<p>Apparently, my school's counselors are so swamped that the school is making the students write their own counselor recs. i'm curious how often this actually happens, but i am definitely more interested if anyone can offer tips on how to write one. Is is good to speak at length describing your activities? Can anyone offer me any advice on maintaining the proper tone? although my situation seems (at least to me) to be pretty rare, im hoping that i can receive some help here</p>
<p>Come clean and tell the admissions about it - you'll get good boy/girl points or write one about how awesome you are.</p>
<p>Don't talk about all your activities, just one or two in which you hold officer positions and are planning on 'focusing' to show 'passion.</p>
<p>Do not write your own counselor rec. The second the colleges find out what happened at your school, your application goes into the trash. </p>
<p>Simply explain that there is no counselor available to do recs this year at your school.</p>
<p>We have schools with graduating classes of 750 where the counselors write recs. That is part of a counselor's job; they need to get on it.</p>
<p>Yeah, no kidding. Speak to the school board or the local newspaper. I don't mean to make the job of the counselors harder but what in the world is your principal thinking? Your entire senior class' applications are in jeapordy, IMHO</p>
<p>This happens more often than you think - and it isn't that big of a deal - even 30 years ago, there were teachers who told students to write their own and they would sign it. </p>
<p>I would sit down with a parent and go over the form (if it is a form that has to be filled out) or with a parent's help, write your own - simply state your GPA, whether or not you took the most challenging courses offered by the school, list your extra curriculars and awards and any offices held and state that you are a coorporative student and enthusiastic about learning and would make a great fit for X school. </p>
<p>Honestly, just how well could your high school counselor know you as a person anyway?</p>
<p>iX3demosthenes, even if you don't blow the whistle, I'm sure there's someone out there in your Senior class who'd complain to the county board or a local newspaper.</p>
<p>If you're feeling kind of guilty ask a teacher you trust to write the rec.</p>
<p>I think Pearl is correct. You and your parents should write it with full disclosure. The reason I say this is that we are homeschoolers, and in that case the schools are quite clear - parents write the counselor report.</p>
<p>P.S. contact the schools you plan to apply to, and ask them what they would prefer.</p>
<p>lol what an opportunity!</p>
<p>in my estimiation you are the most caring and compassionate student that has ever walked the halls. Theres not a hallway that you don't smile at an awkward freshman. Grades alone cant do you justice, correct?</p>
<p>actually don't write anything. If the addmission's offices call the school and ask about your ECs or character what are the counselor's going to say. Be a little Ida Tarbell for sure! Tell colleges the problem too, they'll understand as long as you have teacher recs and a transcript.</p>
<p>Here's what I would write:
My counselor has asked me to provide some information to assist him in drafting a recommendation for me. I...</p>
<p>Then essentially write the recommendation as you would like it to read. Give this to the counselor. It's up to him to decide whether to leave in the first sentence.</p>
<p>"Apparently, my school's counselors are so swamped that the school is making the students write their own counselor recs. i"</p>
<p>Are these really the reccs that the counselors will send, or are these things that the counselors will use to craft their own reccs?</p>
<p>When I was a college prof, I asked students to draft recommendations that they wanted me to write. I told the students that they were more likely to remember specifics about papers they'd written for my classes, compliments I'd given them, and to make sure to include those specifics in the draft.</p>
<p>However, I used those drafts only to help remember the specifics of what the students had done, and what I submitted was written in my own words.</p>
<p>If, for instance, a C student who had not been involved in any activities that I advised had written a draft that said, they "were the top student in my class, and stood out as a leader in organizations that I advised," I certainly wouldn't have used that info. In fact, I would have either told the student that I couldnt' recommend them or I would have submitted a recommendation that said that I had concerns about the students' integrity.</p>
<p>get them fired</p>
<p>Just like Northstarmom, I believe that counselors are really asking for the students to provide some of the material that they will include in their recs. This is fairly routine at large schools. At our D's high school, the counselors asked the parents to list the 5 best characteristics of their children so that it may help them drafting the rec. letters. They have to provide general rank information and school information anyway so they have to send a letter no matter what. I am sure the school is not asking students to mail a package on school letterhead representing themselves as the counselors. Only a school counselor can sign a school rec letter. Anything else would be plain fraud!</p>
<p>If the counselors really are using exactly what the students wrote, I agree that they should be reported and fired. Such recommendations would cause your high school to lose all credibilty. Student or parent-written recommendations wouldn't be as good as a carefully done counselor recommendation.</p>
<p>When it comes to top colleges -- places like Harvard-- they also call the GCs of applicants that most interest them. For instance, a Harvard admissions officer talked about an EA applicant for 45 minutes, asking lots of detailed questions, the student's GC told me. Certainly in that kind of conversation, it quickly would be come apparent whether the GC wrote the recommendation or knew the student.</p>
<p>Actually, it is possible to hire someone to write the recommendation. I don't know how this works or the credibility of this procedure, but a professional would. Perhaps a department chair, ass't principal, some other authority firgure student knows could be a stand-in.</p>
<p>Have you called GC and gotten the exact situation "from the horse's mouth"?</p>
<p>from the instructions the counselors have provided, i am in fact expected to write a rec letter for myself and it seems as if that they will be using the letter i write without very many, if any, modifications. anyway, now that Carpe Aeternum said:</p>
<p>"The second the colleges find out what happened at your school, your application goes into the trash."</p>
<p>i'm a bit worried. i am also surprised that this doesnt seem to have affected the number of students going to top schools and ucs-we still have lots and lots of them matriculating to excellent schools (my highschool is large, very competitive, and has close to 4000 students)</p>
<p>Well at least a counselor rec is not seen as important as a teacher's is, due to the mere fact that your teachers know you better. I wouldn't be too worried of your app going in the trash. Nor would I report this incident. If you did, would your counselor want to write a rec for you now? I doubt it. Just make sure you're not writing your teacher's rec as well.</p>
<p>If the colleges haven't found out yet, they'd have no reason to reject those people. Also, if people are getting to write their own recommendations, there is no doubt in my mind that they are glowing. You wouldn't want them to find out with your class though so I'd suggest choosing one of the other paths people have mentioned.</p>