<p>So, this is the first time I am (really) sticking my nose in the college application process and I would like to get some feedback/advice/sanity check from the collective wisdom here.</p>
<p>My kid is applying to moderately tough (but not killer tough) to get into schools -- Emory, Macalester, Wellesley, William & Mary, etc. She tells me that she will be getting 2 recommendations -- one from her Guidance counselor & one from a teacher. She insists that she doesn't need another reference, that schools don't want to read extra recommendation letters) & that one <em>must</em> come from her GC. Is this true? Why on earth would a school want one of the two references they get be from the guidance counselor instead of another teacher? </p>
<p>I just need to know if I should really push the issue or if things have changed so much since I was in high school that I am wrong yet again.</p>
<p>The two recommendations are supposed to be from teachers along with a recommendation from her GC, for a total of three. Some schools specify what kind of teacher recommendation they require (one from math/science and one from humanities, only from 11th or 12th grade teachers, etc) so be sure to check each school for what they require.</p>
<p>That is what I thought, but I wanted to check since it has been a <em>long</em> time since I last went through this process. I appreciate the help.</p>
<p>PeriwinkleVA -
Every Common Application member institution requires the GC recommendation as part of the Secondary School Report, but not all colleges require or want the same number of teacher evaluations (TEs). For example, Emory only wants 1 TE, while Macalester and Wellesley each want 2 TEs . Your daughter can invite lots of different teachers and assign specific teachers to specific schools if she wishes. A particular TE can be sent to as many different schools as she wishes, but the teacher only has to submit it once.</p>
<p>To get the lowdown on what each college would like to receive, go to the Common App site (<a href=“http://www.commonapp.org%5B/url%5D”>http://www.commonapp.org</a>) and click on “Member Colleges & Universities”, then “Search for Colleges”. Enter the names of the colleges separated by commas, then click the Search button. When the search results come back, click on the college name to see all kinds of good information about the college.</p>
<p>And to further answer your question about WHY a GC rec: counselors are usually the best resources for helping admission officers understand an applicant within the context of the high school. Of course, there are some guidance counselors who, because of burdensome caseloads, may not be able to provide as much detail about an individual student. Colleges are very attuned to this, and such a lack of familiarity would never be held against a student. It could, however, make the teacher recommendations that much more important.</p>