where it would be difficult for her to be admitted. Her counselor then set up a meeting with Rosato's parents where they discussed her future plans. Rosato said her guidance counselor was available to help her and other students with their essays and applications. "He went over what was a good essay and a bad essay and [also gave interview tips]," Rosato said this week. "Once I got in [my counselor] helped me decide where I wanted to go," she added. Episcopal is a suburban Philadelphia prep school, where one part-time and two full-time counselors help only about 100 students get into college each year. Anne Love Hall, guidance director at Episcopal, said the individualized attention goes a long way to finding students the right university, and then to getting accepted. "We have the time and the resources to help [students] find their own way," Hall said, adding that she is just a part of the support system that is available to each student at Episcopal. And Doris Evans, guidance chairperson for Bartram High School, a public school in Philadelphia, said that "the advantage [of private schools] comes in the ratio of counselors to students." Many students from Episcopal are accepted to the University every year, Rosato said. She said that 18 of the 82 students in her graduating class were accepted to the University. "There is a good relationship with my school and Penn," she said. · But this was not the case in Greenspan's high school, where her counselor discouraged her from applying to the University and other Ivy League schools. "I was told by my counselor that it would be very 'doubtful' that I would get into Penn," Greenspan said. "She mostly geared people for state-funded schools." Greenspan, who attended Philadelphia High School for Girls, said there were about 275 graduating students, out of which four students were accepted to the University. She added that there was only one college counselor available to help the students apply to colleges. Greenspan said that during the college advising period, she had to go out of her way to meet and talk to her counselor. She also said that another counselor, who she did not know, met with her for less than 10 minutes and then wrote a recommendation for her. Greenspan said she only attended the short meeting because the high school administration required the counselor to meet with all the graduating students who were applying to college. Greenspan said that her regular counselor was not helpful either, and other students in high school had to work hard to extract information from her. Greenspan said she was forced to go to other sources to obtain information about the University and other college-related requirements. She said that current University students and other students interested in applying to Ivy League schools helped her a great deal. "I really needed someone who would have encouraged me more," she said, adding that it was especially difficult to apply to an Ivy League school when her counselor had little faith in her. Furthermore, Greenspan said, her counselor did not even check to see if she was accepted anywhere. Bartram High School at 67th Street and Elmwood Avenue in West Philadelphia, is a public high school with about 3000 students, and around six guidance counselors. Bartram Guidance Chairperson Evans said that the counselors at her school do their best but do not know the students as well as they would like to because there are just too many students for each counselor to get to know. "We put out the same effort [as private school counselors]," Evans said. "But we have to spread that effort out to more students." Evans said that in order to make counselors visible to students at Bartram, they play messages from the advisors on cable televisions in classrooms. Masterman High School, which is considered a "magnet school" to the University, is another public school in Philadephia, but is "close to a private school in a public school system," said Dori Calhoun, department chairperson for counseling at Masterman. The school has around 1000 students and only two counselors available to help the seniors apply to colleges. The ratio of counselors to students is the same as Bartram, although Bartram has many more students. "It's a travesty to limit us to two counselors," Calhoun said, adding that it makes it very difficult to do the kind of job that is desired. Engineering sophomore David Lafave attended a public high school and said he thinks his counselors were there just to make money, rather than to teach and help the students as they would have been at private schools. Lafave said that he was very fortunate because he was in an honor's program in his high school and therefore received special treatment and attention, whereas the students not in the program were overlooked. · University Admissions Dean Willis Stetson said this semester that recruiting tactics are the same for public schools and private schools. The Admissions Office begins its recruitment process by making contact with the schools the University is interested in visiting in the fall, said Sue Hess, an assistant to Stetson. During the recruiting period, admissions officers visit about four schools around the country each day. They talk to guidance counselors and any interested students, Hess said, and "disseminate as much information about Penn as possible." "When we get into a school we typically see a counselor and the students," said Janet Kobosky, regional director of Philadelphia admissions. She added that admissions officers usually see a group of interested students, varying in size, and that the discussion time usually depends on the time that the counselors have. In this year's freshman class, 34 percent of the students are from private schools, 61 percent are from public schools and five percent are from parochial schools. Last year's percentages are similar to this year's, and over the last few years, there has been a strong and steady flow of private school students into the undergraduate student body. "There is no automatic admission from a private school to Penn," Stetson said. "You have to earn your way in from any school." Stetson said high school counselors and admissions officers do not formally meet, but do "discuss applications" and "elicit feedback from them." At Bartram, Evans said, few Ivy League universities actually send admissions officers to try to recruit students. Interested schools are primarily state schools, she said. When different colleges and universities contact Bartram High School, the admissions officers from these schools meet with the counselors at a luncheon or a reception, Evans said. She also said that the admissions officers simply make a presentation to the students, meet casually with the counselors and have a very general discussion. They talk but do not discuss individual students, she said, adding that there are no formal meetings, and "the conversation is just general." And at Masterman, while representatives from almost all the Ivy League universities come to recruit students, they "don't routinely discuss each and every student," Calhoun said. She added that if additional information about a student is needed, the high school tries to meet these needs. But at Episcopal, admissions officers come from all the Ivies, and do actually have formal discussions with counselors to discuss particular students, Hall said. She said counselors have the opportunity to make a recommendation which reflects the "perspective of the faculty and all who have come into contact with the student." Kobosky said last week that the counselors and admissions officers do not "sit down and evaluate students." She said that the counselors may present information about a very interested student and then the Admissions Office would provide feedback. · Several University students said last month that they think the prestigious reputation of their high schools helped them gain admission to the University because of a special network between private schools and the Ivy League. The students -- some of whom attended Exeter Academy, Choate Rosemary Hall and Andover Academy -- said they think the University heavily recruits from the private schools, partly because that is where many of the top students in the country can be found, and partly because the counselors are better able to help students gain admission. "It's the prestige of the school that helped me get in," said College sophomore and Exeter graduate, RoseAnn Cho. "Exeter definitely helps one prepare for an Ivy League school. But there definitely is some networking involved." Episcopal's Hall said last month that the reputation of a school can help because universities look at the performance of students from particular schools, and then are guaranteed a certain level of performance from these students in college. University Admissions officials, however, said the reputation of an applicant's high school plays a very small part in the admissions process. Dean Stetson and many of his assistants insist that there is no bias in where a prospective student attends high school and that, in fact, the University does more recruiting from public schools than from private ones. "In my opinion, the name [of a school] really does not mean that you will get in," Kobosky said.

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