I had the chance to read my counselor recommendation and it’s horroble. My name is spelled wrong and I feel like she just put my name through a template. I talked to her throughout the year so reading the rec was a little disappointing. How much will this impact me? Is there a lot of weight on the counselor recommendation?
I put this in the wrong category, I apologize.
Well… I didn’t judge you too harshly because you misspelled horrible! Mistakes happens. Honestly, it depends entirely on the school to which you are applying. Some may notice and make a notation, others not so much. There is no point in worrying about it now if the recommendation has already been sent.
It is not unusual for guidance counselors to be overwhelmed, have little time for each recommendation etc. If you have strong teacher recommendations they can really help to make up for any deficiency in the counselor recommendation.
My S’s guidance counselor wrote blah recommendations except to the top one or two students (In a class of over 600). She and my son never got along and we were worried about what she would write. He had great recommendations from a teacher (she was a wonderful writer), and from his employer. They school’s obviously didn’t care much about what the GC wrote but commented on the other letters.
Admissions are familiar with the high schools in their region. It seems reasonable to me that they also know guidance staff and the kinds of letters they have written over time. I would not be concerned unless the letter is really negative or contains factual errors. My suspicion is many don’t know much about students beyond what is in the file. I met with my high school guidance counselor who vigorously demanded I improve my grades, but I didnt laugh. She probably could not recognize me without a giant name tag. You have enough to fret about now. Relax.
I thought this was going to be about an actual negative rec…like the GC saying bad things about the student.
A form letter with misspelled name plugged in doesn’t seem all that unusual at many high schools with overworked GCs. I wouldn’t worry about it, colleges will understand.
Did you need teacher recs and get those?
I’m wondering how in the world you saw your letter!
I would probably let it go - it is likely already sent out to your colleges. And I think they will be understanding of the typo in your name. Don’t sweat it too much!
I needed it for a scholarship and I got the chance to see it! The scholarship needed it printed out so my counselor printed it for me.