Anonymous wrote:How would you feel if DC’s college counselor was using AI to write the LOR? Is it possible to get the letter and run it through AI detection before submitting?

How would you even know this?

Anonymous wrote:all the teachers do this at our school.

I dont know that it's worse than what they were producing before. They tell the AI to write a letter about a kid and they want to emphasize A, B, and C. And add this one anecdote.

Sounds okay to me.

I’m a teacher. I first write out my letter of recommendation and then I might run it through AI to clean it up. Depending on the kid, my recommendation ranges from good to best kid I’ve ever seen. If I dislike the kid, I decline by saying I already have too many to write. I don’t want to give anyone a bad letter. But sometimes I genuinely have too many to write so declining doesn’t always mean I don’t like the student.

Some kids are very difficult to write a strong letter for - these are the kids who do all the work and have an A or B grade but never say a word in class. And when I try to ask them stuff, they just give me one word answers or the bare minimum.

I sometimes have AI write it for me when it is for a generic student who I don’t know well and who didn’t put in much effort into my class

all the teachers do this at our school.

I dont know that it's worse than what they were producing before. They tell the AI to write a letter about a kid and they want to emphasize A, B, and C. And add this one anecdote.

Sounds okay to me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is reality. Counselors don’t know the majority of kids well enough to write personal, detailed letters. Neither do teachers, to be honest. Of all the millions of things on their plates, this is an easy one to outsource.

As an aside, it feels like colleges put unwarranted levels of emphasis on recs. Yet one more aspect of the application that may not reflect reality and may be inherently unfair.

Our school has an annual college night for 10th graders to kick off the process and give an overview of expectations, and part of it is hearing from about a dozen reps from a variety of colleges. One of the messages was that they assume the letters will be glowing and positive so they don’t spend much time on them. They skim for additional info - in case there’s an explanation of extenuating circumstances about the student or a transcript issue that doesn’t show up anywhere else in the application - but otherwise don’t pay them that much attention.

To state the obvious…they do pay attention if any LOR is not glowing or positive.

The #1 recommendation from a UPenn admissions session was make sure you get a glowing and positive recommendation…because they are surprised by how many just neutral recs they see (rarely would someone ever trash a kid…but neutral is kind of the equivalent).

Hence why they advise you ask teachers directly if they have any concerns writing you a strong recommendation. Most if they do will then just politely decline for some other reason (writing too many already or some other excuse).

I realize that you can’t do much about the counselor other than perhaps meet with them if they seem hesitant to write a strong Rec.

^ this is a private school, I should add.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is reality. Counselors don’t know the majority of kids well enough to write personal, detailed letters. Neither do teachers, to be honest. Of all the millions of things on their plates, this is an easy one to outsource.

As an aside, it feels like colleges put unwarranted levels of emphasis on recs. Yet one more aspect of the application that may not reflect reality and may be inherently unfair.

Our school has an annual college night for 10th graders to kick off the process and give an overview of expectations, and part of it is hearing from about a dozen reps from a variety of colleges. One of the messages was that they assume the letters will be glowing and positive so they don’t spend much time on them. They skim for additional info - in case there’s an explanation of extenuating circumstances about the student or a transcript issue that doesn’t show up anywhere else in the application - but otherwise don’t pay them that much attention.

The more your counselor can cut-and-paste from the brag sheet, the less need they have for AI. Use that to your advantage. But you will not get a copy of the letter. You mark that on the common app, and if you don’t, colleges will discount anything in the letter, knowing that it was written for the parents’ eyes, not the college’s AO. And many HS teachers and college counselors may refuse to give it to you even if you don’t check that box on the common app. Or simply refuse to write it in the first place.

You can only control the information that you give them with the brag sheet. That’s it.

Anonymous wrote:This is reality. Counselors don’t know the majority of kids well enough to write personal, detailed letters. Neither do teachers, to be honest. Of all the millions of things on their plates, this is an easy one to outsource.

As an aside, it feels like colleges put unwarranted levels of emphasis on recs. Yet one more aspect of the application that may not reflect reality and may be inherently unfair.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot get the letter.

I don't care for it, because it may end up being on the generic side for style. But, you cannot control this. Let it go.

The best thing to do is fill out the parent brag sheet that most counselors ask for. Be detailed, provide anecdotes.

Even if we are paying $$$ to private?

Yes. It doesn't matter if you are paying $$$ to private. You do. not. get. the. letter. Nor can you control how it is written.

I don't know what you expect, but the counselor is on Team High School, not Team Student. Always keep that in mind - their letter is an arms-length perspective that quite literally compares your student to other students.

Control what you can control, which is what information you give the counselor in the brag sheet that they use when they sit down to write the letter. The brag sheet is critical. Make it so that the information coordinates with/complements your student's brag sheet, using language that means the same thing, but isn't identical. Rounds out the story, so to speak.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot get the letter.

I don't care for it, because it may end up being on the generic side for style. But, you cannot control this. Let it go.

The best thing to do is fill out the parent brag sheet that most counselors ask for. Be detailed, provide anecdotes.

Even if we are paying $$$ to private?

How would you even know?

This is reality. Counselors don’t know the majority of kids well enough to write personal, detailed letters. Neither do teachers, to be honest. Of all the millions of things on their plates, this is an easy one to outsource.

Anonymous wrote:You cannot get the letter.

I don't care for it, because it may end up being on the generic side for style. But, you cannot control this. Let it go.

The best thing to do is fill out the parent brag sheet that most counselors ask for. Be detailed, provide anecdotes.

Even if we are paying $$$ to private?

Anonymous wrote:You cannot get the letter.

I don't care for it, because it may end up being on the generic side for style. But, you cannot control this. Let it go.

The best thing to do is fill out the parent brag sheet that most counselors ask for. Be detailed, provide anecdotes.

+1

You cannot get the letter.

I don't care for it, because it may end up being on the generic side for style. But, you cannot control this. Let it go.

The best thing to do is fill out the parent brag sheet that most counselors ask for. Be detailed, provide anecdotes.

How would you feel if DC’s college counselor was using AI to write the LOR? Is it possible to get the letter and run it through AI detection before submitting?