UT Dallas has a very strong CS program - especially if they want to work in Dallas.
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Junior, applying for fall 2026. Itās exactly to learn skills and get engaged - and also to see what both studio life and dorm life are like. To hopefully be a little more sure before they apply too - given that the arch pathways donāt have an awful amount of transferable credit to other majors if they end up hating it.
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D26 feeling very frustrated with her college counselor and getting teacher recs. S24 was blessed with an amazing college counselor. She happened to get to know D26 fairly well and will stop her in the hall and ask how S24 is doing, etc. The way students are assigned to counselors is alphabetical and they rotate by year. So one may have class of 2024 P-Z, class of 2025 A-E, 2026 F-R, etc. So unfortunately D26 does not have the same counselor her brother had. She was assigned one who was new last year. She is inexperienced, rigid, not very approachable and does not seem to really know the ins and outs of all of this stuff. We truly only need her for submitting materials when it is time, and writing her recommendation. For that reason alone I am making sure D26 gets to know her well, but she is making it difficult for D26. She says she seems argumentative about everything- she told her the two teachers she was considering for recs and right away she said āno, thatās a bad idea, pick someone elseā. Unfortunately it is slim pickings for teacher recs b/c she has almost all new teachers this year and the ones she really liked have left. Our high school is in turmoil with a lot of staff that left at the end of last year and more are still leaving. The two teachers she wants to ask were her teachers last year and she did well with them and the counselor is insisting she get recs from teachers she has now. But none of them know her. I told her to just ignore the counselor and ask the teacher she had last year that knows her well. Anyone been in a situation like this?
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Oh, that sounds tough. Iām sorry. Not any help, but I do know our school has a policy that you canāt ask for recs from teachers who have left or who will be leaving before they write them. My impression is that itās a combination of not having āleverageā over the teachers if they donāt write them and the teachers not having access to the school system (before naviance, now Maia) for uploading them. Not clear to me if last yearās teacher you refer to is still there?
Does your school do brag sheets for counselors? I think ours rely on that. If itās any consolation, a number of colleges we visited with D19 said they donāt place a lot of emphasis on counselor recs from big schools because they realize itās hard for them to get to know individual students well. (That was a relief for us then as D19 got a new counselor senior year who didnāt really know her at all.)
Not exactly the same but, yes, it is difficult for students at my Dās high school to get to know their counselors. The high school has 4500 students and 12 counselors. About 3-4 of the counselors are new within the last year or two. Although my D has had the same counselor since freshman year (they are assigned by homeroom), she hardly knows her. There are almost no one-on-one meetings. Most information is shared with students by their counselors in groups (homeroom, or small group meetings). The counselors make frequent use of google forms to gather information about the students on their caseload, and I imagine recommendations are based largely on that info.
Regarding teachers, my D is super quiet in class (likes to fly under the radar), so I think it will be hard for her to find teachers with whom she has a true connection for recommendations. In addition, given the overall size of the high school ā bigger than some colleges ā kids almost never have the same teacher twice and wonāt even pass them in the hallway.
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Yes, the teacher she wants to ask is her honors chem teacher from last year who is still there. They do have brag sheets and she will fill that out plus give her her resume so she will at least have that information.
My kid really wanted to ask their math teacher from last year too (they were hoping theyād get the teacher for the one physics class she teaches this year but the schedule didnāt work out for that), but the school strongly discourages asking teachers who are not teaching them in junior year. Apparently the colleges donāt place as much value on them. Maybe that is the same reason that the counselor is discouraging your kid from doing it?
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Part of the reason I am telling S26 to try and build some type of relationship with teachers this year is getting recommendations next year. His band teacher raved about him and gave him all positive marks so that will be one for next year, lucky for him heās going to have 4 years of band with the same orchestra leader.
But his counselor has been useless, sheās new is never in her office and doesnāt reply to messages. I hope that we donāt need to rely on her next year. Classes get submitted starting on Monday and then weāll find out his schedule later. Being a senior he should get all his classed but in a big school you never know.
Yes she keeps saying it āhas to be someone from this yearā.
Thereās nothing preventing your kid from seeking out the teacher on their own. In person. Have a conversation and just ask the teacher directly.
The worst thing that will happen is the teacher will say no. And if that happens, your kid could at least say they tried all avenues.
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Exactly the same situation here with kid! Both in regards to the school counselors as well as teachers for recommendation letters.
Couple of his AP teachers have already said clearly that you canāt ask them for the recommendation letters. Theyāll pick which kids to write for, and my kid aināt making that short list! And they are not supposed to ask sophomore year teachers. So what are the options left for middle of the road kid like mine, I have no idea.
