<p>I am a homeschooled student enrolled in an umbrella program. Recently, I was assigned a new counselor (my old one moved away), and she fills out generic form letters for her students. My homeschooled friend got to read his counselor recommendation letter (from the same person), and it was complete garbage. Apparently, they even used the wrong name at one point in the letter.</p>
<p>How much will this hurt me in the application process, and is there anything I can do about it?</p>
<p><em>Sorry for the cross-post in "Home Schooling and College." I'd really like a prompt answer about this because I'm freaking out.</em></p>
<p>Well, how does his stats compare to yours? If he has poor grades/ECs/test scores, the guidance counselor may not have been inspired, shall we say, to write a particularly good letter. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what exactly you mean by umbrella program, but I am homeschooled as well and my dad is my guidance counselor even though I am enrolled in a homeschool-accountability group. He managed to stay unbiased and factual in his recommendation- is this a possibility in your case?</p>
<p>@onlythebest13: We’re pretty on-par academically. He also has a 35 ACT, stellar grades, and a rigorous course-load. I have taken a few more mathematics courses and electives than he has taken, but he is a significantly better writer and has more service-oriented extra-curriculars.</p>
<p>@nhoff73749: Homeschooled students have the opportunity to join “Umbrella Programs” that take care of details like transcripts, school reports, and counselor recommendations; AFAIK, they are required for homeschooled students to graduate in my state. Unfortunately, my umbrella program sucks, and it’s too late to join another one.</p>
<p>EDIT: And I just learned that my counselor is on vacation. Ugh. I’m applying ED to Brown and EA to CWRU, so I need to sort this out quickly.</p>
<p>@nhoff7349 Not to begin an argument or anything, but will colleges really take a letter of rec from your dad seriously? Despite his intentions to remain factual and objective, I highly doubt that there wouldn’t be some bias in there. </p>
<p>Any poor letter of recommendation will reflect badly on your application, so I would suggest that you talk to her directly. Maybe she doesn’t understand how important letters of rec are. </p>
<p>I would not stress out about it. Colleges are used to getting GC recommendations from counselors who do not really know their students for one reason or another. Here is what MIT has to say:</p>
<p><a href=“How to write good letters of recommendation | MIT Admissions”>http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/writingrecs</a></p>
<p>@skieurope: It’s really annoying because, even though this counselor is new, she knows both me and my friend relatively well, and she should have been able to write a decent recommendation for him.</p>
<p>Would anyone mind taking a look at the email I am planning to send her? It’s fairly passive, and I’m not sure it gets my point across very well.</p>
<p>@onlythebest13- yeah, I see where you’re coming from. This is my only option, though, and like I said: more than anything, he stated facts about my high school achievements. Although if you have any other suggestions, feel free to pass them along :)</p>
<p>@discipulusbonus- I’ll take a look!</p>