<p>How is waiver of a legal right a “protocol”?</p>
<p>I understand that we don’t live in a perfect world. BUT, any teacher who would secretly write a less than stellar LOR is a coward and should be fired immediately! IF a teacher gets a request from a student AND knows they cannot write a glowing LOR should simply recuse themselves by simply telling the student NO when the student asks.</p>
<p>Anything else is malpractice plain and simple!</p>
<p>@Bigdaddy88 I would disagree with you, because if that were the way it was, then every student would receive only glowing LORs and I just don’t know if that would work. If teachers only agreed to write LORs for students they adore, then I think the value of a LOR would decrease dramatically. If every letter said this student is the best in their career, that means nothing.</p>
<p>I also think that if a teacher supports a student, but has legitimate reservations about them, that’s something that could be appropriate for a LOR. If, for instance, a student applying to MIT (or a similar high-tier tech college) attained high grades in a math class, but the teacher knew they had struggled to do so (lots of outside tutoring, spending hours and hours drilling assignments, or similar), they might hesitate to commend the student as a “gifted mathematics student” if s/he isn’t one and, instead, is just a very hard worker. Hard work is a great quality in students, but if a student struggled to achieve in a calculus class, that’s something relevant to the student’s chance of success at a high-level STEM-focused institution. In such a case, if the student asked the teacher for a LOR, I do think mentioning the level of effort the student put in would be relevant and significant, although it might be viewed as a negative.</p>
<p>However, that could easily be framed as a positive trait, so it’s an imperfect example. But I do think that the way a student has presented themselves to their teachers is fair game, and if they ask for a recc from a teacher who sees them as less than perfect, they are not obligated to write straightforward praise.</p>
<p>The teacher’s job is to write a recc that is accurate and meaningful, not to help a child get into college, get a job, etc.</p>
<p>It surprised me that my D’s high school also has a policy of explicitly not allowing the LOR’s be viewed by the student and parent prior to being sent to a college. Our high school has a two year waiting period before viewing, which is meaningless. I believe all information related to my children should be filtered through us so we can decide how best my child is represented.</p>
<p>They are absolutely not required to write a great LOR. BUT I believe they have the obligation to deny the request OR at the very least give the kid a heads up. I own a small business. Over the years I have had employees ask for a recommendation for anothern job. If I can’t fully endorse them, I have the common decency to tell them so they can ask someone else.</p>
<p>I think the point of LORs is that they’re outside of student control, so it’s a less biased, outside perspective on the student. Even so, students pick the teachers who they think will present them in the most flattering light, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable that they are not allowed to read the actual letter.</p>
<p>It’s meant to be outside of student/parental control, and I can understand why. If a student’s application presents them as a wonderful, generous, caring, respectful person and <em>all</em> their teachers find them to be selfish, rude, etc., only an honest LOR will reveal that critical bit of info to a college. But even that will only happen if EVERY teacher feels that way, or if the student picks teachers that don’t like them.</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t think it’s that hard to know which teachers like you at least enough to write a good letter. If a teacher has a negative comment, I think it’s generally warranted, and the student should probably know about it (by knowing how they present themselves to that teacher).</p>
<p>My son applied via Questbridge and there were a couple of supplemental short essay questions that needed to accompany the letters of recommendation. The toughest one to finesse is to describe and elaborate on two weaknesses that the student has. With such questions, it becomes impossible to fully bypass certain issues and the savvy and LOR-writing experience of the recommending teacher could make a huge difference in how the student is perceived.</p>
<p>Amen to post #62!!! If your child wants to get into an ivy or other “highly selective” university then absolutely read every word in that post…yes, even the part about buying the Michele Hernandez book “A Is for Admission: The Insider’s Guide to Getting into the Ivy League and Other Top Colleges”.</p>
<p>I bought this book used on Amazon during the beginning of DS Junior year and wished I would’ve purchased it even a few years earlier.</p>
<p>Made use of it as much as we could to fully understand the ivy and equivalent admissions process, and it works. There’s way, way more to making sure your child has the best shot at getting admitted to a top college than filling out application / having pretty good activities / getting recs that you think will be good.</p>
<p>How about (1) figuring out a “hook”, (2) taking several SAT2’s whether required or not, (3) absolutely prepping for, and likely retaking SAT’s and/or ACT’s, (4) strategy of applying ED versus EA versus RA at each college and actually figuring out / graphing that puzzle of “allowable” due dates, etc? </p>
<p>We ended up being one of the fortunate ones. Used rolling admission to get admitted early / quickly into DS safety (IU / Kelly School of Biz), then ED into preferred Ivy. Got into both, had to then withdraw 3-4 more applications that were in + pending, and were completely done + accepted by late December. DS even had to toss out the 4-5 early January applications that were half completed.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s a huge chore and one that parents + child need to tackle together.</p>
<p>I suspect that few students are harmed by negative letters of recommendation. However, I suspect that more are harmed by recommendations that the teachers think are positive, but are bland. “Susy was a hard-working member of my class, who always completed all assignments on time.”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Often a bland LOR is an indication that the student did not particularly stand out as an exceptional or memorable student.</p>
<p>Can a student ask an administrator for an LOR? My D is really tight with the Dean of Students.</p>
<p>Biddaddy, colleges usually want to see recs from 1) math/science and 2) humanities. They will usually accept an extra recommendation as well, but if they ask for the first two, that’s what they’re looking for. My son sent an extra rec- probably not needed, but the person did know him better than any of his teachers and was in a good position to say some things that no one else would have known about. I would suggest that you make sure that the third rec really does show your daughter from a different vantage point than her teachers.</p>