<p>I need the wise counsel of this board. I am sure that this situation has happened to others. My brother, a very calm, rational guy called me today to say that his daughter, a very calm, rational girl, telephoned him to say that at her first meeting with the high school guidance department today, she discovered that her guidance counselor has gone on maternity leave. (My niece is a H.S. senior.) My niece will be applying to some very selective schools and she was counting on this guidance counselor to provide her with a stellar recommendation, which apparently would have been forthcoming. My brother has been told that "her assistant" will take over for her. Of course, the guidance counselor knows my niece for years and the "assistant" couldn't pick my niece out of a lineup. My brother said that the "assistant" isn't able to answer the simplest questions at this point. In short, my niece who had lined up her teacher recs and had "all her ducks in a row" now finds herself with the ducks trying to paddle upstream against the tide. I would welcome some suggestions from the assembled multitude as to what to tell my brother. I should also mention that neither my brother nor my niece are particularly calm and rational at this point.</p>
<p>My son ended up with a brand new counselor senior year (recent college grad) as his counselor passed away. He met with her, gave her a resume and an essay type thing he wrote to tell her more about him. He also asked one of his teachers to meet with her to get more insight. It worked out fine for him. </p>
<p>Ask the counselor to mention the situation in her recommedation too. Good luck.</p>
<p>my daughter ended up with 4 gcs in 4 years. The senior year gc resigned right before school started. The school sent out letters saying that this would be included in info sent to colleges. I have no idea as to whether it was or was not. We did meet with the new gc in September and went over exactly what we wanted stressed in her comments on the transcript. I'm not so sure it really mattered - I think the teacher recs were more important. Admissions offices are well aware that in most schools the gc may have only met the student a few times and have enormous caseloads.</p>
<p>My son met his "new" counselor in October senior year..third one, not that anyone ever did one minute of college search or prep with him. The only solution is to make lemons out of lemonade and to be positive. My son learned to share his EC list, do brief memos with his colleges in order with Why He Envisioned himself at College X Y and Z and write a statement next to each one as to how each place was a possible good fit. He learned to drop by and update the GC on visits which only seemed to startle him but in the end he had 7 admissions and one wait list. Attitude really tips the balance and although this GC had never Been A GC Before and we never saw what was written, all went OK regardless. Adcoms understand the profiles of the schools and judge kids within context most of the time.</p>
<p>I think what your niece will have to do is to help the GC along by first having a sit down meeting with her. She could and should speak to the GC straight up and ask her "I know that you are new to the position and you really don't know me however, what can I do to provide you with information about me?" or something to that extent.</p>
<p>I would also recommend that N should provide GC with a brag sheet, resume or some sort of write up to help GC get a full picture of who she is outside of the classroom.</p>
<p>The most important thing is not to rile up at the assistant counselor. She is probably overwhelmed, too. Sybbie's advice is excellent. It may also be possible to ascertain whether the assistant counselor is in touch with the regular GC.
When my S1 was a senior, the regular GC was temporarily assigned to be dean of one of the small schools and the substitute was totally new in the job. But she was very kind and a quick learner, and got a great deal of support from the regular GC with whom she was in regular touch.<br>
If the assistant counselor cannot be of great assistance as far as rec is concerned, she can just fill out the school profile and make sure that the transcript is correct.</p>
<p>A couple of thoughts. I have known GCs on leave who wrote letters from home. The substitute GC/assistant could do the remainder of the processing.
It wouldn't hurt to ask for this treatment. Don't hesitate to contact the dept chair and/or the building principal for help with this. That's what administrators are paid to do!</p>
<p>Obviously your niece deserves some 'guidance' from her school and the GC deserves her maternity leave. Surely there is a balance to be found.</p>
<p>Another mom lines up to say that we, too, had a similar situation and it all worked out. Our school's Guidance Office is and was (while S was still there two years ago) excellent. However, they expanded from 2 to 3 GCs for my son's senior year. He was assigned the new one, while his previous GC knew him quite well, and we felt it might work to his disadvantage. </p>
<p>Agree with all those who say to support the new GC, ask to meet with her, ask how N can help. Be straightforward that N is worried that her GC rec might be weaker simply because the new GC will have to answer "how long and in what capacity have you known N?" with a "hardly at all and not very long" kind of answer. Ask how they can handle that (by new GC talking with old GC or old GC doing as Panhandlegal suggested - while "on leave" she can write some key paragraphs from home and the new GC can incorporate that into her package). This is how it was done in our case.</p>
<p>Tell your brother that colleges understand that there is turnover in Guidance Offices. It is wonderful to have the support of a good Guidance Dept, but it is not the key ingredient in successful admissions outcomes. Also, tell him that the teacher recs will have far more importance than the GC rec (at least imho), so if N is strong in those relationships, I think she needn't worry too much.</p>
<p>Thanks very much for all the responses. I am compiling the different strategies and will pass them along to my brother.</p>
<p>I agree with Panhandle- been there. Except she left in second semester of my senior year. Just on maternity leave... and now she's on it again, except for my brother's entire junior year. He definitely freaked out but we reassured him that he can always call her at home if he needs anything- even the GC said so.</p>
<p>If your D has a very special relationship, see if she can track the GC down to her home address/phone number (check the phone book) and I'll bet that the GC will offer something. But keep the assistant notified- just one less letter of rec to do! :)</p>
<p>We definitely missed her when she wasn't at school... but unfortunately, I had a bunch of teachers whom I could rely on.</p>
<p>To everyone who replied to my original post, I wanted to give you a quick update that I literally cut and pasted and sent everything to my brother, who reports that he turned over your collective wise counsel to my niece. She was very grateful for all the advice and other "war stories," and has calmed down. She will make the best of this situation and forge ahead.</p>