Well, This Conselor Letter is Intimidating!

[Reefgazer]

I am afraid to start.

[8filltheheart]

It is one of the hardest parts bc it is also the thread for weaving it all together.

[Reefgazer]

10 minutes ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

It is one of the hardest parts bc it is also the thread for weaving it all together.

Exactly!  I am trying to decide what to include, and my thoughts are still very jumbled at this point.

[Penelope]

I found it difficult as well.

If it helps, I came to think of it as the least important part of the application. I read and heard several places that admissions people say they place zero to very little consideration on a letter from a homeschool parent, which is completely understandable. It is possible there are exceptions, and that is why I did my best with it for those schools that want a counselor letter,  but realizing it is nothing that will make or break the admissions chances of my student helped me just get it done and not overly stress about it.

[8filltheheart]

You might find writing your school profile first will give you ideas for the direction of your counselor letter. Things that were core to our homeschoo'ls philosophy could be highlighted and individualized in the counselor letter.

[8filltheheart]

1 minute ago, Penelope said:

I found it difficult as well.

If it helps, I came to think of it as the least important part of the application. I read and heard several places that admissions people say they place zero to very little consideration on a letter from a homeschool parent, which is completely understandable. It is possible there are exceptions, and that is why I did my best with it for those schools that want a counselor letter,  but realizing it is nothing that will make or break the admissions chances of my student helped me just get it done and not overly stress about it.

Those same people probably say that admissions officers don't trust grades given by mothers either and that classes taught at home aren't worth anything in terms of admissions. Completely false in our experience.

[EKS]

7 hours ago, Penelope said:

I found it difficult as well.

If it helps, I came to think of it as the least important part of the application. I read and heard several places that admissions people say they place zero to very little consideration on a letter from a homeschool parent, which is completely understandable. It is possible there are exceptions, and that is why I did my best with it for those schools that want a counselor letter,  but realizing it is nothing that will make or break the admissions chances of my student helped me just get it done and not overly stress about it.

I am certain that they take any judgments of a student's abilities with a grain of salt, but I also think that a homeschool counselor letter does more than just "recommend."  It is a way to give an understanding of your student that has far more depth than the standard letter, and it helps to tie together the entire application package, which may be quite unique and difficult to interpret fully without it.  

But maybe more important, along with the transcript and school profile, it is a reflection on you as an educator and the homeschooling experience you provided.  This is why I am so hyper about making sure that every last detail in all of my documents is as perfect as possible because the quality of those documents serves as an indicator of my competence as a home educator.

Edited September 28, 2019 by EKS

[Farrar]

My understanding is that most college counselors use the counselor letter as a roadmap for how to read the whole packet. So, who cares if they really trust your judgment as a homeschool parent or not - they still are generally pulling that up first and the things in it that you highlight and bring together are then going to determine how the whole application is framed for them. They only have so much time. They're not going to look at everything, especially not in detail. You're the museum guide. Yes, the whole gallery is spread in front of them, but if you want them to look at the masterpieces, then draw their eyes there. If you want them to understand why the back of the gallery is empty, explain it. And then the evidence is there for them to see in the form of the transcript, rec letters, etc.

[2_girls_mommy]

Well, I turned in my first one yesterday, good or bad. I went to three information sessions with Ivy League schools and talked to one on the phone and sat through an hour or so long webinar on the topic from Questbridge and gleaned as much as I could from them and then just went for it in my usual, probably too wordy way. I think my course descriptions did a good job of showing the type of work we do, and I tried to tie everything together in my letter. My "school profile" wasn't very informative as a homeschooler. They will need the letter to see how we did things and her test report which we included.  I am glad that it is over. This was for Questbridge. If she isn't a finalist there, she can still apply early decision one place, and then it will all go out through common app at regular decision. I just decided we just needed to be ourselves and tried not to worry about it. I don't have trouble talking to people, so I just wrote as I would talk and explain... and then tried to pare it down to be a bit more precise, lol. It will all work out how it works out is what I keep telling myself. 

