<p>Can anyone please explain what the difference between counselor and teacher's recommendation letter? My daughter has a new counselor this year. The counselor knew nothing about my daughter. She asked my daughter to give her a list of teachers and she will talk to those teachers then combine those teachers' opinion and write a letter. Then that will be another teacher's recommendation letter, not counselor's. What's the real purpose for a counselor's recommendation letter? Thanks</p>
<p>On the Common App website, click on both teacher evaluation and then secondary school report (filled out by GC or principal). Hope this helps. By the way, many of us are or have been frustrated because our kids GC’s know nothing about them - except for maybe a 10 minute “get to know you meeting” before they fill out the evaluation.</p>
<p>Thank you for your speedy reply. What I really want to know is that is it alright for the guidance recommendation letter to be a repeat of the teacher’s recommendation letter? It doesn’t seem to serve its purpose for the gc to just regurgitate whatever the teachers provide.</p>
<p>School counselors often provide big picture information. The teachers generally write with a little more specificity. </p>
<p>Obviously, there is no rule about this. Information is sometimes repeated. That isn’t a problem.</p>
<p>Many universities are aware that a lot of counselors (especially at large publics) do not know the kids very well. They will not hold this against a student. At my high school it is quite common for new counselors to ask the teachers for input on a particular student. The counselor is then able to see some trends and write about those–“Sally always does her assignments thoughtfully and is a leader in the classroom…”</p>
<p>Teachers are able to give specific examples of the quality of Sally’s work and how she is a leader amongst her peers …</p>
<p>I don’t think you need to be concerned. At our very small hs, with an excellent record in college admissions, the counselors <em>do</em> know the students. Still, their method is to talk to/get info from many/all of a student’s teachers and use that info to write the counselor rec.</p>
<p>Typically, the student is getting teacher recs from 2 or 3 teachers. The GC can incorporate insights from other teachers who are not writing recs. I know that ours sometimes even used “quotes” from such teachers. Say that the students has asked Physics, Math and AP English teacher for recs. The GC is also getting info from Music Director/teacher, other elective teachers. This can round out the picture of the student. And it might not just be focused on academics. Maybe one teacher points out that the student is very supportive of peers having difficulties - this kind of thing may not show up in the subject teachers’ recs.</p>
<p>Got it. Thanks everyone.</p>
<p>So what’s the real point of requiring a recommendation from the guidance counselor?</p>
<p>To get the big picture, reeinaz. A colleague at another university says that the counselor sets the stage while the teacher is operating the spot light. :)</p>