The Issue With Guidance Counselors

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>I currently attend a Canadian high school with approximately 1200 students and three counselors. The counselors at our school discourage the students from applying to Ivy League universities and think it's a miracle that any kids from our school get in (about 1 or 2 each year). They also strongly discourage the students from taking hard courses so that they may have higher averages which aid them in admissions to Canadian universities. They are completely unhelpful and provide no real guidance. Also, with so many students to attend to, they only know the kids who flunk out of every class by name. They make no effort to get to know you. </p>

<p>Yesterday, while looking at the application forms, I realized how important counselor recs are. Since my counselor doesn't even know who I am, how is he supposed to fill out such specific questions? I don't think he even knows how to fill out the forms. </p>

<p>It's almost impossible to make an appointment to get to know my counselor (or for him to get to know me). Plus, when I do get an appointment, all he does is try to get me to apply to our local university (which is pretty bad) and to drop all of my harder class even though I have the highest average in the school. </p>

<p>What do I do? What can I expect? Do the admissions officers look deeply into counselor recs? I can't help but to feel like I'm at a disadvantage.</p>

2

<p>At least you don't go to an inner city school in America.</p>

3

<p>Bill Fitzsimmons, the Harvard Admissions Director, sees the poor student/counsellor ratio as a huge problem nationally, and often points out that in California public schools, for example, there is less than 1 counsellor for every 1,000 graduates. Small comfort, perhaps, but you are not alone. Colleges realize this, and try, as best they can, to deal with the fact that counsellor reports are often not well written or well-informed.</p>

4

<p>Concentrate on getting excellent recommendations from teachers instead. I would guess that they would carry a lot more weight than a g.c. anyway, although the recs themselves need to demonstrate how well the teachers know you. This last, unfortunately, you have no control over.</p>

5

<p>You can also ask your principal or vice-principal to fill out those forms, I believe. Maybe you'll have better luck with them. Good luck~ And as Byerly said above, poor GC reports are pretty common. I highly, highly doubt that a sloppy GC rec would hurt your chances for admission when the admissions officers see how many students your GC is responsible for.</p>