Brutally honest recommendation

Parents Forum
21

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My guess is that selective colleges are sick to death of reading recommendations that are 100% superlatives and effusive with praise and that an honest appraisal from someone who knows you well would be refreshing.

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I'm with Momrath on this one. I have never been an adcom but I have been involved in hiring people for the last 10 years or so ... and during that time a job reference that is "too positive" come off as a sales job and carried less wieght ... and references that seemed even-handed and geniune carried more weight (with me at least) ... I would think that would be a common reaction of adcoms also. (That said, given this teacher is pretty tough I'd only ask him/her if you have met the tough standards laid down)</p>

22

<p>I would love to believe the above, but I don't. In the heat of the admissions frenzy, the adcoms may spend less than 10 minutes on a file. And that is total. When they read a rec, they are really skimming for key words and culling factors as at this point in the selective college arena there are few seats left. A brutally honest rec, can be the culling factor. Unfortune, I know. Now if you get that complete file to a college very early in the admissions season, that is a whole different story. But at this point, it is really a matter of getting rid of a bunch of appliations.</p>