When you apply to college, they ask you for a lot of information. This is because they want to get to know you, and understand who you are as a person or student. After all, they’re admitting people, not just collections of numbers; people who will have to live in and contribute to their campus community for four years.
One of the things schools ask for is a letter from your counselor, though not every college wants one. This can cause concern for students, as many of them don’t know their counselor well, or even at all. Further, not all schools require a counselor letter, or instead say you can get one from an administrator instead. In this article, we’ll examine why colleges want these letters, how to ask for one, and which schools want what from these letters. Let’s get started!
Why do Colleges Want Counselor Letters?
We get this question a lot, and it’s a reasonable one. Letters of recommendation from teachers make sense; your teachers interact with you every day, see how you operate in an academic environment, and can speak to what kind of student you are. Many students rarely see or interact with their counselors, who often have such a high number of students to manage that they barely gain a passing acquaintance with each. What can they say in a letter about you?
The truth is, in most cases, counselor recommendations aren’t about the student at all, but about your high school.
Each high school works differently, with policies put in place by their town, district, or state. Private schools and charter schools often operate outside these procedures, and every school has their own unique quirks when it comes to what courses you’re required to take, what courses are even offered, and how the school assigns grades.
When colleges evaluate students, they try to do so on an even playing field. This makes sense, but isn’t as easy as it sounds. After all, if student 1 got a perfect 4.0 GPA, student 2 got an 11.2 out of 12, and student 3 went to a school that doesn’t assign grades at all, how are admissions officers supposed to compare their academic preparation for college?
This is where counselor letters come in. These briefly lay out how a school’s grading policies work, any quirks in their graduation requirements, and any notes that they believe are relevant for admissions officers to know.
These are generally the same for each student, sometimes with a brief note describing a counselor’s impression of you. These can be expanded if the counselor knows you personally, or if there are other important notes that they need to give context on. For example, if you missed school due to an extended illness, the counselor may be able to give much needed context on how this impacted your grades and performance.
If a counselor has a deeper relationship with you, they will include notes to that extent in their letter. Colleges will appreciate this if they receive it, but do not expect it, and you will not lose points for its absence.
How to Ask for a Counselor Recommendation Letter
First note that your school may have official policies on how this works, and who you should ask for a letter. These generally involve asking via Naviance, sending emails, or asking during set college advising sessions held by your school. These are generally in place to prevent deluges of students descending on the office every fall seeking letters of recommendation. Not every student will follow the path they put out, but it makes it much easier to direct students to what they need to do.
Check your school’s website, or look for directions near the end of junior year or the start of senior year on how to approach your counselors. If you don’t receive any, we recommend sending an email first, then following up in person if you don’t receive a response in a few days.
If you have specific issues you want the letter to address concerning your academic situation at school, then you should schedule a meeting with your counselor to go over them. Most are quite happy to work with you on this.
Finally, some colleges accept letters from other administrators, not just counselors. We will go over when to consider asking for one of these letters, and how to ask for it, in a later section.
Which Colleges Require Counselor Letters?
To answer this question, we’re going to share the letter policies of top colleges, including what they ask for, and what they accept. Some colleges only accept what they ask for, while others allow for additional letters.
| College | Letter Requirements | Notes |
| Babson | One from a counselor and one from a teacher. | |
| Boston College | One counselor, two teacher | They recommend both teacher letters come from a core academic subject |
| Boston University | One counselor and one teacher | |
| Brandeis | One counselor and one teacher in an academic subject | |
| Brown | One counselor, and two teachers in major academic subjects | Up to four letters from teachers are accepted in total |
| Caltech | One letter from a math or science teach, one from a humanities teacher | Up to two additional letters from mentors or supervisors are accepted |
| Carnegie Mellon | One counselor and one teacher | An additional teacher recommendation is accepted, but the committee will only consider two letters total |
| Case Western | One counselor and two teachers | At least one teacher letter should come from the subject you intend to study in college |
| Columbia | One counselor and two teachers | Additional letters are discouraged, but one will be accepted from a professor you worked with in a research relationship |
| Cornell | One counselor and two teachers | One teacher should relate to proposed field of study |
| Dartmouth | One counselor and two teachers | Teacher letters are recommended to come from core academic subjects. A peer recommendation is optional, but recommended |
| Duke | One counselor and two teachers in major academic subjects | If you’re applying to study engineering, one letter needs to be from a math or science teacher. An additional personal letter is also accepted |
| Emory | One counselor and two teachers in core academic subjects | |
| Georgetown | One counselor and one teacher | The school you are applying to affects which teacher needs to write the letter. Georgetown college: science or pre-med, math or science teacher; foreign language or linguistics, a foreign language teacher; all other majors, any teacher from a core academic subject. School of Business: math or social studies teacher. School of Nursing: science or math teacher. School of Foreign Service: teacher in a core academic subject. |
| Georgia Tech | One counselor and one teacher | All recommendations are optional |