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My S23 didnāt get a junior year teacher to write a LOR for him because the ones he wanted were already booked by the time he asked. He was really worried about itā¦ but in the end, he was able to get a recommendation from one of his senior year teachers, and that one turned out much better because the teacher only teaches seniors, writes very few LORs, and was able to put extra effort into it.
He also used another LOR from a sophomore teacher and had one from orchestra.
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Is there any chance your D26 can switch to the counselor her brother had? Could she say that sheād already developed a personal relationship with her, so it would make more sense?
Probably not, but man, I would ask anyway.
My D26 is at a small private school, and I was hoping sheād get the same counselor her D22 sister had. Not because he was particularly helpful, but because he was the least annoying and stayed out of our way, lol.
Alas, she got a different one, but she seems to get along with her okay, so Iām not making waves. (Although the counselor did just give us some dubious advice that I was asking about on the GA Tech board here.)
Anyhow. I feel you on which teachers to ask for LORs. The teachers my D26 most vibed with were also from freshman and sophomore year, but she has been strongly advised to choose two teachers from the current year. She has one in mind that is a good choice, but the other one is up in the air. And the teacher who knows her the best is her symphonic band director who has also directed her in marching band since 7th grade. Heās nominated her for several awards, is forever giving her opportunities and championing her ā and sheās auditioning for drum major this year. He knows her really well and could write a great letter ā BUT they want a core academic teacher.
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Our counselors also strongly recommend 2 core academic teachers for the āmainā recs (non core or outside fine for extra ones).
Our kids are not allowed to ask teachers until after spring break, with the expectation that the teachers will write the recs over summer to be ready for early applications in fall.
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I think the problem is that most colleges are very specific that theyāll accept a maximum of three letters ā one from the counselor, and two from core academic teachers. So my D26 might ask her band instructor anyway, but that letter will only get sent to the rare college on her list that might accept four.
Hi all, I was on CC a lot with D22, but Iāve only been here sporadically (and not this specific forum) with D26. I regret that I didnāt start following when she was a freshman, because it would have been fun to compare notes for the past 2.5 years with yāall. Alas. Iām trying to skim through and catch up on 1175 posts and failing miserably, lol.
I had a couple specific questions for people ā
@Luanne Did I read correctly that you have a student at Alabama who is in the marching band? If so, I would love to pick your brain about that experience.
@sbinaz Did I see that your D26 is looking at UT Dallas, Tulsa and maybe UAH? I would love to hear your thoughts on the vibe at these schools if you tour. My D26 is likely to get national merit, and all three of these schools give a full ā or virtually full ā ride for that.
Otherwise, wanted to introduce my kiddo here. D26 is a very quirky, artsy but also kind of mathy kid. Sheās a ridiculously strong student with a top SAT score, but she struggles with ADHD and anxiety and takes a hundred years to get a paper started.
Weāre familiar with this process because D22 is at a T20 school, but whereas she is thriving there, it is unclear to us exactly where D26 will thrive ā because her intellect and abilities might get her into a similar place, but I have deep reservations on whether sheād survive at a school like that.
And then thereās the matter of her major and what she wants out of a college, lol. She knows what she wants ā problem is, no such school exists. 
Anyhow. For senior year, sheāll have the following ā
ā AP Lit
ā AP Bio
ā AP Calc BC
ā Gov/Econ (standard semesters to meet requirement because her school doesnāt offer a semester each of AP or honors)
ā Bible/Bible (she has two semesters left to meet the requirement at her private school)
ā Symphonic Band
ā STEM Seminar or AP Latin (I started a thread on the GA Tech page about whether a fourth year of language was necessary ā sheās being told yes ā even though she wants to go into something STEM/design related. Sheāll likely take the STEM Seminar class anyway.)
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Although its just one example, S22 got into GA Tech for engg and he had three years of foreign language.
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I do have one in the Alabama marching band. Heās loved it! Iām happy to answer questions if I can.
I also have a freshman at UAH. She really loves the campus and the students. By far, we saw more students out doing things on campus there than any of our other tours.
S22 is a NMF and D24 is commended. S22 would have been fine at any of the more competitive colleges he was accepted to, like Michigan or Purdue. D24 would not enjoy any minute of that. We had a very different type of list for her and the feel about the whole campus was much more important. They are both mechanical engineering majors too. You have to figure out what works for each kid.
What is she looking for in a college?
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Yes she is planning on doing this but with the counselor telling her not to, itās hard b/c she feels like the counselor will then say she is going around her and since the counselor also needs to write a rec she is worried it will have a negative impact.
Super annoying- I honestly feel like the teachers that write these should be the ones who know our kids the best, regardless of subject or rigor of class (they push AP and honors teachers at our HS).
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