<p>I am an international applicant and applying to american universities is something very unusual at my school, therefore my counselor didn't know how to deal with her part of my common app. Besides she doesn't quit speak english, and since my school is extremely large she doesn't have a lot of "free" time, nor does she know me very well. For those reasons (and because she is slightly lazy), she asked me if I could do her part myself. I entered her common app, completed all the forms, and then showed it to her so that she could quickly read it and see if she agrees.</p>
<p>Many counselors ask students to write their own recommendation here in my home country, yet I felt really bad about doing so. I think it isn't fair with other applicants that I got to write my own recommendation. It just doesn't seem right to have a letter written by myself saying that I am an outstanding student. </p>
<p>I don't know what to do. </p>
<p>In one hand I totally regret writing my own recommendation, and I think it isn't fair or morally correct at all. In another hand, there is a selfish part of me that says it isn't that big of a deal and that I couldn't simply tell her "it isn't correct to write my own letter; I would prefer if you squeeze such an important part of my application between two of your school meetings, and quickly write a horrible letter about a student you barely know." </p>
<p>I simply didn't want to hurt my application, but I now feel really bad about it. Seriously, what is going on with me? I wrote my own letter because I wanted a good letter, and doing so I put my ambition over my own moral beliefs... This is messed up. I really do not know what to do.</p>
<p>What do you guys think about this? Do some students write their own recommendations at your home country as well? What would you have done if you were me? What should I do? Can colleges possibly find out that I wrote the letter myself? Am I overreacting or was accepting the counselor's offer a really screwed up, corrupted, immoral, unfair, egoist, and coward act of my part?</p>
<p>I hope this post doesn't get me in trouble... And I hope this will forever be absolutely anonymous...</p>
<p>If she approved what you wrote, don’t worry. She could have made any changes that she felt were important. Many international students have to do this. It is not unusual at all.</p>
<p>happymomof1 thank you so much for your answer. I feel a lot calmer now that you said it isn’t unusual and that I shouldn’t worry (: and yes she indeed approved (she was sitting by my side me the whole time)</p>
<p>What worries me though is ( sorry brbr I don’t mean to scare you ) don’t admission officers regard them as less truthful if they think it’s usual for IS to do that ?</p>
<p>I’m an International Student as well (from Germany), and I have problems regarding the application forms and recommendations, too. Firstly, the commonApp school report form doesn’t fit on my school system, I still really haven’t figured out how to handle this. Do you have the same problem?</p>
<p>And moreover my “school counselor” is not entirely sure how to write my recommendations, I’m not sure in how far I should tell him, how to write it and what to put in it. </p>
<p>btw: May I ask, which country you are from brbrbr?</p>
<p>Penny95 , but if admission officers indeed regard IS recommendations as less truthful, then they would probably view all IS this way, right? I mean, if admissions officers know recommenders might get a lot of help from students themselves, then they probably don’t give that much importance to International Students’ recommendations, right?</p>
<p>VPhill , I do have the same problem! I actually went to 3 different schools (and 2 different countries) during my 3 years of high school, so it is even more complicated to fit my 3 school systems on the CommonApp. I tried to fit everything the best way I could even if it didn’t seem very clear. I think that the admissions officers that read international students’ applications understand the country’s school system and know that the CommonApp is not very adequate for IS. Therefore, I don’t think we should worry too much about fitting our school system perfectly to the CommonApp. How much you should help your counselor really depends on the counselor. My counselor, for example, had no clue what to do and asked me to help her with literally everything, so I filled up everything and she read it and told me if she agreed. If your counselor is as lost as mine you should probably help him a lot… Otherwise, just let him do everything himself, but remind him of important things he could mention and let him know you can help as much as he needs. And I am from Brazil. May I ask, where in Germany are you from? I’m just curious because I had an exchange student from Köln once ahahahha</p>
<p>@brbr yes that’s what I meant haha Hopefully they are sort of ‘’ naive ‘’ about it Also can I ask you how your teachers explained the different grading system ? ( as the equivalent of an A is let’s say an 8 )</p>
<p>@Penny95 oohh ok, got it ahahhaha hopefully (: They said an A is from 10 to 8, a B is from 8 to 7, a C is from 7 to 6, a D is from 6 to 5, and an F is less than 5, but I honestly am not sure if this way of explaining the grading system is very accurate</p>
<p>Ikr it’s so hard to explain (considering their school system is easier than the rest of the world’s ) And did they explain it in the counselor rec ?</p>
<p>@Penny95 I know!! I got frustrated with the common app, because everything is so hard to fit when you are an IS I studied in the US for one year and getting As was really easy there, but here my my average is like a B or C, so their school system really is a lot easier than the rest of the world’s. No, my counselor rec was kinda short, and it was more focused on explaining my strange situation (3 schools and 2 countries during my 3 years of HS). I thought that putting the class average (which is a D) would be enough to show that As are really rare. How did your school explain this? Btw, where are you from?</p>
<p>My counselor just explained it in the rec , she said something like how hard is our program and how well I balanced it with my ecs and usual things I’m from Italy lol but I’ve studied like 6 months in Australia and I’ve never opened my books once at home and got like straight A’s hahaha whereas my italian school system is way stickier -_-</p>
?</p>
Also can I ask you how your teachers explained the different grading system ? ( as the equivalent of an A is let’s say an 8 )</p>
(considering their school system is easier than the rest of the world’s ) And did they explain it in the counselor rec ?</p>
I’m from Italy lol but I’ve studied like 6 months in Australia and I’ve never opened my books once at home and got like straight A’s hahaha whereas my italian school system is way stickier -_-</p>