<p>Mmk, so I'm badly in need of some advice. My counselor at school, who I just adore and who has been a wealth of information this year, is relocating over the summer and won't be there next year. Now, this is a person who knows me better than any other adult in my life outside of my family. The problem is as follows...I'm applying to Stanford SCEA in the fall, and he had this amaaaazing recommendation planned for me (arguably the best recommendation I have ever received from any teacher, even the teachers that adore me). The school will be employing a new counselor next year, and I will most likely go to him/her or a counselor to whom I have never talked. The problem is that this counselor will know me for at most a month before my application is due, and that month will most likely be two weeks since everything is really hectic at the beginning of this year. Hence, the amazing recommendation that I was relying on will be reduced to nothingness.</p>
<p>Now, I was wondering if there was anything I could do about this situation. Would it be okay if I asked my old counselor to write my recommendation and for my new counselor to sign it? I noticed that on the Stanford application in particular (I think it's the same on every app though), it asks what the report is based on -- personal contact with student, teacher comments, OTHER COUNSELOR OBSERVATIONS, or records. Would it be okay if my old counselor filled out all the information and the "other counselor observations" box would be checked?</p>
<p>my advice is that you sincerely develop a relationship with your new counselor so that he/she could write you an excellent rec, AND you can still have your OLD counselor still send in his spectacular rec as an additional recommendation letter (don't forget to have him include how he knows you, how long, etc.)</p>
<p>that's the best of all worlds :)</p>
<p>The only thing is that I already have someone really good for my outside rec, and I really wanted that counselor to write the counselor rec, especially since he would've essentially said I was amazing in-class. I'd like to leave the outside rec for one of my supervisors at an outside activity because obviously, I'm not just one-dimensional. :]</p>
<p>i sent in about 7 recommendation letters all told, and at the time it seemed appropriate, and i got into 8/11 schools and waitlisted at the other 3, so i think it worked. i don't think they'll mind 2 or 3 outside recs, as long as they're substantiative, as long as they don't explicitly limit your recs.</p>
<p>Ahh, but the trouble is that my first choice is Stanford, and I know that they absolutely HATE it when you send in anything additional.</p>
<p>one of my schools is stanford, and i got in, and i think i did limit my recs to them, but not by much, lol. instead of 7 i sent in 6 (teachers, counselor + additional)</p>
<p>A friend recommended that I have my new counselor fill out the statistical part of the rec (which comes from school records), and to have him/her write in the actual letter that they were just hired and to mention that the remaining portion of the rec was written by my previous counselor. Thereby, I could still have the great rec that I had hoped for. Do you think that that would work?</p>
<p>given the circumstances you mention, I think you should ask the counselor to write the rec he was planning and to mention in it that he was your counselor last year and has changed schools. Then send it in as an extra letter. Even if Stanford says somewhere "send 3 letters and no more" in this case I think they'd appreciate getting a letter from a counselor who actually knew you in <em>addition</em> to one from the current counselor.</p>
<p>Hey everyone. I wanted to thank you all for your replies. Needless to say, I was a tad distraught when I wrote the first post.</p>
<p>Anyways, I just got a response back from Stanford, and I found a link on CC for the Ivies' approach on things (<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=80777&highlight=counselor%20moved)%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=80777&highlight=counselor%20moved)</a>. According to Stanford, my new counselor still has to fill out the Secondary School Report, but I can have the new counselor attach my old counselor's letter of recommendation. Anyways, that was hugely relieving, to say the least lol.</p>
<p>Again, thanks for all the support! I'm sure I'm not the only one who has ever had to face this problem before, so I just thought I'd put up the outcome for anyone who has a similar issue. :]</p>