<p>Okay, so I don't know whether I should feel mad, content, or just plainly over dramatic. The check marks the teachers have to make regarding top 1%, top 5%, and top 10% is really surprising me.
I'm using four letters of recommendation, including the guidance counselor as follows:</p>
<p>Guidance: She marked me straight 5%'s? She doesn't even know me because I just got a new counselor this year....
AP English: He marked me with some 5%'s and some 10%'s.... I got a 5, talk to him all the time as a friend, and love the man to death.
Chemistry Hon: She gave me a bunch of 1%'s and some 5%'s. (good one)
Drama: She gave me a bunch of 1%'s and very little 5% at all. (great) </p>
<p>Am I overreacting? I'm trying to get into Brown ED, and I don't want these teacher evaluation check mark boxes to set me off as a bad applicant... The letters are really good, but I just don't know if this is going to hurt my chances.</p>
<p>Usually you don’t see the recommendation letters, so how did you see them?</p>
<p>Anyway, it could be that your AP English teacher just has a lot of amazing students so they’re pushing you out of that top 1-5%. Depending on how good your relationship with him is, you could ask him if he would consider changing, but this does have a risk of him getting annoyed at you. Your call on that.</p>
<p>As for your counselor, you could also ask her why she gave you straight 5%'s. It could be that there are enough kids with more impressive schedules or GPA than you that they push you out of the top 1%. As with the first, you run the risk of annoying her.</p>
<p>I don’t think these boxes make that huge a difference, to be honest, because the colleges see your grades and test scores already and class rank.</p>
<p>I’m considering what you’re saying… I mean, I’m president of four different clubs. How the hell did I get top 5% for leadership? Not that I’m being pretentious, but I’m a little worried, and I deserve to be. </p>
<p>They let me read my letters. They were very good letters. Very good. In fact, my English teacher wrote me one of the best letters I’ve ever received, so maybe the marks don’t mean much…</p>