It is college application season… which means panic from seniors as they submit their final applications and existential dread from juniors as they realize that they have less than 365 days to get their act together. College applications are stressful. I mean, you get under ten minutes of a college reader's time to try and prove to them that you are not only qualified to attend their school but also that you have good character. 

One of these many proofs is a letter of recommendation, or a letter by someone significant who acts as a testament to a student’s character. One of the most common letters of recommendation demanded by college admissions is that of one of the least interacted with people in a student's life, their counselor. While some may have close interactions with their counselor on the regular, for myself and many others, interactions are few and far between. In fact, I have not met with my counselor at all this year, and I have only met with her twice in years prior. While an outstanding resource for those who need it, counselors cannot properly represent every student with the limited exposure they have to each other. 

The truth is, counselors are fighting an uphill battle. According to the American School Counselor Association, the recommended ratio of students to school counselors is 250 to 1. However, the national average ratio of high school students to school counselors was 311 to 1 in the 2019-2020 school year. As the ratio of students to counselors increases, counselors lose more and more ability to get to know their students on a personal level. While a deep personal connection may not be necessary for deciding class schedules or picking schools, it is necessary to provide a proper letter of recommendation for college. Regardless of the growing disconnect between students and their counselors, many colleges still demand letters of recommendation from counselors specifically. Statistics from the Common Application for the 2025 to 2026 school year indicate that approximately ⅓ of colleges that accept the Common Application demand counselor letters of recommendation. These also include many top private universities such as Harvard and Yale. Harvard College dives into the many pieces of information that a counselor must provide to the application, including a grade transcript, information about the school, and a letter of recommendation to share “unique insights” about the applicant. 

But how is it unfair if everyone faces equal underrepresentation? 

It is not fair because, like many things, representation is never equal. Counselor representation is dependent on many factors such as school size and location as well as the socioeconomic status of the student population. The National Library of Medicine also notes a correlation between the economic status of a student and the quality of recommendation provided by a counselor. According to the American School Counselor Association, 17% of high schools across the United States do not even have access to counselors at all. Unremarkably, these schools tend to be centered around areas with high minority students or low-income students. In regard to school size, larger schools tend to have higher student-to-counselor ratios. Student-to-counselor ratios can also be dependent on the state, and its prioritization of counseling in schools. For example, Arizona holds the worst student-to-counselor ratio as a state in the US with an average ratio of 645 to 1. Meanwhile, Vermont is well within the recommended threshold with a ratio of 171 students per counselor. All of these factors contribute to a spectrum of unequal representation existing in the college application system. 

But what can we, as students, do?

While reform within college requirements is necessary, shaking the foundations of the college system seems like a bit of a big ask; however, counselor outreach is well within students' control. The primary goal for every college application is to properly represent the students’ character, and there exists no better way for a person to obtain knowledge of another’s character than through more frequent interaction. This places the ball in the students’ court. It is up to the students to forge connections with their counselors on a personal level. And by forging connections, I do not mean the “fix my schedule” meetings. Rather, it is the student’s job to reach out to their counselors to share their passions, their plans for the future, and their lives because, as entertaining a schedule change can be, it is not enough for a counselor to properly support you in college applications. The beauty is that juniors still have a year, and underclassmen have even more time. It is with this that I invite you to reach out to your counselor as they are vital in deciding your future. I also need to take my own advice. Earlier in this article, I mentioned my severe lack of interaction with my counselor. However, witnessing the college application process has opened my eyes to the many integral tasks that counselors do to secure our futures. So while many of you fall into the same boat as me, I urge you to look further into the benefits that counselors can provide and reach out. Self-advocation is the only way to ensure true and meaningful representation by counselors.