Hi,
So I’m applying to an internship and I asked my high school counselor to write a letter of rec. I asked her to make multiple copies and out of curiosity my mom opened one and read it to herself. Upon reading it, she realized that it was addressed to a SCHOLARSHIP committee instead of the internship! What should I do? Would it look dumb to submit her letter of rec that is addressed to the wrong party or make up a story to get her to re-address the letter??
Be honest. Ask the counselor to make the correction.
Maybe ask your mom to email the HS counselor since it was she who opened the letter.
I write a lot of rec letters and read a lot of rec letters, but for undergrad and grad students so this may have limited relevance since I am not required to write letters as HS counselors may be. It is understood that my letters are confidential. I do not ever provide letters directly to the student. Theoretically, if a student (or even worse, a parent!) told me (s)he had read my rec letter and wanted me to revise it, I would refuse to write any more letters on behalf of the student. I would feel that any student who has read my letter before submission has violated the integrity of my letter.
A HS counselor has a different responsibility regarding recommendation letters than college faculty. That your counselor has supplied a scholarship letter rather than an internship letter will make the counselor, not you, look a bit sloppy since it is the counselor’s mis-step, not yours. However I don’t think it will have any serious impact on your application since the contents of your counselor’s letter would probably not be dramatically different if (s)he revised it for your internship application.
Was your counselor’s letter in a sealed envelope and understood to be confidential? If I were your counselor and required to provide a revised rec letter for you upon your explanation and request, I would insist on sending it directly to the recipient and would probably omit any mention of integrity because I would not be able to honestly attest to that given the situation. Sorry to be harsh - I try to be as positive as possible in my letters, but I am also honest in my written evaluations.
I agree completely.
I will not, ever, send a letter to a kid or a parent, sealed envelope or not. This thread is why.
And lying to fix the situation?? Yeah, you may want to rethink that.