<p>I really don't understand why guidance counselors write college recommendation essays and everything.</p>
<p>I've only seen my guidance counselor twice: once to change classes, and then once to meet about post-HS plans. I go to a fairly large public high school (>600 per class). I don't even remotely understand why guidance counselors are supposed to write college recommendations. I thought they were really only for scheduling.</p>
<p>Why do guidance counselors write recommendations? Does anyone else have the same problem of not knowing his/her guidance counselor at all? Is there anything I can do so that my guidance counselor writes a decent recommendation?</p>
<p>I think that they write them because even though they don’t know you too well personally, they know how well you do overall academically. Could be a possibility, I’m not all too sure about it either haha</p>
<p>In my opinion, the guidance counselor rec wont have as big of an impact as the teacher recs. (Correct me if i’m wrong on this one.) The rec basically describes the school, and provides more details about what’s offered, and a bit about your personality, and how involved you are in the school community, and probably he/she will ask some academic teachers/ EC advisors about you. basically, the main purpose is to simply describe the circumstances you’re in, and what activities and things at your school are like, how well you took advantage of the school’s resources, and how involved you were, and a LITTLE bit on your personality</p>
<p>I think it really depends on the school. At my school we tend to know our guidance counselors very well. In fact, I would say the one person in my school who really knew ME outside of the classroom was my guidance counselor, because he basically took me through the entire admissions process (sat with me and did my SUNY applications with me, went over my common app with a fine-toothed comb, etc.). </p>
<p>At some schools they’re just there for scheduling, but at my school they also serve as impromptu crisis counselors, and they really do get individually involved to make sure you’re all set to head off to college, vocation, or other. In that instance, it makes a lot of sense for a counselor to write your recs, I think.</p>
<p>At our school we have probably 1750 kids for two grades- and another school feeds with us into our senior high (11th and 12th) so our guidance counselors only get us for two years and there are a LOT of kids. So it doesn’t really make much sense in my case.
Still, there are some (like hyperJulie’s) that do get actively involved and I guess that’s why it’s required.</p>
<p>Teacher recs are probably worth more, I presume…I’m not too sure. Um, you should try to talk to your guidance counselor and still see what you can do; but don’t worry about it too much - people accepted to good schools are not necessarily ones with good GC recs.</p>
<p>A guidance counsellor can also write a bit about your school, which allows universities to more accurately evaluate your application in the context of the opportunities you had. Often people with extenuating circumstances (eg specific problems that require addressing) will have their guidance counsellor cover that in their evaluation as well.</p>
<p>At my school, I know my guidance counselor very well, but there’s only 90 in a graduating class. I think his recommendation will have equal weight with my teacher recommendations. And since our school is unique, I think my guidance counselor will be able to capture our uniqueness.</p>
<p>True. Our graduating class of 698, and I’m TOO afraid to even talk to my guidance counselor. she’s basically doubting me because i’m changing my classes so much. she’s got issues with me. but none the less. <3 her for putting up with me</p>
<p>In our school, our teacher recs have to be STRICTLY academic - the teachers can’t say anything about you personally, just how you are as a student. Our college counselor, on the other hand, meets with every single one of the Junior class and she write more personal recs and stuff. Kinda odd, but yeah.</p>
<p>The only reason you would need a guidance counselor recommendation is if a school that you are applying to requires one. I think that 2 of the 8 schools that my S applied to required GC recs, and the other 6 did not.</p>
<p>Mileage varies by school. I am pretty convinced that my GC reccs
helped tremendously in my HPMS admittance this year.</p>
<p>At my school the GCs are very close to the students. Prior to
writing the reccs they ask for the student to choose two/three
faculty who will not be giving them reccs and then get these
teachers to comment in writing about the student. These comments
are incorporated along with comments obtained from the parents
in writing. Also the GC shows the recc before sending it in.</p>
<p>Overall our GC reccs are an advantage when comparing to students
from other schools and neutral within our student body.</p>
<p>I’ve always wondered this myself - I guess some schools run their guidance offices differently from mine. I’ve only met with my guidance counselor once, for junior year scheduling. I doubt she even knows my name, but I think she was happy that I already had my schedule made out and she didn’t have to do her job, lol.</p>
<p>My school is one of the largest in the area, with 1000+ students in each grade. Surprisingly, my counselor knows me very well. So, I’m assuming colleges know that counselor-student relationships vary at each school.</p>
<p>My school has 9 counsellors for a school of 1200, so i feel that we are pretty lucky in that regard. I met with my cojnselor probably about twice a month towards he end of my Junior year about college. They are probably more of college counselors at our school than anything else.</p>