Counselors see up to 2000 different kids at our school, so why do colleges care for their rec letter? And is one required?
Ill be applying to UTD, A&M, Texas Tech, SMU, and UT. Thanks guys!
The primary role that a counselor plays is submitting the Secondary School Report (SSR) which outlines your schools grading scale, what offerings (honors, AP, IB, etc.) it has, demographic info about the school (%kids eligible for free/reduced lunch = indication of relative poverty level within the school; % kids attending 2/4yr colleges after graduation, etc.). Plus the counselors office sends in the official transcripts on your behalf. Sometimes (not too frequently), a GC can add notes of a more personal nature or note to explain special circumstances. While these can be of benefit, colleges know that most GCs don’t have the personal relationship with their students. Thus, the absence of this letter isn’t a detriment to your application.
If a college wants a recommendation from your counselor, it will state as much on the application. Generally, colleges which put more weight on stats will nor require (or in the case of the UC’s, even want, a GC rec). UT and TAMU do not require recs.
As to why the college would want a GC recommendation - it helps the college evaluate an applicant within the context of the high school student body as a whole, which is particularly helpful if a college gets multiple applications from the same HS. The GC reports on the rigor of your schedule, your rank (if your school ranks), the GPA range of your class, the number of AP classes your school offers, scheduling restrictions placed by the school taking AP classes, etc. All this can be accomplished without having had a single conversation with you in 4 years.
Alright thanks man! So UT and UTD are probably different requirements right?
And would it be too much to get 2 teachers and 1 Counselors Rec Letter?
2 teachers and 1 counselor rec is the norm for most; definitely not too much.
Wait so is the secondary school report the same as the counselor rec? Or does the counselor send in a different recommendation separate from the SSP?
@coffeeaddict No, those are two different things, but the counselor sends both. The SSR is not a rec. It is a description of the school that is the same for each student from your high school.
Often GCs have you/your parents fill out a “Brag Sheet” that outlines various things you have done in your high school career. it helps them put you in context of your HS. You could be in 3 ECs and that could be the most of anyone, or that could be middling to poor depending on your HS. You taking 3 AP classes might be average or the most anyone has done.
Other than SMU, none of the Texas colleges you mention require or even desire a counselor’s recommendation (even teacher recommendaitons are not required but you can submit them). The only thing a counselor would do for those colleges is send in your transcript if that is who does it at your high school and verify your current course schedule and possibly your class rank For SMU, the counselor’s rec is a form, found here http://www.smu.edu/~/media/Site/Admission/2015ApplicationItems/SMU%20Counselor%20Recommendation%202015-16.ashx?la=en The counselor can in additon to objective information provide some subjective evaluation. If the counselor does not know you, and you might want him to do something other than provide generalizations based on your academic record, you should consider preparing a rseume to provide him with information he may not be aware of but would be favorable to you if he chose to discuss the matters in the form.
As to why a college may want a counselor’s recommendation beyond just having the counselor provide objective information such as your transcript, list of courses you are currently taking and class rank, the actual reason is simply history. Many decades ago, many private universities required counselor recommendations during a time when the typical student who applied to such private colleges was someone from a priovate prep high school with limited number of students wherre counselors actually knew and often communicated with the students. As time progressed and the applicant pool expanded, more and more of those colleges dropped a counselor’s recommendation other than possibly one for providing objective information only, but some colleges have found it impossible to overcome entrenched habits.