Hi, my math teacher wrote me a sad rec letter something on the lines of…
“she’s not the fastest nor the most gifted but she works hard! she’ll be a good addition to your school.”
dammit mrs. n.
anyway.
will this one letter decide it for the USNA admissions board whether or not to let me in? thanks.
There is more to the teacher evaluation than that . My understanding (and I have not seen the transmittal), is the teacher is asked to evaluate specific criteria relating to your ability to handle college level academics. What is quoted is only a portion of her input.
Are you the fastest and the most gifted?
definitely not. I wish!
I don’t understand why a teacher would agree to write a LOR if they weren’t fully on board with the candidate. Respectfully declining would be much more helpful.
The USNA “recommendation” is really a Teacher evaluation, not a Letter of Recommendation, and Admissions specifies that it is supposed to come from your Junior Year math and english teachers…so “declining” to participate is not really an option (unless teacher wants to torpedo the application).
OK, so if I’m the teacher who HAS to write the letter because I’m your Junior math teacher, and that’s who they’ve requested, then what can I do?
I can’t lie. I can’t fib. My professional reputation is on the line. It needs to be pristine so that next year’s kid, and the one the year after that, will have my letter taken seriously.
They’re getting your transcript. So they see the 81 average in math. They KNOW you’re not the fastest or most gifted; my mentioning that isn’t going to do your application any harm.
It’s the part that comes after the “But…” that matters.
She didn’t write “But she’s OK.” She wrote " but she works hard! she’ll be a good addition to your school." She recommended you as a hard worker— someone any school or employer will take any day of the week. She was asked to “evaluate” and she “recommended.”
I’m not sure what you were hoping she would do. Lie? Fabricate?
Instead of “dammit mrs. n.” I would suggest “Thank you Mrs. N.”