When doing college admissions, what would be a more reliable source, guidance counselor or internet people?

[_Barret_]

Okay so my nephew is having an issue. His SAT score is very high but his GPA is mediocre, his guidance counselor is telling him to apply to at least one reach school like Stanford or Yale but the people on sites like college confidential are telling him not to waste his time.

Also I have found that the information on college confidential contradicts the information most guidance counselors, college admissions officers and others give out.

Is college confidential really that reliable of a site?
funny thing, I actually found this question

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080714034819AAGiGtL

[Steve]

Your nephew should still apply to those schools. It all depends on the interview. Just make sure he boasts up his high school resume with voulnteer work, extracurriculars and great recomendation letters! He did well on his SAT, so that will help his low gpa out a little bit.

[Carolin]

While the internet provides us with much useful information, it also offers a lot of guesses and opinions.

Have your nephew apply to at least one school he thinks he won't get into; it can't hurt. The only thing you have to lose is the application fee. College admissions aren't based solely off GPA; in fact, SATs, volunteer work and extracurriculars, as well as a successful interview, also put him on the map.

You never know exactly what colleges are looking for so he may as well trust his guidance counselor and apply to a reach school!

[rodgersalzer]

Please don’t depending on the internet peoples and carrier guidance forum. You would better to attend carrier guidance seminar or guidance counselor. They give deep and reliable information about your carrier and collage.

[devena]

Its better to take an advice from good counselor about your college admission

[Ryker]

If you want some free guidance regarding this issue,
you can visit http://www.ivyresearch.com/
Hope this helps!

[Denverdude]

They key is to balance the opinions of current students and other applicants with the "official" information provided by the colleges themselves. There are a few sites that offer both types of information. I recommend CampuScene, personally.

[alarey92]

A reach school is a good thing to have, even if they are more work there is always the off chance you do get in which is great. I'd definitely agree with using internet sources rather than the guidance counselor though, you can find information directly from students that isn't filtered down by the administration so you can know exactly how student view their school. I've found that a good site for this is CollegEnquirer | Learn About College which also has college planning information as well.