| Harvard | Two teacher recommendations in different subjects | |
| Johns Hopkins | One counselor and two teachers | |
| MIT | One letter from a math or science teacher, one from a humanities teacher | |
| NYU | One counselor, one teacher in an academic subject | |
| Northeastern | One counselor and one teacher | |
| Northwestern | One counselor, one teach in a core academic subject | |
| Notre Dame | One teacher in a core academic subject | |
| Princeton | One counselor, two teachers | They prefer teachers be from different core academic subjects |
| Purdue | Letters not required | One teacher letter accepted |
| Rice | One counselor and two teachers, one of which should relate to planned field of study. | Additional recommendation letters are not officially accepted, but if you have a contact within Rice university, they can email the admissions office on your behalf. |
| Rutgers | Not accepted | |
| Stanford | One counselor and two teachers, one of which should relate to planned field of study. | One additional letter is accepted |
| Tufts | One counselor, one teacher in a core academic subject | One additional letter is accepted |
| Tulane | One counselor | Teacher letters are not required but will be considered if submitted |
| UC Berkeley | Berkeley will contact you directly if they want letters, otherwise they are not accepted. | One letter must be from a teacher in a core academic subject, the other can be from anyone, they they prefer it not come from a family member. |
| UCLA | Not required | |
| UNC Chapel Hill | One counselor and one teacher in an academic subject | |
| UChicago | Two teachers in academic subjects | One additional letter accepted |
| University of Michigan | One counselor and one teacher in an academic subject | |
| UPenn | Two letters from teachers in academic subjects | One additional letter accepted, they recommend it come from a non-teacher |
| University of Rochester | One counselor and one teacher | You may submit a second teacher recommendation in place of the counselor letter |
| USC | One counselor and one teacher | An additional letter is accepted |
| UVA | One counselor and one teacher in a core academic subject | |
| UT Austin | Not required | Up to two are accepted |
| Vanderbilt | One counselor and two teacher | An additional letter is accepted |
| Wake Forest | One teacher | |
| Washington University of St Louis | One counselor and one teacher | |
| William & Mary | One counselor | Up to two additional letters are accepted |
| Yale | One counselor, two teachers in core academic subject who taught you during the school year |
Letters From Non-Counselor Administrators
Most colleges which request a letter from a counselor will also accept letters from a non-counselor administrator, so long as they can cover the same needed information as a counselor. These can come from deans, vice-principals, principals, or other administrators within your school.
In most cases, these are not needed. Your counselor is fully equipped to tell colleges everything they need to know, and other administrators won’t have any special perspectives on you that are worth including. The one exception is if you have a good relationship with one of these administrators, and they can offer a unique perspective on your application.
This is generally the case for students who are very active in student government, or other programs at the school which bring them into frequent contact with administration. If you have developed a solid working relationship with your principal, then they can be a good choice to ask for a letter of recommendation.
Unlike counselor letters, you do need to ask in advance for these. While they are accepted by colleges, most high schools do not have a system in place to request a letter of recommendation from the principal; most students do not need one, and they generally have many other demands on their time.
If this is something which would help your application, you should approach the administrator in question directly, and explain your case. Express enthusiasm for the working relationship you have built with them, and explain how you think it would be valuable for colleges to gain insight into it.
If they accept, most will be able to then write and file letters using the same methods available to counselors, such as via Naviance. There are some perks with being an administrator, and having administrator level access to systems.
Case Study: When and How to Ask for Administrator Letters
To show you what this looks like in practice, we’ll share the story of a past Ivy Scholars student, Robert. Robert was heavily involved with student government, and had been the entire time he was in high school. He took an active role in trying to improve his school’s community and address issues he saw, and worked closely with the school’s administration, especially the principal, to enact his plans.
Robert did not know his counselor particularly well; this is unsurprising for many students, and was the same here. The counselor has a significant caseload to see to, and Robert was an attentive student, not requiring much oversight.
When it came time to apply to colleges, Robert realized that a letter from his principal would be significantly more helpful to his application than one from his counselor, since his principal was much better equipped to discuss his strengths and accomplishments. We helped Robert figure out how to approach this request, and were pleased when the principal readily accepted.
Between this and the rest of an excellent application Robert ended up accepted in Northeastern with a merit scholarship. The letter from his principal alone did not accomplish this; it was one more piece of the puzzle from crafting a truly excellent application, and demonstrating everything that Robert was capable of.
Final Thoughts
Letters of recommendation are one piece of a very large whole, but that doesn’t make them any less important or impactful for college admissions. They give colleges a third party view of you, and are the only part of your application not composed by you. This gives them an extra weight, as a way for colleges to verify everything you have said, and to gain extra context to understand your application.
We hope this article has given you everything you need to know to understand counselor letters, and their place in admissions. If you have further questions about your own unique situation, or any other aspects of the admissions process, schedule a free consultation with us today. We have a deep understanding of what colleges are looking for in every aspect of your applications, and are always happy to help students achieve their educational dreams.