Edited September 27, 2019 by 2_girls_mommy

[RootAnn]

There are some good resources to get you started in the pinned threads at the top of this & the college board pages, I think. That's where I started. I remember someone recommending that I come up with three adjectives that described my kid. I went from there. (I admit my counselor letter was a bit ... non-traditional. It captured my kid, IMO, well. But it wasn't the strictly professional, impersonal type that is often mentioned on here. But we weren't going for top schools so I was okay taking a bit of a leap.)

[8filltheheart]

19 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

There are some good resources to get you started in the pinned threads at the top of this & the college board pages, I think. That's where I started. I remember someone recommending that I come up with three adjectives that described my kid. I went from there. (I admit my counselor letter was a bit ... non-traditional. It captured my kid, IMO, well. But it wasn't the strictly professional, impersonal type that is often mentioned on here. But we weren't going for top schools so I was okay taking a bit of a leap.)

Mine, either. I wrote it like I was describing my daughter who had been learning in our home her entire life. 

[2_girls_mommy]

Here too.  Impersonal would have been false. If I am too impressed by my own kid, they'll understand I'm her mama talking. 🙂 But the facts I told were all true. 

[EKS]

1 hour ago, RootAnn said:

But it wasn't the strictly professional, impersonal type that is often mentioned on here.

 

4 minutes ago, 2_girls_mommy said:

Here too.  Impersonal would have been false. If I am too impressed by my own kid, they'll understand I'm her mama talking. 🙂 But the facts I told were all true. 

Same here.  I was professional but I made it clear that I was writing about my son whom I knew first as a mother and then as a teacher.  I honestly think that approaching the counselor letter this way gives the writer an advantage because you know your kid far better than a regular high school counselor would.

[Aloha2U]

Are not the homeschool profile and counselor letter essentially equivalent, in that one could approach it either way?

[daijobu]

My homeschool profile was very different from my counselor letter.  I used actual school profiles from actual BM schools as a guide.  We included our reasons for homeschooling, our grading scale, the demographics of our community, a list and description of our "eduational partners," that is, things like cc, PAH and SOHS, and graduation requirements.  

Our counselor letter was solely about our student.  One thing that helped was to incorporate quotes from adults and teachers who had written to me or to her.  I included those quotes in the letter, and then added additional anecdotes to support the statement.  It's kind of a way to sneak in an extra LoR.   

[lewelma]

1 hour ago, Mom21 said:

Are not the homeschool profile and counselor letter essentially equivalent, in that one could approach it either way?

Mine definitely were different:

Profile: Tone- objective. Style- bullet points. Purpose to demonstrate rigor. I had sections on philosophy, educational partners, approach to core academic areas, and grading standards.  

Counselor letter: Tone- personal. Style- narrative. Purpose to explain what non-traditional education looked like for my ds. To explain that he was in charge and directed his own learning.

I actually wrote a beautiful counselor letter that was rejected as way to emotional by 2 different people I had read it (my sister and my friend). So I stated completely over. The first letter I went in thinking that I was recommending my ds, the second (the one I used) I went in with the idea of explaining a non-traditional education. Different goals created different letters. So be clear at the beginning what you want to be using the letter for.

[Reefgazer]

6 hours ago, Farrar said:

My understanding is that most college counselors use the counselor letter as a roadmap for how to read the whole packet. So, who cares if they really trust your judgment as a homeschool parent or not - they still are generally pulling that up first and the things in it that you highlight and bring together are then going to determine how the whole application is framed for them. They only have so much time. They're not going to look at everything, especially not in detail. You're the museum guide. Yes, the whole gallery is spread in front of them, but if you want them to look at the masterpieces, then draw their eyes there. If you want them to understand why the back of the gallery is empty, explain it. And then the evidence is there for them to see in the form of the transcript, rec letters, etc.

I am assuming this is much like a first impression for a job interview, in that it introduces the school to the student.  So that's how I am trying to view it.

[Reefgazer]

So, I already have a Common Ap profile as a teacher, because I have written recommendations for other students.  Do I make another profile with a different email address as a guidance counselor for my kids' applications or use the same one I already have?

 

[Aloha2U]

53 minutes ago, daijobu said:

My homeschool profile was very different from my counselor letter.  I used actual school profiles from actual BM schools as a guide.  We included our reasons for homeschooling, our grading scale, the demographics of our community, a list and description of our "eduational partners," that is, things like cc, PAH and SOHS, and graduation requirements.  

