Hello, I am a rising senior who is applying for the Questbridge NCM. I have some questions regarding counselor recommendations as I just found out that there is a new high school counselor. Throughout my high school times, up until now, I have had the same counselor. According to the website, it says that one should give recommenders at least 3 weeks (ideally 1 month or more) to write one. Although, the school I go to, has been delayed to open 1 month later (Sept.), due to this pandemic. I will only have three weeks from when I start school to the deadline (Sept. 29). It does fit the three week timeline but ideally I would want more flexibility. Ideally, Questbridge suggests to get junior year teachers as your recommenders. Although, I have a junior year teacher that I would like to write a recommendation for me, but due to the situation now, I have not seen the teacher since March (went online afterwards) and could not ask for recommendations before the end of the school year. Do you think it is okay to ask now or when school starts again?
I heard that brag sheets are commonly used to help recommenders with their recommendations. I have seen some templates online, such as one from Questbridge, but I am seen more detailed ones from other sources such as Common App and other schools. In particular, for my new counselor, how much should I go into detail? Because of this pandemic, I have not been able to do certain EC’s that I usually do in the summer (also with standardized test being canceled, I have only done it once) and so should I explain this situation to the too or should I just write that in the given section provide on the app. If you have already been through the NCM process and used the template from Questbridge, was it sufficient or do you recommend other ones? or did you not use one at all?