I have heard the same thing – none of my daughters’ friends want to attend Harvard (at least it is not their first choice). They say it is a great place to be from, but not a great place to actually go. Who knows if that is true, but around here Yale is far more popular this year than Princeton or Harvard.
Our GC requires students sign a waiver to not see their recommendation or they just send a form letter type letter. I suppose to prevent kids from comparing and realizing the rec they got was not the best one written. I’m glad you got clarification from the counselor and hope your daughter has many wonderful choices.
How would they possibly get their hands on the recommendation even if they didn’t sign a waiver?
My older son’s GC showed my son what she had written. (She liked him a lot because he understood her computers better than she did and was always willing to help her when she got stuck.) Younger son had one teacher show him the letter (which is one I worried about because it was from his Math teacher. He loved the teacher, but he got a B+ in the course. It turned out to be a fabulous letter, a B+ kid couldn’t have asked for a better one. My kid knew what he was doing.)
One of the schools my D applied to was not on the Common App and required recommendations be emailed by the teacher. For that one, the teacher cc’d my D so she was able to see it.
@brantly FERPA gives parents and/or kids over 18 access to their educational records.
FERPA does, but recommendations are separately signed for as confidential most of the time. Student agrees to not ask to view them.
OP, Did your daughter apply early anywhere?
From Ravenscroft, by any chance?