Hello and happy Sunday! I am a bit confused about the requirement for a “Counselor Recommendation.” What is that about? My daughter is a Junior and has not applied anywhere yet - but I see that listed on many college websites. The issue is - she doesn’t know her “counselor” well at all. She attends a large public high school. She has very little interaction with that person - almost none. I don’t get what a Counselor would possibly say, given those circumstances? I understand the requirement for a Teacher Recommendation. Should she start inventing reasons to visit that individual? The role of a counselor at a large public high school seems quite different than at a small private high school. At daughter’s school, they are seriously overworked and very busy.
The counselor will likely ask your student to fill out a form that helps her to write the rec. It’s typically a more general rec than you’d get from a teacher who knows your child well. They may also ask for a couple of shorter recs from teachers to help them write it as well. Don’t stress about it and don’t have your child start inventing reasons to take up the counselor’s time.
Not unique by any means.
No.
AOs know that it is more challenging to get a very personalized LoR is a large public school and willnot hold it against the applicant.Here is an exampleof what MIT says:
https://mitadmissions.org/apply/parents-educators/writingrecs/
As @collegemom9 said above, your child will likely be asked to complete a form with information for the counselor - everything from where are you thinking of applying to tell me about your ECs.
My daughter is at a public school with 500 students in the graduating class - and is on her third counselor due to changes within their office (don’t get me started). Most of the students go to either the local community college or the state flagship which doesn’t accept any teacher or counselor letters of recommendation. I would say less than 40 apply to T20 and even fewer ED (only two were accepted ED anywhere) so we were concerned that the counselor was unfamiliar with the whole process but she stayed on top of things - with some prompting from our daughter. (Daughter was accepted ED at Rice.)
Daughter filled out a long (six pages?) form requesting lots of information at the beginning of senior year. She kind of balked at doing so but realized the value - both in providing info to the counselor and in just thinking through various answers. The seniors then spend a short amount of time reviewing this with their counselor. Yes they are overworked and are responsible for too many students but most seniors are in the same boat.
In general, throughout this process, you and your student have to advocate for yourselves!
Thank you. This is good information and I appreciate the help you all provide. As I stated, I was confused by this aspect of the applications, and daughter is now quite concerned. She is a quiet (very introverted) individual, and not inclined to seek out the counselor for any reason.
Many GCs also ask parents to complete a ‘brag sheet’, as well as asking the students to answer some questions. It is not uncommon for counselors to pull sentences verbatim from these answers, so you should be detailed and thoughtful in your responses.
IMO for your student to build good relationships with the two teachers (likely current junior year teachers) who will write her recs it sounds like she may need to get out of her comfort zone. The better the teachers know your daughter, the stronger the recs will be. Good luck.
I second the information you’ve received thus far. The GC recommendation generally is designed to help place the student’s achievements into the context of the high school. The GC can comment on the extent to which the student’s academic schedule is rigorous or not compared to peers at that school. A GC can also comment on aspects the record that would be best understood by having an insider’s perspective (“Student earned a “b” in a class where the professor only assigns scores of B or below” or “Teacher X, who has high standards and teaches only accelerated math students, commented that student was the top of the class”).
Just to add to the above, at a few college information sessions we attended they actually said that know for large schools it’s difficult for the counselors to know all the students well, and they place less emphasis on those recs. The teacher recommendation/s will be key. Remember the colleges will get a school profile with the application to help judge the application in the context of the school.
@SJ2727
Does it matter which Teacher? For example, is a recommendation preferred from AP English teacher, versus an “Elective” class teacher? Thanks.
It should be a teacher who knows your child well enough to point out their strengths and attributes, etc. It doesn’t have to be a class the child did well in - colleges also value the “struggled but was really determined to overcome obstacles” type of rec.
The college’s admissions site may give guidelines. In general, a teacher from a core subject (English, math, science, history/social science/foreign language) is preferred (or required). Some colleges request that the teacher be from 11th or 12th grade. Where 2 recs are required, the college may specify 2 from different subject areas or (infrequently) one STEM and one humanities. There is generally no preference for the AP Lit teacher vs. the English 11 H teacher, or the AP Calc teacher vs the precalc H teacher.
That said, the “popular” teachers book up fast, and some teachers may cap how many recs they do. So ask sooner rather than later. In some cases, teachers will write recs over the summer; others won’t start until school restarts for the Fall. As with the GC, it will be helpful to prepare a brag sheet for the teacher.
^ skieurope, interesting comment. We were guided by the college info sessions we attended. None of them mentioned anything about subject area of teachers, though junior year was indeed recommended (recs usually done too early for senior year teachers). They did mention to use teachers who know you well, and to warn kids that the teacher whose class you do best in is not necessarily the right one for a rec. My D had only one rec, from a junior year elective teacher, and got admitted to a fairly competitive college.
A great starting point, particularly for those colleges. But just know that some colleges have theire own nuances on things (like how to report/send SAT/ACT scores as another example). So your son should really verify everything once he nails a college list down.
Also a valid comment.
Generally, HS’s have a “college night” where they explain to parents how the collegep process works. Look on your HS website to see if they have one scheduled yet. Our HS shows the presentation from last year on the guidance webpage.
Our GC asks for a student and parent “brag sheet” where you basically tell them the info they need to know to write a recommendation:
- Which major do you intend to pursue in college?
- Please describe your career goals.
- List 5 adjectives that best describe you?
- What are your proudest accomplishments? Academic? Personal?
- What extra-curricular activities have been most meaningful to you? Why?
- What jobs have you held during high school? Has any one job been especially meaningful to you? Why?
- Are there any circumstances in your life that might have had a negative impact on your academic performances?
- Are there any factors about admission test scores that you would like us to address?
- Are there any other factors that you would like us to share with colleges?