Letter of recommendation from guidance counselor?

[12npm12]

<p>In my country, we students hardly hear of "guidance counselor". Besides teachers who teach in classes, there are others familiar to us like the form teacher and the principal.</p>

<p>MIT requires 2 letters from teachers and 1 from the principal/guidance counselor. I think it's just for knowing better about the applicant, so maybe sending the letter from the form teacher instead of one from the principal/guidance counselor might be acceptable. However my case is a bit complicated. My form teacher is also my physics teacher, and I have asked her to write a letter as a science teacher. Besides I don't think the principal knows me well, even though we've met several times. So can I ask my form teacher to fill in the MIT secondary school report form & just send one letter from her?</p>

<p>Please help me out. Thank you very much.</p>

[PiperXP]

<p>MIT has likely had applicants from your country before. I’d suggest asking Admissions directly what they want in a situation like this.</p>

[molliebatmit]

<p>It’s my impression that the guidance counselor’s letter is often written more to highlight the circumstances of your school rather than necessarily to talk about you. Even in the US, students aren’t necessarily very familiar with their guidance counselors.</p>

[12npm12]

<p>So is that … bad impression? (I mean, to help MIT know about the context of the student is good, but is it good to hear much about the school rather than the student?)</p>

[molliebatmit]

<p>MIT gives an example of such a recommendation on their website ([here](<a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/schools/writing_evaluations/index.shtml]here[/url]):”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/schools/writing_evaluations/index.shtml)):</a>

Guidance Counselor Recommendation for Mike:

I do not really know Mike very well. He has come to me for routine matters, but generally has not had any problems that he has discussed with me. In this large school, I do not always have the time to personally get to know each of my advisees. From the comments I get from Mike’s teachers, I have the impression that he is one of the strongest students this school has seen.

</p>

<p>Critique: We do not learn very much from this report, but we understand why. The counselor is very honest and we are not left guessing as to the reason there is not more information and will turn our attention to other parts of the application.

This is something MIT sees frequently enough to have it as an example on the website.</p>

<p>If your counselor or principal doesn’t know you well, there’s not a problem with having the letter just explain things about your education. Your teacher recommendations should fill in the blanks.</p>

[12npm12]

<p>I see. At least having sth in the letter is still better than to get it blank.
By the way, how should I contact with MIT? I cannot find an email to contact the MIT admission office anywhere in the website.</p>

[EphemeralEternal]

<p>A possibility might be to contact your EC, if you have been allocated one on the MyMIT site.
Alternatively, just contact the admissions office directly (their details are at the bottom of every page on the MIT Admissions site):</p>

<p>admissions office • 77 mass ave, 3-108 • cambridge, ma 02139 • tel 617.253.3400</p>

<p>Their email is: <a href=“mailto:admissions@mit.edu”>admissions@mit.edu</a></p>

[12npm12]

<p>Thanks a lot. I’ve asked my EC, but he didn’t know the answer. I guess I have to send an email to them.</p>