<p>My son is a high school junior in a public high school, and the school have 4 counselors, each taking care of 400 to 500 kids assigned by last names. The counselor that assigned to my son's last name group has been changed every year ever since my son started high school. The new counselor for my son's junior year is doing an excellent job, and we like him very much. To my dissappointment, I have just learned that school will make some staff change, and he will be replaced by another new counselor (new to the high school) this fall. I am concerned about how well the new counselor will know about my son to give a good recommendation when my son starts to apply college this fall. My son ranks top 5% in his class and is targetting top selective colleges.</p>
<p>Colleges are aware that public high school counselors rarely know their students well, especially good students, and that they are responsible for producing hundreds of counselor letters. They don’t expect lots of personal detail in the letters, and I’m sure they try to adjust somewhat in their admissions process so as not to discriminate against applicants from large public high schools. That said, one of the reasons good private schools tend to do consistently well with admission to elite colleges is that their counselor letters are detailed, personal, and extensive. That’s a big help. But that fact that you won’t and can’t get that at a large public does NOT doom your application to rejection.</p>
<p>At most public schools the counselors do not know the kids well enough to give a meaningful recommendations, and colleges are aware of it.
I think the counselors rec is mostly important to confirm that there are no disciplinary issues in the kid’s file.</p>
<p>My son’s class is 750 kids. The counselor suggested the parent write a parent letter. This letter did not go to the colleges, it just gave the counselor a little bit of background as to why he selected the activities he did, why his grades did what they did, and how we saw him grow over 3 years of high school. Ours was just one page. Make sure his resume is CLEAR and easy to follow.</p>
<p>In other words, make life EASY for counselor. He got an unexpected yes from a reach, (no previous acceptances from our school in last 2-3 years on the Naviance and PrepHQ graphs in his GPA range), so I think her letter must have helped.</p>
<p>Ditto the above. One way to help that new GC is to provide him/her with an activities list and goals info. Our HS provides a form to be completed. I believe many HS do. S got really lucky to have the same GC for four years, since she almost lost her job last year due to budget cut backs.</p>
<p>I get to see 2 perspectives on this issue. I work at a small private school - the counselor letters are 2 pages in length and give much detail about the student’s academics, ECs, character, extenuating circumstances, etc. Very high quality. My sons attend a large public high school where each GC has several hundred studnets and just does a quick form with boxes to check and maybe writes one paragraph. They use Naviance and have each student and their parents write up accomplishments, strengths, etc., so that they have some info to use in the counselor rec, given that they may have met the student once or twice for 5 minutes.</p>
<p>Here’s the important part - I don’t see a significant difference in the college acceptance rates between the 2 schools. Students from the large public hs get into prestigious colleges at about the same rate. In fact, more students from the public hs are accepted at Vanderbilt and Cornell -just as an example. So, don’t worry about this issue - just spoon feed the hs counselor some talking points.</p>
<p>^^I have never seen a GC recommendation but I cannot believe my kids get one that is even one paragraph. We have a small public, but the two GCs split all 4 grades. Ours give the GCs a “resume” of sorts and I assume they work off that, but guessing they are pretty generic, especially if you have a kid they’ve rarely seen let alone talked to one on one.</p>
<p>Our school also asks parents to give counselors a “brag sheet” (with prompts like “pick four adjectives to describe your child”). Given that the counselors have so many kids to work with, I assume the most they can do is scan the brag sheets for details that are really characteristic and use these to flesh out what is otherwise a pretty generic rec. (I just took another look at what we gave our son’s GC and cringed–much too long. Sorry to make you wade through that, Ms. S!)</p>
<p>It helps a lot. Thanks!</p>
<p>I had the same experience as your son (new GC every year since starting middle school, two GCs to a graduating class of ~750) and only met with my counselor the day I was asking for the letters. I hadn’t even met most of my GCs prior to that, and I don’t think it had an effect on my admissions.</p>
<p>This is a very important thread. In general, private school tuition is worth it for a lot of reasons, but the main one IMO is the hand-holding the student - and the parents - get from the private school GC. With four kids in public schools, my wife and I have basically become our own GC. There has been annual turnover at our HS with no consistent GC to rely on. </p>
<p>I agree with sending in a brag sheet. Do it at the end of junior year, or the beginning of senior year, when the school GC is least overwhelmed.</p>
<p>At my kid’s HS, GCs didn’t write the rec letters -they only offered a sheet with the student’s school stats (gpa, senior course schedule, list of ECs, and # of AP/Dual Credit courses) that was included with a letter of rec written by a teacher of the student’s choice. Students generally chose AP/DC teachers in a subject related to their intended major. My D was a Comm major, so she asked a Lit teacher. My son is studying engineering, so his Physics teacher wrote the letter of rec. Teachers generally know the students MUCH better than the CG and are happy to write letters to see their students succeed. Students have an incentive to avoid senioritis if they want good letters of rec for admissions and scholarships!</p>
<p>At our public school, the guidance department encourages students and parent to meet with their counselor the summer before senior year to discuss their college plans. My daughter brought her resume to that meeting, and her counselor said she would write her recommendation before school started while she had more time to devote to it. You can try setting up a meeting like this before school starts.</p>