simply. my hs is a large public school
and i found out that my evaluation(Secondary School Report) from the counselors is very short(a quarter of a page). (i am … upset honestly.)
i wonder its effect on college admission. (yet i know my teachers sent me pretty good/long recommendations)
p.s : i think counselors(or maybe only mine) should take it more seriously and give a little more attention to what they do…
<p>this is the first year for my counelor. i am worried that she didnt know me well enough, nor know what to put on the evaluation. I have nothing against her, she is really nice, it's just... she may not have known what to put down. Like, maybe she didnt tell how crappy my school is or anything....:(</p>
<p>Depends. If your teachers recs are glowing, then don't worry, colleges will just see that you spent more time getting close to your teachers rather than your GC.</p>
<p>Phew...luckily, my counselor and I are really really close..I babysit her children and stuff..pretty cool :)</p>
<p>no way colleges can look down on you for not getting to know your guidance counselor. i gave my GC a resume and she basically outlined it, and i got into my top choice EA. The rec was very impersonal and boring.</p>
<p>yeah colleges wont hold it against you if your counselor is dumb or lazy</p>
<p>dreaming,
most public HS GC rec's won't be all that wonderful: the student/GC ratio is horrible, and the GCs are Guidance - not, specifically college counselors. As long as your teacher's rec's are good, you should be fine.</p>
<p>such soothing comments, thanks!!</p>
<p>i hope a paragraph "recommendation" is just passed on without any negative effect :D</p>
<p>Lol, my counselor changed my name in the middle of her letter.. it close, but still a completely diff name... something like going from Will to Bill or Jen to Ben.</p>
<p>I worry about that too, we have 4 counselors for 2000 students, and I love my counselor, he really rocks, but I haven't spent enough time in his office for him to really be able to write something good about me- and he probably knows me better than 4/5 of his other students</p>
<p>My counselor called me in earlier this year, asked where I wanted to go, asked what I wanted to do and had me list three adjectives I'd use to describe myself.</p>
<p>It was the first time I'd seen my counselor since 10th grade, second (and last) time overall.</p>
<p>My son's guidance department circulated a 2 page form - the kids filed out interests, EC's, what they considered important in life, and so on. In addition to this, my son also gave his GC his college resume. Celebrian - and other juniors - if you get this information to your GC in writing, and take the time to talk to them, and e-mail them, there is half a chance that he or she will use the information in front of them (provided by you) as they write the recommendation.</p>
<p>well.. that kinda stuffs (list, adjectives and so on) already indicate at least the minimum efforts that counselors make.</p>
<p>literally I heard that my recommendation was a paragraph .. 1/4 of a letter page.
my counselor is cool and helpful. but i dont really hang around the counselor -<em>-
.. um..i personally now think it might be kinda negative.. well since 10000 other applications' recommendation would be.. much better -</em>-</p>
<p>arrr...rrr</p>
<p>oh .. and i did give him my resume and all that.. and a nice letter.. you know..
well.. i guess these are all under 1000000 other files he has in his office -_-</p>
<p>The counselors at my school have students fill out a form, as well as interview them. My interview was over an hour long.</p>
<p>I got into my ED school, and my GC didn't even write a rec. Since she was completely new and my school is so large and impersonal, she simply did all the academic checklists(test-scores, GPA, rank) and left all the other check boxes blank(stuff like creativity she put "no basis for evaluation." So, I didn't even have a rec from my GC, which was probably a good thing, and it all worked out! Good luck! No need in fretting now.</p>
<p>
[quote]
andrew1218 writes: "no way colleges can look down on you for not getting to know your guidance counselor."
[/quote]
Sadly, this isn't true at many selective colleges. US News reports "Gary Ripple, now director of admissions at Pennsylvania's Lafayette College, was asked this question when he was admissions dean at Virginia's College of William and Mary. He said to the student questioner: "I wonder why your counselor doesn't know you. You should take the initiative to get to know your counselor. At William and Mary, we look for students who take charge of their lives." </p>
<p>Practically speaking, it would seem rather unfair for admissions people to look down on you just because you are at a disadvantage at a public high school, where, oftentimes, there are only a few counselors for 2,000+ kids. This is the case at my school (6 counselors for ~1,800 kids, I believe), and my counselor doesn't know anything about his job (requirements and even common-sensically speaking) or about things that go on at our school. Furthermore, he seems to know almost nothing about the processes by which one's application is reviewed and processed by the receiving admissions department, which is alarming, to say the least.</p>
<p>If I were on an admissions committee, I wouldn't downright turn somebody down because their GC rec was lacking; I would perhaps question them as to why their rec is so lacking.</p>
<p>What robertg says is true. What you can do is get some good rec from teachers, coach, church, whatever to balance a rec from a gc who is lacking in time, experience, and so forth. My daughter is applying for a small scholarship. They asked for the teacher rec, but we are also supplimenting it with volunteer position recs. If you are strong elsewhere, it won't really hurt you, but finding someway to balance the situation never hurts</p>
<p>responding to mike-</p>
<p>well that does kind of suck. i don't understand why they even want a GC rec at a public school atleast. all the GC should provide is statistics from the school and that sort of stuff, the only recs that count should come from people that are in class with you every day (teachers). oh well i'm just ranting. </p>
<p>"You should take the initiative to get to know your counselor. At William and Mary, we look for students who take charge of their lives." taking charge of their lives??? common, spending time with someone who probably doesnt want to spend time with you is something i'm not interested in doing. that guy is basically telling you to kiss a s s to your GC to get a good recommendation, i rather just be myself and do my own thing. I'm glad it didnt affect my admission to a top 25 school</p>
<p>andrew, to be honest I agree with your sentiments. I think it is eminently unfair that a kid in a wealthy suburb or with parents who can foot the bill for a private HS gets personal attention from counselors without lifting a finger, simply because that's how the school is run. You wonder why some colleges are seen as bastions of elitism and I think it starts with attitudes like this. A rich kid is going to be well known by her/his counselor and get real guidance along the way, suggestions for ECs that look good, advice on what classes to take, where to apply, and so on. This starts early so by the time you get to 12th grade the playing feel is darned tilted. At most public schools the counselors are busy trying to keep all the delinquents in school and view a good kid as a blessing, one that won't consume their time because they're ok on their own and the counselor has 800 kids to look after. My personal opinion is that these wealthy kids are the ones that many colleges want to attract since they can pay full freight, have parents who can be tapped for donations (and probably have a good future themselves if they take over daddy's business). But its too crass to openly admit it, so subterfuges such as the "its your fault you didn't know your counselor" let them choose who they really want while masking whats really going on.</p>
<p>But enough ranting. Its worth pointing out (regardless of its justice) that at many schools you will be judged by the recs you get from your counselor and teachers. And by your ECs even though nobody was telling you to participate. And so on.</p>