Our counselor letter was solely about our student.  One thing that helped was to incorporate quotes from adults and teachers who had written to me or to her.  I included those quotes in the letter, and then added additional anecdotes to support the statement.  It's kind of a way to sneak in an extra LoR.   

I had combined these into one full-page profile—the first half covering the homeschool profile and the second covering the student profile—which is the first page one reads before his transcripts when they open his portfolio. A cover letter would be outside and on top of the portfolio. Anyone else doing this? 

That being said, my young man has only completed ninth grade thus far, so I'm wondering that both portions of this one-page profile may become a bit longer by the end of his high school years and require dividing it into a homeschool profile and counselor letter.

Edited September 28, 2019 by Mom21

[lewelma]

My profile was 10/11 pt font 2 pages and *very* well formatted with tool lines and color etc.  It looked professional.

My counselor letter was also 2 pages, and in paragraph form. 

Here is the second paragraph that gives you a feel for tone.  Fact, not emotion. And not really a letter of recommendation, but rather a letter explaining a nontraditional education.

Please Don't quote: deleted

Edited September 28, 2019 by lewelma

[lewelma]

My Paragraphs for 2 page counselor letter:

1) ramification of dual national life to how he views the world and his own education

2) How ds directed his own education. (above paragraph)

3) How ds directed the development of his soft skills through collaborative music, mentoring younger kids, etc

4) Biggest challenge and how overcame it.

5) Conclusion: ds has exhausted all opportunities here and needs to spread his wings.

[EKS]

1 hour ago, Mom21 said:

Are not the homeschool profile and counselor letter essentially equivalent, in that one could approach it either way?

No, they aren't unless you make them so.  The best thing (IMO) is to ensure that every piece of the application adds information and repeats as little as possible.

[Penelope]

8 hours ago, Farrar said:

My understanding is that most college counselors use the counselor letter as a roadmap for how to read the whole packet. So, who cares if they really trust your judgment as a homeschool parent or not - they still are generally pulling that up first and the things in it that you highlight and bring together are then going to determine how the whole application is framed for them. They only have so much time. They're not going to look at everything, especially not in detail. You're the museum guide. Yes, the whole gallery is spread in front of them, but if you want them to look at the masterpieces, then draw their eyes there. If you want them to understand why the back of the gallery is empty, explain it. And then the evidence is there for them to see in the form of the transcript, rec letters, etc.

 That’s a helpful way to think about it.

[daijobu]

2 hours ago, Mom21 said:

That being said, my young man has only completed ninth grade thus far, so I'm wondering that both portions of this one-page profile may become a bit longer by the end of his high school years and require dividing it into a homeschool profile and counselor letter.

 

The Common App has separate fields for each of these documents.  

[daijobu]

2 hours ago, Reefgazer said:

So, I already have a Common Ap profile as a teacher, because I have written recommendations for other students.  Do I make another profile with a different email address as a guidance counselor for my kids' applications or use the same one I already have?

 

 

That's a good question.  Ask your student to invite you as his/her school counselor, using your usual email address.   You can also ask the CA help desk; they are very responsive, usually providing a response within a few hours.  Tell them you already have a CA account as a teacher, and now you are acting as a counselor for another student.  

[8filltheheart]

4 hours ago, Mom21 said:

Are not the homeschool profile and counselor letter essentially equivalent, in that one could approach it either way?

Mine are very different. Our school profile describes why we made the decision to homeschool, my educational background and its role in developing my educational philosophy, how long I have been homeschooling, our homeschool graduates college/career pursuits, and a brief summary of the local ps we are zoned for.

My counselor letter focuses on the student, their role in their educational pursuits, their interests and what they have done to develop those, etc.

Both are written in a conversational show not tell way. 

[JoJosMom]

20 hours ago, Penelope said:

I found it difficult as well.

If it helps, I came to think of it as the least important part of the application. I read and heard several places that admissions people say they place zero to very little consideration on a letter from a homeschool parent, which is completely understandable. It is possible there are exceptions, and that is why I did my best with it for those schools that want a counselor letter,  but realizing it is nothing that will make or break the admissions chances of my student helped me just get it done and not overly stress about it.

