Having a good college recommendation letter can be a great asset to your college application. That is, if your counselor has ever heard of you.

“Be sure the people you ask to write your letters know you well,” said every college Dean of Admissions ever.  Most counselors do reach out to their students with last names beginning with A through Ce throughout the four years they are in high school. Under the counselor’s watchful eye, kids pick classes, drop classes, and switch classes. In addition to the primary class-placement related tasks that counselors complete for their kids, they also spend these four years bonding with their students and watching them mature. They don’t do this for kicks, though. All of this monitoring done by counselors is written up and sent off to the student-selected colleges in the form of recommendation letters.

A problem arises when counselors don’t know their students well. Generic letters of recommendations result, and colleges are unimpressed. This leads to repercussions where students fall victim. It’s no one’s fault; just an unfortunate event that comes back to bite kids in the butt. It’s tough to convince a college to accept a student with a letter of recommendation, especially one that doesn’t reflect the growth of a student over four years.

The college application process is stressful, period. There is so much to do to make yourself, the student, look good. In one essay, a student must make themselves appear to be the perfect collegiate, a well-rounded, well-balanced student who will get straight A’s in addition to attending every sporting event that the school has to offer. The letter of recommendation is the one part of the process that is in someone else’s hands, and typically (if the student chooses wisely)students don’t have to worry about it. When a counselor is new, or is an interim counselor, the letter is yet another stressor for the student.

Students can avoid this though. Get to know your counselor. Make an effort to put yourself out there so your new (or maybe just unknown) counselor learns about the straight-A, 4.0 GPA, 2400 SAT, Most-Spirited,16 club member that you truly are.