<p>When my kids were in 9th grade, I decided to take the bull by the horns and meet with the GC, without them. (This is in your typical public high school, where the GC’s are also doing work for students who have had deaths in the family, or addictions, or truancy, or homelessness, or whatever, and really aren’t going to know the kids unless the issue is forced somehow.) Honestly, I regret doing so. I think it gave me a rep as pushy parent (even though I backed off) and it undermined my kids. Of course, the joke was on me when the GC became pregnant and left on maternity leave and a brand new one came in just as my kids were gearing up to apply to colleges. Serves me right!</p>
<p>This is one of the biggest holes in the admission process, IMO. Adcoms KNOW that at the vast majority of public schools, GC’s can’t possibly know their students, and so they write boilerplate, fill-in-the-blank recs that Suzy/Mary/Johnny is a really good student of history/English/math and therefore College A/College B/ College C should be happy to have them. Why they engage in this charade, I don’t know. It just seems that it confirms “status” of one’s school, which is info they already have. </p>