Sooo a few questions MIT...

Mikalye
Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:35:39 +0000

As an international EC, I have regularly met admitted students from schools which offer few if any opportunities for budding scientists and engineers. That does not inherently count against you. What is important is to ensure that you take fullest advantage of the limited opportunities available to you.
As to the counselor, that really depends on your relationship to this person. You are quite right in that it is not his or her job to do this anymore. Therefore asking it may well be inappropriate. However, if you had developed a genuine friendship with this person over the years, as opposed to a friendly but casual acquaintanceship, then that is a different matter. Clearly asking a friend who knows you well for a letter is a different situation. Then the letter is not being written because its the counselor’s job, the letter is being written because it is the counselor’s friend, a whole different ballgame.
So it is up to you to figure out how much you can presume on the friendship, and if you cannot presume on the friendship (and/or there isn’t a friendship to presume on), then get the new counselor to write the letter. That is after all, their job. That being said, it makes sense for you to make an appointment to meet with this person and make sure that they have a sense of who you are.