<p>Well, I suppose it's not her fault. I come from a school where nobody has applied to a US school in a very long time. I guess she's not used to SAT scores and detailed recommendations.</p>
<p>But seriously, I'm so mad. It said explicitly on my Secondary School Report, "DO NOT FOLD AND RETURN TO THE APPLICANT IN A 9x12 ENVELOPE." I guess she forgot about that part, because she folded it up and put it in a letter envelope. I can't run after her because it's Christmas vacation, so what I did was I sent it off anyway, and put a letter of apology in there explaining why it's not in the right envelope.</p>
<p>While I understand that you're anxious about your college applications, I am concerned about you apparent lack of respect and empathy for your GC, who is having to do a lot of difficult, extra work to help out with your college applications. Sure, this is your GC's job, but that fact doesn't make your GC's work helping you less difficult.</p>
<p>What Slak said is true. Adcoms probably thought you were a tad obsessive in putting an apology in (I am not saying that will work against you. Adcoms know that students are under stress, and worry about little things. I am simply saying an apology for such a trivial error that wasn't your fault was unnecessary).</p>
<p>Check to make sure and help your GC do the major things that are necessary for your application. Let your GC know, too, how much you appreciate her efforts. Don't sweat the small stuff. </p>
<p>Make sure that you're doing the things that you need to do correctly to have your best chances of acceptances. This means taking the time to read boards like CC to learn about how to produce essays that are outstanding and how to stand out in other aspects of the application that are under your direct control.</p>
<p>Although I agree with Northstarmom's comments in principle, I'm a father and I was really upset with the incompetence demonstrated by a lot of the teachers/GC's at my son's rather inferior public school. I think you are venting about your GC and may be frustrated by someone coming to his/her defense. The thing is that you picked one thing in particular to vent about, the envelope. I'm sure that there is more of a pattern of incompetence. You will find that the natural reaction from most people is to stand up for and take the side of people in authority. </p>
<p>Sorry, but I have to say that our GCs here at a high school in the US are almost totally useless. The GC that DD has is a bit better than the GC that DS had a couple of years ago....but only by a tad. The reality is that students at our high school better be advocates for themselves, do college searches themselves, set up their OWN timelines for application completion (the HS recommends that aps be completed by Jan 15...WAY too late in my opinion), and generally navigate the process themselves. The GCs do the minimum...and they will help if they are specifically asked a question. Beyond that...we planned to do the work ourselves...and it worked out much better that way!!</p>
<p>My counselor didn't know what deferred meant... or the common app. Luckily I think she wrote a great letter of recommendation for a GC.</p>
<p>To the OP, don't worry about it. It's not your fault, and I'm sure lot's of GC's screw up. Next time, though, give them the correct envelope already addressed and remind them. That has worked for me with my GC.</p>
<p>Yea.... my counslers have all been useless as well (I've had 5). My latest counsler didn't even know how to spell princeton (prinston), didn't know what SAT II's were, etc. </p>
<p>Had to get my friend's mom (a counsler) to do my rec. for me.</p>
<p>GC's certainly have to deal with a lot. In public schools, they have a lot of students assigned to them. They deal with discipline problems, irrate parents, internal school politics, and other issues in addition to seniors applying to college. Just getting the rec forms completed for perhaps hundreds of kids to multiple colleges must be a big job. </p>
<p>Maybe there is nothing that can be done about not knowing how to spell Princeton, and nobody who can actually spell Princeton wants the job. Still, it seems that somebody working as a GC could read one book about how to apply to college, even if they had to do it during off-hours.</p>
<p>I suppose I am a bit harsh. But hell, this is a lot of paperwork! Over here, college admissions is more straightforward:</p>
<ol>
<li> Submit HS grades</li>
<li> Take an exam (that's one exam per college/university)</li>
<li> Wait for results (which come out like 5-6 months later!).</li>
</ol>
<p>That's it. Few universities require recs or essays, and I know that they weigh the exam and the grades much higher. </p>
<p>Incidentally, I'd like to share: the top university (University of the Philippines) has a rejection rate of 91%. All they require is the exam and your HS transcript. Almost EVERY senior in the country takes the exam for UP, that's why it's so difficult to get in.</p>
<p>Therefore at other schools, if you kicked ass at the exam and have really good grades, they won't even open your essays and recommendations. They only use them for applicants who are on the waitlist. Interviews are only used by universities with very small applicant pools and student populations.</p>
<p>So yeah, I guess she just isn't used to the hellish amount of paperwork. And I do appreciate what she's doing (everyone who's applying abroad is going to chip in and get her a present at graduation). It's more "every man for himself", that's all, and it's stressing us out.</p>
<p>its a silly thing to get mad at your GC for. I'd be more mad at myself if that happened. my GC is somewhat familiar with the US applicaton process but still missed that little detail. I went to her office on the last day and asked her to not fold it (even though I told already when I gave the letter to her). I also reminded my teachers (although one of them I wasnt able to check). if you already knew your GC is unfamiliar with the process, then why not just leave her a note stating how everything is supposed to be?</p>
<p>either way this is not something that will make or break your application.</p>