I have to admit I am fascinated by the students who ask others to “Chance Me.” They include their GPAs down to the thousands of a point and list all the APs they took but they make no mention about teacher and guidance counselor recommendations. The admissions officers at the most selective schools say that for the clearly qualified students with good essays, the quality and specificity of the teacher and school recommendations are decisive. They say they rely on the recommendations to show that the student has strong relationships with faculty and gain a clear sense of the student’s intellectual character. And they read the school/guidance counselor recommendations to know how rigorous/challenging the student’s course load was in the context of the school’s offerings/history/resources. Yet, there seems to be little on this site that encourages/counsels high schoolers to build relationships and choose their recommenders carefully to shape their applications.
Why is this?