I heard from a couple of friends that teacher recommenders will not be rating you based on categories like academic achievements and leadership? Is that true?
The Common App has a checklist that each teacher writing a LOR must fill out. It has maybe 20-25 different questions, each rated on a scale. (Not numbers, but things like “Satisfactory… Good… Superb…One of the best I’ve ever taught…”
I’m a little rusty on the details, since I taught only seniors last year and had NO LORs to write 
But the Common App still asks us to rate each of those things.
I’m not sure of other applications; I don’t recall ever being asked to do so aside from the Common App.
The checklist is optional for the teacher, and teachers are increasingly being advised to skip them since Adcoms do not read them or place much stock in them.
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Not in my school, lol. There’s nothing “optional” about it for us.
And to be honest, after the time it takes to craft a good LOR, the extra few minutes on a checklist is nothing.
I’ll help you out. Here are the ratings for the Common App:
No Basis
Below Average
Average
Good (above average)
Very Good (well above average)
Excellent (top 10%)
Outstanding (top 5%)
Top Few
Here are the categories:
Academic Achievement
Intellectual Promise
Quality of Writing
Creative Thought
Productive Discussion
Faculty Respect
Disciplined Habits
Maturity
Motivation
Leadership
Integrity
Reaction to Setbacks
Concern for Others
Self-confidence
Initiative
OVERALL
Thanks!
And there’s also the “NA” choice… say, for a math teacher being asked to rate Quality of Writing.
Oops, missed that due to where the CA places the column. It’s actually labelled “No Basis” and I’ve edited my earlier post. Thanks.
I’ve known that this was optional but am wondering just how many teachers opt out and how adcoms truly view these check marks. Honestly, it all feels so very subjective and I could easily imagine a teacher doing slightly different checkmarks for the same student depending on the day, time of day, etc. Does anyone have any insight from the adcom POV?
How is it any more subjective than a Letter of Recommendation?
Nope, cuz none of us are adcoms.
My guess is that AOs put more weight into the verbiage than the check boxes. Here is some feedback from MIT:
https://mitadmissions.org/apply/parents-educators/writingrecs/
By “optional” I meant that the common app does not require it. When filling out the Teacher Profile, the teacher simply says “no” to the question “Do you complete applicants’ academic ratings on the Common Application Teacher Evaluation?” And that section won’t show up at all. Of course a school could require it to be filled out. I know two former adcoms (one LAC and one state flagship) who tell teachers to skip it, but it would be interesting to hear from a greater number of current adcoms, which we probably will not.