To the Editor:I read with great interest your extensive editorial about the College Counseling Office at Choate Rosemary Hall in your most recent on-line edition. As someone who served as Director of College Counseling at Choate for eleven years (1989-2000), I feel that I have a rather unique perspective on the office, the staffing, the stresses, the expectations, the results, and the emotions that surround the college admissions search and selection process.Like the counselors from Andover, Exeter, and Deerfield who were mentioned in your article, I also came to my position at Choate following quite a number of years on the college side of the desk, so did Ms. Burditt and Ms. Fernandez-Rojo who were also former college admissions officers. We all brought to our work a full understanding of what to look for when reading a transcript, an essay, a set of test scores, a resume, and a school profile. We had experienced first-hand the yearly admissions balancing act required to satisfy the competing needs of presidents, faculty, coaches, conductors, directors, alumni officers, and fund raisers. As college counselors we were then able to suggest the best ways for students to present themselves in their applications. Unfortunately, due to the meteoric rise in the number of highly qualified applicants to the “best” colleges and universities (a direct result of the annual college ranking issue of U.S. News and World Report) the ultra-selectivity that has ensued has led to a distortion of reality. Sadly, many students and families are swept up in the current that surrounds the college admissions process and fail to understand that most selective does not necessarily mean best. With the help of detailed records of past admissions decisions and the experience of each successive year’s admissions cycle, college counselors are able to gain a very strong sense of what it takes to be admitted to our nation’s most selective colleges and universities. But each of those schools is likely to have different institutional agendas, and those agendas can also change from year to year. Consequently, predicting ones acceptance to a specific school is far from automatic. That is why a college list must be a “balanced” one, containing reach, possible, and probable options based solely upon ones academic credentials vis a vis past admissions decisions. It is also why a student should research each of his or her schools carefully to determine its appropriate fit. I empathize with the disappointment that must have been felt by those who were not offered admission to their first-choice schools in the recent early decision rounds, but I have also seen many similar students go on to find even better options for themselves through the regular decision process. All students have the power to create more choices for themselves by applying to more schools in the possible and probable range than in buying multiple “lottery tickets” to reach schools.In the heat of the “battle” that has become the college search and selection process, perspective is often difficult to find. Since I left Choate, I’ve been proud to read in each new Choate Alumni Magazine stories about the impressive advanced degrees earned and the important career-related achievements of so many of my former counselees. My personal perspective allows me to believe strongly that those successes relate more to the educational foundation and love of learning that were fostered by the Choate experience than by the “name” of the undergraduate college or university attended. Choate Rosemary Hall is blessed to have a caring and dedicated faculty, fantastic facilities, diverse programs, and the ability to attract an impressive array of the finest students, athletes, artists, actors, musicians, and leaders from around the country and the world. I urge all Choate students to celebrate those qualities and successes rather than to accuse others when reality falls slightly short of a specific “dream” school. Choate’s College Counseling Office is strong and respected by college and university admissions officers across the nation. It will weather the anxious seas of its upcoming transition in leadership; it has done so in the past, and it will in do so in the future. I know that your college counselors welcome the chance to highlight your stories and to help you find great places where you can continue your education, but please remember that college is not a prize to be won, but simply a brief stop on the journey of a lifetime. I wish you all a safe and rewarding trip. Sincerely, Terry GiffenTerry Giffen P’97 P’98 is Director of College Counseling at Mongomery Bell Academy in Nashville, TN. He was Director of College Counseling at Choate from 1989 to 2000.