<p>I do independent studies with a high school and my counselor sees me about once a year. For the counselor rec, you're supposed to write about the qualities and characteristics of the applicant. Since my counselor doesn't really know me, my parents were thinking that they would write something for him and get it approved. They did it a couple of years ago with my older brother. Still, I get kind of a bad vibe from the idea....</p>
<p>Thoughts? Is there a better way to do this?</p>
<p>I’m getting bad vibes from this, too. I wouldn’t worry too much about your counselor rec, adcoms understand that counselors have huge numbers of kids to look after and can’t get to know everyone well. My counselor rec is probably really generic since my counselor is brand new this year…</p>
<p>The trivial amount of weight adcoms place on counselor’s recs isn’t worth the risk of trying to cheat the system, even if your brother got away with it. My two cents.</p>
<p>I would have your parents write a letter TO the GC giving him all the information you’d like to see in a letter, as in, “I know you don’t know Thursday8 well, so let us tell you about him/her…”</p>
<p>Many high schools have parents submit “brag sheets” to let the counselor know about things they might not know about otherwise. I see nothing wrong with your parents or you giving the ounselor something similar.</p>
<p>How about providing a resume that has a bit more detail than an average resume? You could just talk to the counselor and say that you have a resume that you could provide if that might be helpful. Most counselors would welcome some help. My daughter gave a resume and a cover letter explaining what she needed or was applying for each time she asked a teacher for a recommendation. The teachers appreciated it.</p>
<p>Son was valedictorian and involved in his HS and his guidance counselor knew little about him and we filled out the “brag” sheet like everyone else. Gives the guidance counselor an idea about you and things you are involved in. Have your parents write one about you and haev them give it tot he guidance counselor to assist him in writing something for you.</p>
<p>So is a “brag sheet” pretty much a resume? I’m not really familiar with resumes… will there be anything about me as a person? Or is it mainly stats?</p>
<p>Parents can list interesting things about you. Personality. Anything special. </p>
<p>Thursday is a bright and studious. He is a hard worker and sets high goals for himself. He is compassionate about others and volunteers at or Blah, blah blah… The robotics club has sparked his interest in engineering…</p>
<p>This is really just to give your guidance counselor something to write about you as if he really knows you- lol!</p>
<p>The brag sheet is really just that. A chance for your parents to brag about how awesome you are and what you’ve done o show it. My opinion is that it’s a waste to use it as just a resume, listing accomplishments and awards. Like suppose you volunteer at a senior home. Fine, you’ve listed how long you’ve volunteered and the hours you put in. But your brag sheet would also descibe the special relationship you’ve developed with one of the residents and how you cut out magazine articles to share with them. Or they could talk about the time you didn’t go to the big game so you could help your sibling practice their election speech for class president.</p>
<p>Is this a home school situation? Is that what you mean by independent studies?</p>
<p>I have an umbrella group a private school that keeps track of my records/high school transcripts, has graduations etc. But I learn at home, except for community college. My parents used to teach me, but now I’m on my own.</p>