<p>question 1: I'm just wondering, what is the point of submitting a senior profile to a complete stranger who will then copy paste that into a word document and sending it out? Just curious.</p>
<p>Question 2: How much does it count for? My counselor hates me, and i am fairly certain the my letter of recommendation from her will be terrible. For my reaches, will this hurt me a lot? What if I get 3 other fantastic letters of req's? (1 from a teacher, 2 places where i volunteer). Should I not bother applying to schools that require commonapp?</p>
<p>I am basically in the same situation as you. I go to a school where the graduating class exceeds 1000 students, and there are two college counselors writing a recommendation for each student. We have to submit an autobiography along with other documents, JUST so they can get a clearer picture of who we are. My recommendation will in no way encompass who I really am as a person and I really resent that when it comes to my school system.</p>
<p>Its kind of strange if they arent your teachers. I know. How are they suposed to know you. So that means they are basically lying when they write recomendations. I thought everything was suposed to be about telling the truth and cheaters never win. Maybe they are the best person to be freindly with in high school cause they you can get into a better school. The whole idea of getting recomendations is kind of fishy. I think there is something sneaky going on and you should have your parents look into it.</p>
<p>I think that colleges generally put more emphasis on counselor recs for private school students who generally have smaller graduating classes and more contact with their counselors, but I could be mistaken</p>
<p>The counselor basically just writes like, how hard of classes you took in relation to your school’s offerings, how nice you have been when with him/her, etc. But I, too, am worried because my counselor probably hates me. :p</p>
<p>My counselor is just a generally very angry woman who hates her life. Last time I was in her office, she shouted at me and told me that I was “causing problems for the school” because I asked to be switched from an office assistant hour (which I didn’t schedule) to Bio II. Heaven forbid, right?
Since then my Vice Principal has taken over all of my scheduling, advising, etc. She’ll be the one to send my school report and counselor rec. letter. I hope this is okay.</p>
<p>From a cynical point of view, its an easy way of finding out whether you went to a private school or one in an expensive neighborhood with good schools. In these 2 categories, the counselors make a point of getting to know the students. At most of the rest the counselors are so busy dealing with kids who are flunking, behavioral problems, etc. that a good student is seen as a godsend, one who doesn’t take up their time. I think some colleges use the counselor rec as a way to keep out the middle-class riff-raff without having to be blatant about it. Here is a clipping from the US News a while back