Why your school counselor recommendation matters

RReaders at selective colleges discount counselor letters from big public schools, and yet the counselor's section of the file still shapes how a student is read. A reader in the office we learned from once opened a strong file from a large public school and found that section almost blank. The comment said, in effect, that the counselor did not know the student well, that he had done well, and that the reader should see the teacher letter.

The reader did not hold it against him, since busy counselors write reports like that every year. It was still a missed chance, and an avoidable one, because the letter is only a small part of what a counselor sends to a college. Most families never learn what the rest of it is.