I’m applying as an international student. I graduated this summer and am currently taking a gap year. The school I went to doesn’t have a college counselor, as this isn’t the norm in my country. The only solution I’ve seen to this problem is to ask the principal or another school official for a recommendation, but my old principal has no idea who I am (again, this is standard where I’m from) and I don’t know any of the school officials. Is there anything at all I can do?
Call the college you’re applying to and ask for guidance.
Your GC-equivalent is likely to be your head teacher; this could also be the person who advised you for higher education or who summarized your term or annual work for the school or for your university choices.
I didn’t really have anything of the like. Advice for higher education was optional at my school and the counselors were external and changed from year to year.
Didn’t you have a homeroom teacher, head teacher, teacher in a subject considered defining of your track or academic stream?
Even an external adviser who would review all your transcripts and comment would work (external college advisers are very common in some systems.) That external adviser wouldn’t know you personally but would at least be able to evaluate your transcripts, if the transcripts include written assessment could use that, and certify a school profile that you’d put together based on clearly referenced public sources.
Also, look up “college admission brag sheet” – you could provide that element, too.
I did have a sort of homeroom teacher (my math teacher), but their function was more to ensure social well-being rather than academic, and they had no real knowledge of or influence over my performance in other subjects. They didn’t have access to my transcripts either.
Is there a way to get ahold of such an external adviser to write me a recommendation, even after graduation?
I think you need to call each school of interest and let them guide you - and once one tells you, you can ask the others is that acceptable?
You can provide the transcript and you can provide a “college admission brag sheet” to a person who has an official role in your school, even if they didn’t know you much.