<p>my school counselor left last year, so i have a new one this year. And there's a possibility that i'm going to get a different one again next year because another counselor left and the school is out of money to pay for a new one. So.. my question is, how do i present myself to a counselor who probably doesn't remember the 20 min total time we spent together (and i'm one of like 500 kids he's responsible for ) and ask him to write me a letter of rec for the upcoming fall ?? Should i drop by his office a few times to talk to him? i'm really confused. also, if i get a completely new counselor in the fall, who do i ask to write a letter of rec, the counselor i have junior year or the one i have senior year?
i'm currently a junior. Thanks !!!</p>
<p>I'm in the same position you are in, so hopefully I can give some advice.</p>
<p>I have made an effort to schedule numerous meetings and email conversations with my counselor. She knows what I want to major in, where I'm planning on applying, what I do for extracurriculars, etc. She even nominated me for a special program. Make an effort to get to know him/her, and s/he'll know you. I'm from a huge school too, but my counselor remembers me because I make an effort to talk to her every now and then.</p>
<p>So definitely drop by if your counselor isn't busy and just talk about your plans. It's not hard to build a relationship with your counselor in twenty minutes. Despite the number of times we've interacted, I probably haven't spent more than an hour talking to my counselor.</p>
<p>(By the way, I don't know if your school does this, but because mine is so big, counselors have students fill out questionnaires of who they are and what they want on their letter. The counselors won't write everything you say, but if it's something like "I couldn't take the hardest classes due to scheduling problems" then they'll be happy to mention it.)</p>
<p>EDIT: I think they want your current counselor to write your letter. If you makes you feel any better, my counselor "knew" me by the end of August. (We start school in mid-August.)</p>
<p>Your school is just like mine! At our school, some counselors are good, but some are just awful!</p>
<p>The new counselors tend to underestimate how organized they have to be to handle all the work they have to do. Our newest counselor likes to say that he's really on top of things and organized, when he really isn't. At big high schools, the letter of rec. isn't as important. I recommend that you try to talk to your counselor about what you've been up to. Say that you're interested in ____ and ___, and you want to find out how you can pursue these interests during summer break. This is better than just flat out saying what your interests are with no purpose. Talk about what colleges you're interested in and ask if he/she has any suggestions or comments. </p>
<p>At our school, which has a population of around 1700 students, we have to submit a document where we talk about what activites we do and what awards/honors we've won, jobs, AP classes we took, etc., much like a Common App. I swear, all they do is just summarize the extracurricular activities and honors. </p>
<p>Don't stress so much about the counselor letter of rec. Your situation is probably not that uncommon, and I'm sure colleges are aware of these things.</p>
<p>thanks guys !!! phew !! that made me less stressed out !!
Hopefully I will still have the same counselor for senior year. I'll def. take the excellent advice and try to contact him often to talk. :)</p>
<p>My daughter never met her counselor until Senior Year. I had to fill out a parent's brag sheet and my daughter has to fill out her own brag sheet. And after reading those brag sheets her counselor also interviewed her. I think at a lot of public high school, counselor don't really know you until Senior year. So it's ok not to bug them until Senior year.</p>