 

Whew. I like this. I think that it will give me the psychological cover necessary to complete the task without having a nervous breakdown.

20 hours ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

Those same people probably say that admissions officers don't trust grades given by mothers either and that classes taught at home aren't worth anything in terms of admissions. Completely false in our experience.

 

20 hours ago, EKS said:

I am certain that they take any judgments of a student's abilities with a grain of salt, but I also think that a homeschool counselor letter does more than just "recommend."  It is a way to give an understanding of your student that has far more depth than the standard letter, and it helps to tie together the entire application package, which may be quite unique and difficult to interpret fully without it.  

But maybe more important, along with the transcript and school profile, it is a reflection on you as an educator and the homeschooling experience you provided.  This is why I am so hyper about making sure that every last detail in all of my documents is as perfect as possible because the quality of those documents serves as an indicator of my competence as a home educator.

 

Ruh roh. This is not helping my mental state.

18 hours ago, RootAnn said:

There are some good resources to get you started in the pinned threads at the top of this & the college board pages, I think. That's where I started. I remember someone recommending that I come up with three adjectives that described my kid. I went from there. (I admit my counselor letter was a bit ... non-traditional. It captured my kid, IMO, well. But it wasn't the strictly professional, impersonal type that is often mentioned on here. But we weren't going for top schools so I was okay taking a bit of a leap.)

 

I think that you need to expand your psychological counseling "gentle hints and advising" services, RootAnn. 😳

 

 

 

[mlktwins]

11 hours ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

Mine are very different. Our school profile describes why we made the decision to homeschool, my educational background and its role in developing my educational philosophy, how long I have been homeschooling, our homeschool graduates college/career pursuits, and a brief summary of the local ps we are zoned for.

My counselor letter focuses on the student, their role in their educational pursuits, their interests and what they have done to develop those, etc.

Both are written in a conversational show not tell way. 

So...my boys are only in 9th grade, but I am following along.  Ya'll are scaring me -- LOL.

Anyway, 8FillTheHeart, what is the purpose of including a brief summary of the local ps you are zoned for?  Thanks :-)

[Mom0012]

I started my counselor letter by thinking about the things that really stand out about my kids. First, I generated a list of specific memories that really stood out in my mind about each of them. Then I did some free writing about those memories. Then, I put it away for a week, continuing to think about it and both times, a number of interactions occurred between me and each of my children that brought new things to light that I wanted to include. Once I was done brainstorming, I looked at what I had written and tried to see what it was that I was saying was special about each kid, At that point, I knew what the main qualities were that I wanted to highlight and I then knew how to introduce them in my opening and used that to structure the rest of the letter.

Starting with specific events and free-writing about them was a great way to start for me. This wound up being the meat of my letter — stories, examples and quotes.

[8filltheheart]

1 hour ago, mlktwins said:

So...my boys are only in 9th grade, but I am following along.  Ya'll are scaring me -- LOL.

Anyway, 8FillTheHeart, what is the purpose of including a brief summary of the local ps you are zoned for?  Thanks 🙂

I include it to contrast our outcomes with the population in the city where we live. For example on the Aspire the results on math are 78% in need of suuport and on reading 58% in need of support. Only 2 and 3% score exceeding and the school scores well below expectations. (Definitely not a school I would send my kids to.)

[daijobu]

8 hours ago, mlktwins said:

So...my boys are only in 9th grade, but I am following along.  Ya'll are scaring me -- LOL.

Anyway, 8FillTheHeart, what is the purpose of including a brief summary of the local ps you are zoned for?  Thanks 🙂

 

No need to be scared.  You are in good shape if you are reading about this so early.  In your position, I would use this counselor letter hack:  

Everyone once in a while a teacher or supervisor or any adultish person will send you an email or other correspondence  about your student.  Look out for things like "Hi, mlktwins:  I just wanted to let you know I'm just so pleased with Beyonce.  She's been very helpful on the class discussion boards..."  or  "Beyonce went the extra mile for me today at rehearsal.  When another student tore her costume, she stayed late to repair it."  or something like that.  And ask your student to forward stuff like that to you.  "Beyonce, thank you for taking care of that irate customer today.  You maintained your professionalism and calmed him down, and he just called me to tell me how helpful you were."  

