<p>We got a really thoughtful letter from HS GC today, with background on how they assemble the teacher recommendations and GC report for college apps. </p>
<p>The main point of the letter was a questionaire asking for parental insight that will help the GC write college recommendations. It asked things like formative experiences; your perception of your kids readiness for college; important personal attributes; academic and personal strengths and weaknesses; insights that teachers might miss et al.</p>
<p>I hadn't heard about such letters, even from other parents at our school. I was impressed, particularly since this is a public school in an economically so-so community. Do other schools do this? Any tips on things that wouldn't be obvious to include?</p>
<p>You are lucky to have a public school that takes this amount of care in crafting students' recommendations. Our private school has parents fill out a similar form at the end of each child's junior year. It is billed as an opportunity to brag as much as possible about your child's attributes--so don't be modest! It helps to use illustrative stories to give concrete examples of your child's characteristics--for example, compassionate, committed, studious, conscientious, funny, loyal--you get the idea. Put some thought into your responses; write them in such a way that the GC can simply take excerpts from your responses and put them directly into his/her recommendation--this is one circumstance where you want to encourage plagiarism!</p>
<p>Our GC gave us a huge long form to fill out of ds's accomplishment's. Not only did it get used for her college recommendations, I'm pretty sure it was the main basis for a technology award that he received from the school. (Most of his computer experience was things he'd done outside the school.)</p>
<p>My high school had students fill out a pretty extensive questionnaire with questions about daily schedule, family life, interests, outside activities, favorite classes, least favorite classes, accomplishment you are most proud of, places you have traveled, jobs you've had, room to explain anything that might need an explanation from the GC, etc. The college advisers at my school know the students very well, but this is helpful to give them more of an "inside" look. I wonder, MM, if your school does something similar with students? It would seem strange to approach the parents and not the students, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Yet another way the public schools in our town lag far behind. They asked the kids for a resume listing awards and activities, but nothing else.</p>
<p>When I asked my son's guidance counselor if she thought she had a good understanding about my son's major EC (an unusual one) in case any of the colleges called to clarify the information, she was offended that I asked her and informed me that school policy prohibited guidance counselors from talking to colleges if they called because it was "a violation of privacy policies".</p>
<p>Yes, our kids' school does this. We filled out a similar questionnaire for our son. He goes to a non-competitive public magnet school, and I was actually surprised to see all the forms he needed filled out to get the counselor's recommendation. There was a questionnaire for him to fill out, one for his sibling, one for a community member, one for a teacher, and one for the parent. And, fortunately for him, she knows him very well and thinks highly of him. I hope to be able to see what her recommendation says.</p>
<p>Our school had a form similar and I have told several parents who complained on this forum about GC not knowing their kid that if your school doesn't have one you should feel free to make up your own. </p>
<p>The only tip I would put forth is that you put things on their that the GC wouldn't know about your student. Do they volunteer on the weekends (not for school credit?) </p>
<p>The example I seem to always use is that my son had an informal thing of helping other kids on his wrestling team with their homework, particularly when their eligibility was in danger. The GC and the high school would have no way of knowing this. It was a kind of "such and such called and they are flunking math so they are coming over so I can help with the homework..."</p>
<p>It's great that your GC is asking so much input. When S1 was a senior, we were sent a brag sheet and asked for three words to describe S. I took this literally and wrote down three words. In retrospect, I should have supplied anecdotes, especially about aspects of his personality or specific experiences unlikely to be on display in a school context. Luckily, the GC knew S very well and must have written a positive rec as he got into most of the schools that he applied to!
Anyway, turn the request for "weaknesses" into an occasion to truly brag about your kid. That's what brag sheets are about.</p>
<p>At our local high school, GCs aren't allowed to fill out the forms. They ask the students to identify their favorite teachers, and the GCs will help the teachers write the recommendations if they ask for help.</p>
<p>Mini, that's an unusual system. Who fills out the Secondary School Report for the many colleges that use the common app? There's a large narrative section in that part of the application.</p>
<p>Yes, kids' HS GCs asked for a brag sheet. S's GC even e-mailed me the draft of his recommendation to make sure he hadn't omitted anything. (It was his first year as a GC but had been S's frosh soccer coach.) Didn't see the letter of rec. for D but her GC, also in her first year, was a bit overwhelmed.</p>
<p>Yes for D#1, no for D#2 -- both private schools. Things worked out better in D#1's case, so I'd recommend putting some thought into the questionnaire. I like dg5052's approach!</p>