Are there any top colleges that don’t require recommendations?

I taught SAT prep at my school-- a required course for Juniors-- two years ago. As winter approached, I started warning them that they would need to start asking teachers in a few months, and to make sure they had 3 teachers they could ask.

One of the kids said “There’s not one teacher in this school who could or would write me a decent letter.”

My response was “If you need to, put my name down. I’m technically one of your teachers, and I’ll be happy to write you a letter.”

As a PS-- I ended up teaching him last year. He was one of 5 or 6 kids who scored a 100% on one of my Trimester Exams. Funny what a change in perspective can do for you.

@elsaanna (BTW, LOVE your user name lol) Ask the teachers in the classes that you loved the most, or where your performance was strongest. Give them a cheat sheet full of info-- your ambitions, what you do with your spare time. Remind them of the successes in their classes-- the 100 you got on the project or whatever.

And trust that they’ll be happy to write you a strong letter. We’ve ALL done it for kids like you.