 

If you don't have stuff like that, then you can solicit them.   I used some of these quotes as a sort of scaffold for my counselor letter.  So I might write something like:

 

Beyonce is also generous with younger students.  On the robotics team, she created a orientation program for younger students so they could get up to speed on technical skills.  Mr. Roboto, her coach, told me in a email her sophomore year, "Because of Beyonce's work with the freshman, we are more prepared than ever for the season.  I wish I had more students like Beyonce."  

 

It's kind of a way to sneak in extra LoRs, and also back up your own assessment of your student.  

[mlktwins]

On 9/28/2019 at 8:18 PM, daijobu said:

 

No need to be scared.  You are in good shape if you are reading about this so early.  In your position, I would use this counselor letter hack:  

Everyone once in a while a teacher or supervisor or any adultish person will send you an email or other correspondence  about your student.  Look out for things like "Hi, mlktwins:  I just wanted to let you know I'm just so pleased with Beyonce.  She's been very helpful on the class discussion boards..."  or  "Beyonce went the extra mile for me today at rehearsal.  When another student tore her costume, she stayed late to repair it."  or something like that.  And ask your student to forward stuff like that to you.  "Beyonce, thank you for taking care of that irate customer today.  You maintained your professionalism and calmed him down, and he just called me to tell me how helpful you were."  

 

If you don't have stuff like that, then you can solicit them.   I used some of these quotes as a sort of scaffold for my counselor letter.  So I might write something like:

 

Beyonce is also generous with younger students.  On the robotics team, she created a orientation program for younger students so they could get up to speed on technical skills.  Mr. Roboto, her coach, told me in a email her sophomore year, "Because of Beyonce's work with the freshman, we are more prepared than ever for the season.  I wish I had more students like Beyonce."  

 

It's kind of a way to sneak in extra LoRs, and also back up your own assessment of your student.  

Thanks so much for taking the time to write this and the encouragement.  I will set up a special email folder to put this type of correspondence in :-) !!!

[daijobu]

On 9/27/2019 at 4:19 PM, Mom21 said:

Are not the homeschool profile and counselor letter essentially equivalent, in that one could approach it either way?

Someone on a FB group attended a college admissions conference and posted this slide of an ideal school profile:  

[EKS]

1 minute ago, daijobu said:

Someone on a FB group attended a college admissions conference and posted this slide of an ideal school profile:  

The problem is that very few of those categories apply meaningfully to homeschoolers.

• Courses offered--See transcript
• Overview of curriculum--See transcript
• Institutional policies--?
• School initiatives--?
• Grading policies--This is possible for a homeschool, but frankly, explaining that 94-100=A isn't overly enlightening.  I put a thing in my profile about teaching to mastery, but I suspect that this is unusual.
• Class rank--#1!
• GPA distribution--?
• Enrollment--My kid!
• Student demographics--My kid!
• Neighborhood--This is actually interesting information, and doable for a homeschool
• Description of student body--My kid!

[lewelma]

Nothing too personal in my school profile, so I've just copied it in its entirety below.  Lots of stuff that wouldn't apply to most people because we are in NZ, but it will give you a sense of what I thought was important for them to know.  This content was beautifully formatted by my dh to be 2 pages long with 2 columns each page.  Each of the different sections were headed in blue with a blue toolbar to make navigating it quite straight forward.  As others have stated above, the goal was to give cohesion to his high school career. And you will also notice that in some places I tried to anticipate questions and answer them. Why was Bio not done formally with national exams? Why did he quit taking DE?  How did he actually do the labs for his lab sciences? And in case an specialist admissions officer was reading: Why did he not take the NZ scholarship exams and why does he have no course endorsements. Also he did all of his social studies courses at home with no outside verification, so I wanted to make that paragraph really pop in case they went specifically looking because of concerns that we padded his transcript.  I also tried to make a theme that wound through the full document: ds embraces complexity, ds wanted to study his way, ds was both spiky and broad.

