<p>Hello everyone,</p>
<p>I am aware of the importance of recommendations in the admissions process; however, the school I attend only has four counselors for approximately 1500 students. The majority of those students only go to their counselors if scheduling issues arise, so, needless to say, I do not have a very personal relationship with my counselor, though I have met with him on numerous occasions for academically-related meetings. How would a solid, but slightly transcript-generated recommendation affect a decision? Would it "balance" out with a very thorough, positive, and personal recommendation from a teacher?</p>
<p>Also, I've looked on the JHU website under "Fast Facts" but could not find the answer to the following question: What percent of accepted applicants ranked in the top 5%, 10%, etc. of their graduating class? Does JHU provide this information?</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your time!</p>
<p>I was in that situation, and, in the end, had no choice but to go for the soild one...in the end it had the "school" behind it, as I saw it. But I did manage to search out a teacher and sent one of those in too, probably arrived late. Are you saying you have to choose one, or can you diversify?</p>
<p>Also, those stat questions can be partially answered on the college board website. The info's a year out of date, but it may still shine some light on what you're looking for.</p>
<p>Well, doesn't Johns Hopkins require both a counselor and teacher recommendation, or am I wrong about that?</p>
<p>Indeed. I don't think you have much of a problem; like I said my own counselor rec wasnt all that spectacular, in that sense. But, given the prevalence of that situation, even among applicants to colleges like this, I think adcoms expect that. The short answer--i think it's a fine balance. At least it certainly won't hurt you.</p>
<p>Curious, just from your question--did you have any alternative ideas? Like, if you still decide its not enough, what you'd like to do? Or, better yet, is there <em>time</em> to get to know the counselor better?</p>
<p>Well, I don't really have time to get to my counselor better because that requires getting out of class usually to set up a meeting; however, I do know that Hopkins does accept more than the minimum amount of recommendations. That being said, I'll probably get another teacher to write one for me. The best situation would be if Hopkins didn't require a counselor rec.</p>
<p>Here's what the app says:</p>
<p>--secondary school report "give this form to your guidance counselor"
--teacher eval
--midyear report "guidance counselor" again</p>
<p>OK, so let's tackle that second question 1st...</p>
<p>HS Class Rank (Fall 2006)
HS Class Rank in Top 10% (enrolled students) 80%
HS Class Rank in Top 25% (enrolled students) 95%
*These stats can be quite misleading because ranked is usually tracked for less than half of our applicants. Class ranks is really an ignored stat in the review of transcripts because it will vary so much from school to school. For instance there is a school in TX that has over 85 students tied for the top position in the class whereas there is a school in ME where there is only 13 students in the class so if you are ranked #1, your rank % is 7.7%???</p>
<p>Now your other question...
We require every applicant to submit the following:</p>
<p>*secondary school report
*high school transcript
*school profile
*guidance counselor letter of recommendation
*one teacher letter of recommendation</p>
<p>Those first four items are all usually submitted by one's guidance counselor. The teacher letter of recommendation can be submitted in this packet of info or separately.</p>
<p>Applicants to JHU can submit additional letters of recommendation (from another teacher, coach, employer, activity advisor, etc.) but we strongly advise that a student not submit more than 4 total letters of recommendation.</p>
<p>In the case where the student has no relationship with their guidance counselor, we still require the counselor letter of recommendation. In such cases, we review that letter of recommendation as one where the counselor is putting the student in the context of the school. It is more an academic review factor rather than a personal recommendation of the student. </p>
<p>Personally, I completely understand this and factor the size of counselor's caseload in the review of a student's application. I graduated from high school with a class of 1612 students and my counselor did not know me at all. Don't worry. The best suggestion is to send in an additional letter of recommendation or two.</p>
<p>Thank you so much!</p>
<p>The bit about counselor recommendations helps a lot.</p>