I think one tactic that really worked well for my 2nd son was following this process:
1> Strategically pick teachers that he knows pushed him harder, not just liked him
2> Once the teacher is picked, approach them and ask them in the Spring of the Junior year if they would write a letter of recommendation for him.
3> After they said yes, he wrote a personal thank you card for them volunteering their time and in that thank you card he included what he thought School “X” was looking for. He only applied to two schools. The USNA and the University of Chicago. For the USNA, he asked if they could focus his recommendation on Integrity and Leadership. Because of the USNA large application and accelerated timeline, he asked this to be sent in the Summer after his Junior year. Once his senior semester started, he wrote a second note asking for recommendations to UChicago. In this he stressed leadership, integrity, and added academic curiosity.
4> When he received his LOA from the USNA, he wrote a third note to the teachers thanking them for their help and to let them know that he received a Letter of Assurance from the Naval Academy.
5> When he was accepted ED1 at UChicago, he sent a fourth note, with an Amazon Gift Card to the three teachers, thanking them again for their time and effort.
This is totally different then my oldest who just basically walked up to his favorite teachers and asked for an LOR. The teacher he thought would be strongest just sent a form letter that didn’t even include my son’s name. He ended up getting accepted to every school he applied to, but his first pick was deferred at EA and wait listed after RD. He ended up picking another school because he was differed, and I believe the major reason he was differed was his less than stellar LORs.
Both checked these as confidential, so other then the form letter (my oldest somehow saw it attached to his file after he started college, I’m not sure how, nor do I think I want to know how he did that) we have no idea what they said.