Please note that my ds is a high-end student and I have no desire to make anyone feel unworthy.  I just thought that seeing a profile in full might help some people get a feel for how to create cohesion to what often is a crazy high school life. I also felt very fortunate that I could write this and the course descriptions and the counselor letter, because it meant that my ds had way way more personalized information in the hands of admissions.  I made sure that I used each of the 3 documents to their fullest, even if only a portion would be read, it would be enough. Hope this helps.

deleted

Edited October 22, 2019 by lewelma

[8filltheheart]

My school profile is pretty much the exact opposite of Ruth's. I describe how we started homeschooling and my educational philosophy which is built around critical thinking and interest-led subjects. I talk about working toward mastery, kids self-designing courses, and activities they have pursued bc of interests, etc. I describe how bc we don't use many textbooks or follow grade level parameters that they have been able to achieve levels of academics completely dictated by their own abilities and internal motivation.  No discussion of grading, testing, educational partners, etc (bc mostly I don't.)  It really is about home/life/and living learning.

I do have a section from that slide about post-graduation outcomes bc I have graduated 5 kids now.  I tell where each went to college, their degrees/GPA/post-UG outcomes. (My kids are pretty awesome, so I personally love this part of the profile.  It says way more about academics stemming from the freedom to do what they want than anything else.)

Edited October 2, 2019 by 8FillTheHeart

[lewelma]

Cool! I love diversity! 

My counselor letter sounds like your profile. In my counselor letter " I talk about working toward mastery, kids self-designing courses, and activities they have pursued bc of interests, etc. I describe how bc we don't use many textbooks or follow grade level parameters that they have been able to achieve levels of academics completely dictated by their own abilities and internal motivation. " I so could have written that, and I think I have!

The problem I had with making a cohesive picture is that in NZ there is no recognition of homeschool high school. NONE.  If my ds did not do the National NZ exams, he had no qualifications and no pathway to university.  Thus, I had to answer the question, "how can you say you are a homeschooler, when your kid is doing a 'standard' NZ curriculum course of study?" We applied with a homeschool application because Te Kura part of his schooling (which was required by the state to get into a NZ university) represented only a portion of his studies (like a third).  BUT here is the kicker, he was going to have a complete high school transcript and high school 'diploma' sent from Te Kura - a SCHOOL, and yet I was sending  another complete transcript from me as a HOMESCHOOL. Kind of a problem! This had to be answered, and the document to do it in was the school profile, where I explained this blended approach.

I was also concerned that *if* I got a homeschool application reader rather than an International application reader (yes, I checked and they were different at the schools he was applying to), then the homeschool application reader would not be able to make sense of ds's application without me providing at least some information about how the NZ system works.  So the grading section is basically stuff that Te Kura would have provided if they were writing the school profile. So keep in mind, I don't grade at all.  I have never given a test or graded a paper in any of my ds's home grown courses. So the grading section is because of ds's unique situation.  But that is the purpose of the profile - to explain what needs to be explained.

So basically, the way I see it is that you do what you can with these documents to make sense of what is not always clear at all.  Homeschool can be (but does not have to be) a messy process of many paths.  These documents you use to your advantage.  So for me the School Profile had to show balance between Te Kura and Homeschooling, and the counselor letter was about his personal studies.

 

Edited October 2, 2019 by lewelma

[Sebastian (a lady)]

On 10/1/2019 at 8:14 PM, lewelma said:

So basically, the way I see it is that you do what you can with these documents to make sense of what is not always clear at all.  Homeschool can be (but does not have to be) a messy process of many paths.  These documents you use to your advantage.  So for me the School Profile had to show balance between Te Kura and Homeschooling, and the counselor letter was about his personal studies.

 

I think the above is a major takeaway. The documents we can provide offer a chance for the reader to better understand our students' experience. 

It can be challenging to put it into words. I used to come up with things about my kid that I categorized as "what admissions will never understand." Just little things about them that are hard to capture, like one kid's penchant for elaborate Halloween displays like the big Night Circus themed carnival with card tricks. 

It's also a tremendous open door to reveal aspects of your kid that don't come through in a plain transcript and activities list.

[8filltheheart]

38 minutes ago, Sebastian (a lady) said:

I think the above is a major takeaway. The documents we can provide offer a chance for the reader to better understand our students' experience. 

