Are they important? After 3 years with my old counselor who I knew really well, my school decided to switch me to a different counselor on my senior year -_- So she has to write all my counselor recommendations for everything now, scholarships, and all college apps. Should I be worried? My old counselor said she shouldn’t write any of the letters because she said she’s not officially my counselor anymore so it would look fishy because it wouldn’t match up with what my records say who my counselor really is.
Sure they’re important. But colleges are equally 100% cognizant that most counselors have but a passing acquaintance with their students.
GC recs are generally to provide a profile of your school, evaluate the rigor of your transcript relative to the opportunities available at your school and compared to your classmates’ transcripts. They really don’t need to know you in order to do that. It’s nice if they can say personal things about you - and at private schools where the GC is also the college admissions consultant, they do know their kids well. But colleges know that public high school GCs often have 500 kids assigned to them and their focus is on those with serious issues. Your teachers are the ones who are going to provide the unique insights into you as a student and a person in their recommendations.