<p>In a NYT article about a homeless young man who is headed to Connecticut College, the author (Steven Winerip) mentioned that the young man's teacher was able to write an incredibly detailed letter of recommendation for him. He contrasted that with the situation at Stuyvesant where the GCs were so overwhelmed that the school contracted with Princeton Review to write recs. The students were given a 20minute interview prior to the rec writing. Apparently, the outsourcing of recs is becoming a trend.
It makes one wonder whether recs should play such a big part in the college application.</p>
<p>Marite, when we start Confidentialia college, you should as member of the Board make sure that the essay is proctored and on the premises. The admissions essay and the "Why Confidentialia" essay.</p>
<p>As for the recs, this is mind-boggling. But since adcoms read the NYTimes.....</p>
<p>I would imagine that in some schools, the GCs have as little interaction and familiarity with their students as a PR subcontractor would. Still, this is amazing that colleges would accept these outsourced recs.</p>
<p>at our school (3 counselors for 2,000 students), a PR rep would be welcomed.</p>
<p>I suspect that PR rep would be very welcome at many schools. This, however is Stuyvesant, where competition for admission is fierce, students are willing to travel 2 hours one way to attend, and has so many stellar students that they compete against one another for the same highly selective colleges. To make any student stand out among a crowd of such stellar students would need great and highly individualized recs. Somehow, I doubt that the PR reps can provide that.</p>
<p>My initial reaction was, "That is pathetic!" but those are only the GC recs.. Hopefully the kids are still getting personalized recs from teachers and have the opportunity to submit additional recs from people who know them well. I suspect in many schools the GC don't know the students very well and are doing little more than the PR subcontractors are doing, ie filling out a form based on a 20 minute interview with the student.</p>
<p>um, er... yeah, what kissy already said! :)</p>
<p>marite:</p>
<p>of course, you are correct. Any magnet-style school ought have top-flight counselors and a good ratio of GC/students. If I was a parent there, I'd organize the others to march on the school board, or arm-twist Bloomberg (Stuy is a public, correct?), since he is a JHU grad -- a place where GC recommendations are required and used.</p>
<p>OTOH, most top privates do know which schools have lousy GC ratios; supposedly, the adcoms then only check the GC's reference for the rankings and check boxes ("best I've ever known'), and then focus on teacher recs.....</p>
<p>The biggest question is still WHY do colleges even bother with high school recommendation or assessment letters. </p>
<p>Sadly enough, it seems that the insane are still running the asylum.</p>
<p>PS I would cast a vote for Confidentiala College to declare all GC persona non grata! :)</p>
<p>NJres:</p>
<p>I suppose you are correct. I know that my S's GC said he would make sure to explain my S's odd transcript--no high school math, lots of "guided study" and lots of Pass/Fail classes. He also was going to explain why S was graduating a year early. Presumably, a PR rep could get all that in a 20-mn conversation, but I'm sure my S's GC would be more convincing--since he was the one to arrange S's schedule, and to remind him to get grade reports from his college profs, etc... My S goes to a public school. He is lucky that there are 12 GCs for 1800 students. SoozieVT considers her D's GC a real gem and fought against his being fired. I'm sure that GC did not write perfunctory letters on behalf of his students.</p>
<p>xiggi,</p>
<p>Here's one reason colleges bother with recs: because, in some cases, they can really matter. I've been called by adcoms a number of times in response to letters I've written for students. And, although it would be nice if it happened more often, I've even been sent personal notes from adcoms who wanted to let me know how much they appreciated the letter I wrote and how much it helped them make their decision. As you can imagine, I really appreciated these notes, not just because they reassured me that the time I spent on the letters was well spent, but because they struck me as a nice professional gesture that adcoms should extend more often to teachers.</p>