<p>I go to a pretty large public school (~800 kids), and unsurprisingly, our guidance counselors sort of mass process us with college stuff. I only got about ~15 minutes of face time with my counselor in total, and we really didn't connect at all -- she's probably around 25 or so and she's completely different, personality- and interest-wise, from me. This was the day I got back from a weekend-long forensics trip at 1 in the morning, and I wasn't exactly extremely personable and talkative with her. Normally I am though, and it should show in my essays, but would this look bad if by some chance she wrote that I was kind of shy and quiet in her letter?</p>
<p>thanks everyone, I apologize if this is a trite/dumb question!</p>
<p>Why would your counselor write that you were quite and shy? Even if a counselor doesn’t know a student well, it’s not in their best interests, or the HS’s, to present you poorly. Likely she assembled information about you from your transcript and, when she deduced you were a strong student (especially if you told her you had just returned from a debate tournament, which would have given her something to talk about other than the standard “bright student, works hard” fare), put together a basic but strong letter for you. </p>
<p>I imagine that you letter will neither help you immensely, as it won’t offer much to help adcoms understand you better by reiterating what they already knew, but it should by no means harm you.</p>
<p>Why don’t you meet with your GC again? In our public school, all the student has to do is go down to the guidance office and ask to meet with the GC. If the GC isn’t available at that specific time, schedule an appointment for another time.</p>
<p>Great idea to go talk with your counselor again. Also, be sure your counselor has a complete list of your EC’s, presented in a very organized and easy to read way. If there are a couple of classes or activities that have been especially meaningful to you, let her know briefly. If you have a particular major in mind, or if there are other important things for her to know about you, include that info. Another thing you might consider doing if there is a teacher with whom you have an especially good relationship, maybe that teacher could drop the GC a short email that lets her know why the teacher is so enthused about you, that you participate a lot in class discussion, or that you work extremely hard, or whatever.</p>
<p>At my old school, when you were requesting a counselor recommendation there was a form that you had to fill out that was basically “Tell me a little about yourself” to help the counsellor put together an effective recommendation letter. It let you reveal not just your hobbies and passions but the names of the teachers who know you very well so that the counsellor can go and talk to them for help. Your school might have that since it’s something that we had at my large public school.</p>
<p>Also know that colleges are ABSOLUTELY aware that you are not necessarily getting special attention from overworked guidance counselors. Obviously it would have been to your benefit if somehow you had managed to distinguish yourself enough that your GC really knew you, too, but schools ultimately know that counselors at most public schools simply can’t be expected to write particularly personal recommendations.</p>