Hey everyone,
I’m applying as an international student from Canada Icurrently junior year) and am concerned about the counselor recommendation. I attend a public school where the counselors are overworked, apathetic, and not very personally knowledgeable. I just got switched to a new counselor who i’ve spoken to maybe twice & she is known for being both lazy and unpleasant.
Do schools like upenn, cornell, duke, nyu really care about the letter of rec? I don’t think I’m going to receive a glowing rec here, considering that my counselor glares at me everytime I visit…
They will receive a school report that includes the number of students at your school. If your rec sounds generic, those admissions officers will know it is likely because your GC is overworked and has way too many students to write letters for. All the schools you listed require 1 or 2 teacher recommendations, so make sure you ask teachers who know you well (and like you!) for letters of rec.
Schools tend to not place weight on the generic counselor recs, because they know there are many cases like yours: the GCs are overworked, and they don’t know all the students. Don’t worry about it.