My son & I attended a NYU In Your Town event. The rep said that the “college counselor” recommendation was more important/carried more weight than the teacher recommendations. The reasoning being the college counselor can speak to the students academics, extracurriculars and leadership skills whereas a teacher can only address the how the student does in their particular class. Has anyone else heard this?
Hmm. That’s exactly the opposite of what we heard from NYU itself (at a NY info session), as well as a couple of other schools, who said particularly for larger high schools they tend to discount the GC recs more as they know it’s difficult to know all the kids well.
By the way, I’m pretty sure a strong teacher rec was one of the things that helped my daughter get into NYU - her GC was new at the school and would just have written a formulaic rec.
Maybe for a private school where GC’s really are college counselors. For most publics, the GC’s are just trying to get kids through graduation.
@SJ2727 I was floored when the rep said the GC rec was the most important recommendation. My kid goes to a large public high school where each counselor has 750-800 students. He is on his fourth GC in four years. After the presentation, my son spoke with one of the other NYU reps. He explained his situation and they told him “we won’t hold it against you.” My son left the event thinking NYU is only interested in private school kids. I’m encouraged by your experience.
Just to correct your son’s impression, @MilouForever:
https://www.nyu.edu/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/nyu-facts.html
59% of NYU’s freshman class went to U.S. public high schools. 27% went to private schools or parochial schools and 13% are internationals! I don’t recall anyone from NYU ever saying that the GC recc was important in our admissions meetings. My (NYU sophomore) D’s GC recommendation was probably fine… but her teacher reccs were likely much more personal and detailed.
All the LoRs are important. In theory, a GC has a more rounded view, sometimes a more personal view, than an individual hs teacher can. But not always and some can’t write a good letter.
This isn’t something to let yourself fret over. If the GC is new, overworked, or not as competent, get the best teacher LoRs you can.
@CaMom13 Thank you. As I said before, I was very surprised by what this rep was saying. It made no sense. As a NYU alum I was unsettled because it made the school sound elitist and out of touch. It was very weird. I regret we went to the event.
The rep was correct in saying the GC LOR is the most important Rec. Certain key words, certain evaluation are sought on the apps from the GC. The GC is supposed to be the objective judge of all of the students in the school. You can pick your teacher. Most of the time, not the GC
My kids school gets nearly 100% accept at NYU. I think audition and portfolio schools programs excepted and it’s through some program sometimes, but yes, if GC says NYU is good, it’s a go.
I don’t see why anyone is surprised about the GC REC being so important
^If you were part of a large public HS where we have 6 GC’s to handle 2,000 students (500 per class) you can understand why.
our GC at a large low SES school didn’t even know what SAT 2s were. No idea. She barely knows my son, but know he has good stats. Its been frustrating, to say the least, looking at some top schools within the framework of my son’s HS.
@cptofthehouse , how big is your kids school? I’ve just gone back and looked at my college tour notes and I had this under NYU:
“Know if big [high] school to rely less on counselor and more on teacher rec letters “