It can be challenging to put it into words. I used to come up with things about my kid that I categorized as "what admissions will never understand." Just little things about them that are hard to capture, like one kid's penchant for elaborate Halloween displays like the big Night Circus themed carnival with card tricks. 

It's also a tremendous open door to reveal aspects of your kid that don't come through in a plain transcript and activities list.

Absolutely. I think that is the gold of a homeschooler's counselor letter. My counselor letters are personal reflections on them as individuals.

[mirabillis]

On 9/27/2019 at 9:58 AM, Reefgazer said:

I am afraid to start.

i could have written that myself. i planned to finish the counselor letter this summer (i finished the school profile, course descriptions & transcript). but i left the counselor letter and never *quite* got to it. i just started myself about 2 weeks ago - our first deadline is november, so time is of the essence.

i started by just jumping into the middle. thinking of stories/facets of ds's character i'd like to portray that i know aren't going to be in his essays or most likely not in LORs, not in his academic profile - i don't want to retread. so i just started with that, and thought of stories to 'show don't tell' - and started writing stories. one at a time, each night or early morning, i'd feel inspired and would pen just a little. before i knew it, i had 2 pages, a neat intro that came to me and a conclusion - and now it was time to prune. i look at it every other day or so, and with fresh eyes, make more changes each time. haven't had anyone look it over yet - that's next. 

it wasn't nearly as hard as i had built it up to be once i wrote the first word... and then the next and the next. and starting right smack in the body of it really helped make it less intimidating too. :-)) 

i'm right there with you!

[Guest]

I'm thinking that I'll take a leaf from Ruth's book, since DD is up to at least 3, and possibly more transcripts-local college, flagship Out of State U, umbrella school for meeting state requirements, and then also has a lot of stuff not reflected well on either, so weaving them together is going to be necessary. 

[catz]

On 9/27/2019 at 12:27 PM, 8FillTheHeart said:

Those same people probably say that admissions officers don't trust grades given by mothers either and that classes taught at home aren't worth anything in terms of admissions. Completely false in our experience.

I think there is a balance here.  I think if it's got backing data that is consistent with your transcript/packaging/portfolio (test scores, outside grades, reference letters, etc) it can lend authenticity to your info.  It also depends what kind of schools you are applying to.  Like I'm pretty sure my kid could have gotten into our flagship with my 1 page homegrown transcript and his ACT score (> 75%).   But an elite LAC he got into required ALL sorts of additional things from a homeschooler (portfolio,work samples, official DE transcript etc etc etc).  He was offered their max merit so evidently he was "packaged" well.

I used the counselorletter to talk more specifically about some experiences he had in extra curricular and out in the world.  I talked more about how he was perceived and treated in those settings to show his leadership and creativity and out of the box thinking.  I also looked at it as an opportunity to attach a letter written my a music teacher with a list of unusual accomplishments.  Sneaky way to include an extra reference letter.  Once I had a direction it went down fast.  But I did hem and haw for a bit.  

[Reefgazer]

On ‎10‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 8:46 PM, mirabillis said:

i could have written that myself. i planned to finish the counselor letter this summer (i finished the school profile, course descriptions & transcript). but i left the counselor letter and never *quite* got to it. i just started myself about 2 weeks ago - our first deadline is november, so time is of the essence.

i started by just jumping into the middle. thinking of stories/facets of ds's character i'd like to portray that i know aren't going to be in his essays or most likely not in LORs, not in his academic profile - i don't want to retread. so i just started with that, and thought of stories to 'show don't tell' - and started writing stories. one at a time, each night or early morning, i'd feel inspired and would pen just a little. before i knew it, i had 2 pages, a neat intro that came to me and a conclusion - and now it was time to prune. i look at it every other day or so, and with fresh eyes, make more changes each time. haven't had anyone look it over yet - that's next. 

it wasn't nearly as hard as i had built it up to be once i wrote the first word... and then the next and the next. and starting right smack in the body of it really helped make it less intimidating too. :-)) 

i'm right there with you!

I just wanted to let everyone know that my counselor letter if done and thanks to you all, I am very pleased with it!  I essentially would up doing this the way that is bolded, above.  Thank you all so much for your great suggestions!