Can my high school guidance counselor ruin my chances at elite?
I'm not an admissions committee member, but I must've had a similar letter, and it didn't hurt me. I can't imagine that anyone would hold your not being a close personal friend of your guidance counselor against you. In my case, the guidance counselor was brand spanking new. He'd been an elementary school counselor, but he was also in the Reserves, so he'd been sent to Iraq for a year. The school district had to give him a job when he returned, so he ended up at my high school. I showed up in his office on his literal first day with my resume and a folder of stuff for him to sign. Never saw the resulting letter, but you can imagine. It's just a formality, though. Kay appears to have attended this school, and if she is indeed a kitten-punching sociopath, no one has warned me about her in the three hours I have spent here. Good enough.