<p>My counselor offered to show me parts of the already submitted school form, and I agreed, of course. I was able to see her ratings, and I'm not sure whether they are good.</p>
<p>I don't remember clearly but I think had two 10%'s (EC achievements, overall), one 5% (academic), and one 'one of the few i've encountered' (character). </p>
<p>Does it hurt not to have a lot of 'one of the few i've encountered'? I personally think having the lower ratings make my recommendation a little more honest. But I don't know how generous other counselors are with the ratings, so I'm not really sure.</p>
<p>Don’t sweat it that you don’t have all “one of the best” checks. So long as the little check marks aren’t in the lower brackets, they won’t provide much sway to your application decision at all. The real way recs from counselors and teachers move your app to or from the admit stack is in the written evaluation section or uploaded letter where there is an opportunity to provide snippets of insight into your personality and character, examples of your contributions and details that paint a picture of you as a person. (But, don’t worry if your counselor didn’t take the time to write a full rec. Many don’t and absence of those things doesn’t necessarily work against you. It just means the counselor’s section of the school report won’t make much difference.)</p>