Recommendations--Meaningful?

<p>I met with D's guidance counselor last week to work out a schedule glitch. She briefly raised the issue of college apps and cheerfuly told me that "of course" she would give my kid a great recommendation. (I hadn't asked, honest.) I have to say my gut reaction was first, "I bet you tell that to all the parents," and later "I bet you say the same thing in all of them."</p>

<p>Recommendations are the true blind items in applications, yet we're told colleges do take them seriously. But students only seek recommendations from teachers they feel will say positive things, so how meaningful can their words be? And how many guidance counselors would be willing to torpedo a student--I suspect they all find something nice to say. Moreover, how thoughtful and individualized can a guidance counselor's recommendation be when they have dozens to write? I would guess there's a lot of boilerplate used. I'd love to hear from admissions pros about the kinds of recommendations they see, how much they have to discount standard polite puffery, to what extent an applicant may be damned with faint praise, etc. The whole teacher/counselor recommendation routine strikes me as such a worthless exercise--am I wrong?</p>

<p>Most schools want a rec from the guidance counselor which is mostly understood to be pro forma, and at least one and sometimes two from teachers who know your student well.</p>

<p>Colleges understand that counselors often don't know much about a particular student, which is why their rec form (on the common app) is more about the type of school and how the student's schedule stacks up (e.g. most rigorous, etc.). The counselor isn't expected to extol the individual virtues of the student, but is expected to know the big picture--given the pool of students and the quality of the school how does this kid stack up? </p>

<p>A counselor statement saying "I really don't know this kid; I'm the only counselor and 80% of our students drop out and this is the only kid who never gave me any trouble" is a pretty powerful positive, whereas "I really don't know this kid, all the other 50 students I counsel showed up for their college planning session but he didn't" is likewise quite powerful.</p>

<p>The teacher rec is in many cases invaluable. I still puzzle over how my daughter got in EA at her school where her profile was a solid match but nothing spectacular. The only wild card was that her teacher rec was probably well researched and well thought out by a man who took education very seriously and who held his students and athletes to extremely high standards. She was one of the few students he agreed to write a rec for and I"m sure one of the reasons he was selective is that he took the trouble to research not only the student, but the school and its priorities before he wrote his letters. I never read his letter, but his assessment of her on other evaluations was astute, and he selected her for team captain (he was also her coach) over more talented athletes and I have to believe it was the thing that tipped her over the edge.</p>

<p>I think that is a very good sign that the GC made such a positive and unsolicited comment.</p>

<p>I asked a similar question in an info session that was part of a college tour. Because we have so much turnover in counselors, and each counselor has such a large load, I asked how much weight is given to those recs. The adcom person said it depends on the school but usually not much. If there is a school with a longtime counselor who has a relationship with this college, then more weight is given; if it's a large public school with lots of turnover, then not so much.</p>

<p>"I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles such are promises." S/G 1969</p>

<p>MommaJ - What information/commitments do you have now that you didn't have before your meeting with the GC? It was nice of the GC to say she was going to write a great recommendation, of course. And she may actually do that. But I don't see how the promise to do so affects what you and your D need to do.</p>

<p>I don't know much but I do believe teacher recommendations can tip the bucket ever so slightly in some cases. My brilliant son (aren't they all?) did not have an exceptional GPA but I do believe got some solid help from his teacher recs. I was told by our high school's college counselor that schools typically do <em>not</em> weigh the guidance counselor's recommendation heavily. For example, my son's gc was new to the school his senior year and really did not know my son at all. We also happen to be at a fairly small public high school, but was told that at larger ones, the guidance counselor's really <em>can't</em> know all of their college-bound students well. </p>

<p>Focus on the teacher recs (and, again, I think they only come into play for borderline cases), and don't worry about the gc's.</p>

<p>NewHope - so that's what that S/G line is! Thanks.</p>

<p>NewHope--That really wasn't the point of my post. Her comment didn't change anything. It just got me to thinking about the subject of recommendations in general.</p>