Useful- specifics. Less useful- platitudes. Useless- comments about the college.
What does this mean?
Useful- “Joey was the first in the class to connect-the-dots on the use of the blah blah formula to predicting election results or the impact of interest rates on stock prices. I hadn’t taught all the relevant details yet- but he was able to intuitively figure out the real-world relevance and then help other students master the concepts”.
Less useful- “Joey is a joy to have in class. He has a great attitude and is a real team player”.
Useless- “Given UIUC’s strong interdisciplinary offerings in math and economics, a student like Joey would really add a lot to the university”.
Teachers don’t need to be experts at writing letters. Just ask them to stick to specifics about the student and they’ll be fine.
Some students I have interviewed as an alumna bring along their letters of recommendation. This is dumb- since clearly the teachers know that the students will be reading the letters. But the letters are often useless. I don’t need to read from an AP English teacher that Brown has an outstanding English department, or that the joint program with RISD will really benefit from Joey’s participation. And I really don’t need to read about team-playing, win/win attitudes, work ethic, etc.
Teachers who get specific- an example, a story, description of a kid’s accomplishment- that’s what works. The team players all mix together in a giant pot of platitudes.