<p>So I just found out that one of my teacher's recommendation for me is literally 2 very short paragraphs stating that i'm a "good student" and that's it. I expected her to give me something much more seeing as we had a pretty good relationship, but the recc was nothing compared to my other ones (at least a page long).</p>
<p>Is it going to hurt my application (for top schools) now that I've sent in a stereotypical/ mediocre recommendation letter? I feel horrible and I have a feeling that I wasted one of my teacher slots completely...</p>
<p>Oh man, total bummer – This is why I strongly believe that students should NOT be given copies of their rec letters – because then if a student doesn’t get into a particular school, they will forever be second-guessing “was it because of rec letter A that I didn’t get in…”</p>
<p>If your letter is two paragraphs, it has to encompass more than “you are a good student.” The fact is that your 2-paragraph letter may say more in its short brevity than a long letter that weary college adm folks are falling asleep half-way through.</p>
<p>However, if you feel that the letter’s content truly does not capture your essence (whatever that means, sorry, I am really tired), then go to your guidance counselor tomorrow and talk to him/her about it. It is possible that the GC could speak to the recommending teacher and the rec could be rewritten/edited and resubmitted.</p>
<p>Well I’m not going to be second guessing myself, and I won’t blame my teacher either. I’m sure if I don’t get in, other factors would have contributed, but I can’t shake the feeling that this is one of them.</p>
<p>I generalized the whole letter, but after I read it, that was basically all it said. That, and that at the beginning of the year I was a quiet kid who didn’t contribute much, but by the end I had changed a lot… or something along those lines. I have read all of my reccs now and can say for sure that this one contributes absolutely nothing to my application. The other reccs are longer (and perhaps boring), yes, but they do reveal much more about me than the 5-6 sentences this certain teacher had written.</p>
<p>I don’t know if asking my GC to speak to my teacher is a good idea, because forcing a teacher to edit a recc doesn’t seem like it would help at all (seeing as she’d be writing it reluctantly).</p>
<p>A short recommendation is perfectly fine. Sorry you didn’t like it. I also do not like to hear of students being able to read their letters. It is not usually done here. It seems to give nothing but grief. Mine didn’t even when she was offered by one teacher. You seem to have letters that are more than satisfactory so don’t worry about one middling one. It’s not your business and there’s nothing you can do about it.</p>
<p>Okay, I understand that a short recommendation is perfectly fine. It’s just that it seems like one of those where you can substitute many other student’s names from my class and the recc would still be true. But I guess it is in fact none of my business and she was doing me a favor by writing one in the first place. I’ll just put it out of my mind now.</p>
<p>This particular rec should have a fairly neutral (or even positive, if it was written as you’ve described) effect on your application. It’s short, but it mentions positive trends. The brevity and perhaps lack of effort will be attributed to your teacher and not to you. </p>
<p>Unless it sounds passive-aggressive, as if the teacher actually dislikes you and doesn’t really want to write for you, you really have nothing to worry about. </p>