<p>I go to a less than stellar high school and the organization is even more pathetic than the school itself. I got an amazing letter from my english teacher. My math teacher wrote me a cookie cutter letter and I’m a little worried. And my counselor (whom I have never met before) is writing my letter this weekend. So my many questions revolve around, WHAT DO I DO?!</p>
<li><p>Where do I mail letters of rec? Do I just toss them in an envelope with the commonapp form and mail it to the office of admissions? Can I put 2 teacher letters and a counselor letter in one envelope? </p></li>
<li><p>What do I do about a cookie cutter letter? I mean, she talks about my gpa, rank, ap test scores, and then calls me a good student and is done. Will this seriously hurt my chances of getting into a top tier school?</p></li>
<li><p>Should I include in the additional information area that I have had 4 counselors in 4 years? At our school, the idea of a counselor is a joke. Really, administration is a joke. And I didn’t meet my counselor till september of 2008. Not to mention she has little credentials (considering it’s her first year ever counseling and it’s in our crappy school district) and she knows nothing about me.</p></li>
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<p>Egads… sorry you have so little support from your school. Bummer.</p>
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<li><p>Often teachers will mail the letters off themselves, but since it appears that your teachers gave you the letter directly, yes, you should mail the letter and the CommonApp form to the admissions office of the colleges. (I don’t see why you couldn’t include both in one envelope.) The counselor evaluation should be accompanied by the Secondary School Report CommonApp form. It seems a little irregular for the student to be sending that. You should request your counselor send it herself in an official high school envelope. Sometimes counselors include official transcripts too, although schools are different. The one here sends the transcripts separately from the registrar’s office only by request of the student.</p></li>
<li><p>There’s not much you can do about the cookie cutter letter. I mean, short of asking them to write a better one (probably a bad idea), or finding a different teacher and hoping for something better from them.</p></li>
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<p>This is a matter of opinion, but if you were my kid I would definitely advise you to discuss the 4 counselors in 4 years, and the fact that your counselor is a first-year who has only just met you. Your counselor should mention it herself, but sometimes it’s best not to leave things like that up to chance.</p>
<p>I don’t think this whole situation will hurt you exactly. The problem is more that it doesn’t <em>help</em> you… if you know what I mean. It’ll depend on the rest of your application, I suspect.</p>
<p>i filled out a form last week to order/buy transcripts (just wondering, are we the only ones who have to pay 5 bucks a transcript copy or do all schools follow a policy similar to this?) i think they would probably charge me another 5 dollars to get official school envelopes (if we even have those) but anyway. our school doesnt mail transcripts for us. they just give everything to us.</p>
<p>so should I mail my 2 letters in one envelope. my counselor letter in another envelope. and my transcripts in another. or should I combine the counselor letter and transcript?</p>
<p>It is HIGHLY irregular for high schools to give students unsealed transcripts to send themselves.</p>
<p>I have to say I have NEVER heard of this before, and I would ask them directly --or have your counselor do so-- to send the transcript themselves so that it meets the college’s requirements that the student not have their hands on it at any time. Or you can pay the $5, but have your counselor include it with her evaluation and Secondary School Report.</p>
<p>The transcript is not considered “official” if the student ever had physical access to it, but even if you have to pick it up at the office and then deliver it to your counselor, they wouldn’t be aware of that so it probably wouldn’t matter as long as it is sent in the envelope directly from the counselor to the college. </p>
<p>If they really, truly won’t do it, then call the admissions office and ask how you should handle it.</p>
<p>(By the way, it’s not that unusual to be charged for transcripts.)</p>
<p>When you write your quick statement about no knowing your counselor and the 4 counselors in 4 years problem – don’t show any negativity toward the counselors. Refer to her (or all of them) respectfullly, but just alert the college to that fact that she is new to the school and new to the job and that you have only met her once briefly.</p>