Do MIT admissions officers care if one recommendation letter comes from an honors college teacher or counselor?

MIT does not give special bonus points just because a recommendation comes from an honors college teacher or counselor. What matters most is the content of the letter: how well the recommender knows you, how specifically they can describe your academic ability, character, initiative, and contribution in class or community.

A counselor letter can still be useful, but it serves a different purpose. If your honors counselor knows you unusually well and can offer concrete details that a general counselor could not, that helps, but the “honors” title itself does not carry extra weight.

The same goes for an honors college teacher. If that teacher taught you in a rigorous class and can write a detailed, enthusiastic letter with examples of your thinking, curiosity, and impact, that can be a strong recommendation. If the letter is mostly generic but comes from someone with an impressive title or selective program affiliation, that is much less valuable to MIT.

So the best choice is the person who can write the most specific and convincing letter about you in a demanding academic setting. At MIT, depth, credibility, and detail matter much more than whether the recommender is attached to an honors program.