<p>It's seen as a positive because colleges get too many cookie-cutter, career-driven, over-achieving "system" kids. They get plenty of those and are trying to put together a campus community with a little personality. Quirky is interesting and the people who work and teach in a closed collegiate community prefer interesting.</p>
<p>^^Exactly - that's the author of the book I read. (Mind you her two quirky kids went to Ivy League schools.) Good book, but a somewhat less positive use of quirky than I am used to. I suspect in the context it's just fine.</p>
<p>Why would they ever let anyone but the admissions people read such a letter? Quirky is fine.</p>
<p>I don't know if there could be negative connotations to the word. However, what can you do about it? I've known counselors who continue to describe kids as diligent, a plugger, hard worker, all very good things, in my opinion, but for some reason they are the kiss of death in many of the elite college admission's offices. There really is no way to tell the GC what to write. That's why most of the students are kept blind to them. It just causes problems.</p>
<p>""I continue to have a hard time agreeing here. Is it a NY thing?""</p>
<p>I'm from NY and while the GC may not have intend this, I view the word "quirky" as having a negative connotation. When I hear quirky, I think peculiar. I also work in admissions at a college and have seen some terrible choices of adjectives, while probably not intentional, used to describe students. Some teachers and GC's simply cannot write good recommendations.</p>
<p>On that note, I don't know why these recommendations are usually kept secret from the family and student. If you are writing someting positive, what's the need to hide it, and if you can't write a positive recommendation, suggest that someone else write one for the student. The only exception here is when the GC can't write a good recommendation because of the student's record and/or behavior.</p>
<p>My d had the credentials to apply to top schools last year. Her GC showed her the recommendation she wrote and one teacher also gave d a copy of that recommendation, both beautiful and glowing. The only reason I saw her other recommendations was because she applied to my college & I'm the person who processes the applications. One of her teachers told us on parent/teacher night that she would write the best recomendation ever for any student in her AP class with an A. My d had an A, was doing extremely well in that class, so naturally she selected this teacher. Several months before, she had recevied a glowing letter from the teacher describing her as one of the top female students in the country for being selected for this class and d was described as the "cream of the crop". Well, needless to say, I nearly fainted when I read the recommendation that was sent out to her top choice EA schools that described my d as an average student. Average students, unfortunately, do not get accepted to the schools d applied to.</p>
<p>My suggestion to the OP would be, if you are uncomfortable with this word, to kindly ask the GC if she could amend the recommendation and use another adjective that could not be misinterpreted as negative. I don't see the harm in that as the GC does want to reflect the student in the most positive manner. I made sure d's GC pulled this teacher's letter from future applications and we had another AP teacher write a recommendation that turned out to be a better reflection of my d's academic work. This teacher offered to show my d the letter before it was sent and my d never asked to see it. It's the ones that don't want to share recommendations that I'd worry about.</p>
<p>I am not sure what admissions people will think of it, but I think "quirky" is a poor choice in a recommendation precisely because it is ambiguous and can be taken to mean a variety of things by readers with a given mindset. I also think it is rather trite and not a word I would use in a professional discussion.</p>
<p>If it is used in a positive way it reflects a counselor's inability to think of more useful and more precise words relating to a specific student, such as "creative," "clear-thinking," or "imaginative." I also believe it is a word that has taken on negative connotations because of overuse and is in some settings be a cautious code word for does not stay focused, does not get along with others, does not follow instructions, is a square peg in a round hole--things you don't want to say either out of kindness or for legal reasons. That does not sound as if it is the case in the OP's situation so it probably is just about a counselor who used one adjective too many in an effort to do well by a kid.</p>
<p>This seems like an awkward gray area in terms of what to do--asking for a change at this point might be worse than leaving things as they are.</p>
<p>I am inclined to agree that "quirky" can be taken both positively and negatively. Thus, if it isn't too late, asking if she could substitute a word like "unique" or "individual" might be preferable. I'd avoid words like "different" , "ideosyncratic", or "unusual" as they too can have the wrong connotation. Now, if the sentence says something like "she is a fascinating, engaging individual with a clever, sometimes quirky sense of humor.." or something like that-- you're fine. I guess it really depends on the context. Would you (OP) be willing to share the sentence and how the word is use in it?</p>
<p>I would absolutely not ask the GC to change the recommendation. I did not see any of the recs for my kids from either teachers or GCs.
Even if I had, I can't imagine asking for any changes. The colleges want an outside assessment of your kid, not one the parent edited.</p>
<p>There are ways to address the concern without "asking" to change the letter per se. If the parent/student was given the opportunity to read the letter, after thanking the writer profusely for the wonderful letter and the opportunity to see it, one could delicately ask a question like "do you think they might read the word "quirky" differently than you intended?" or something like that. There are ways to inquire or to get the writer to rethink it without directly coming out and asking for it to be rewritten.</p>
<p>It sounds like the OP's son has either declined to waive the right to see his recs or the teacher allowed him to read it regardless of the waiver. If the latter, the teacher is, IMO, looking for feedback and wants the letter to be OK with the student. I see no issue at all in discussing it with the teacher if that's the case. If it's the former, however, I'd be concerned that the word "quirky" <em>may</em> be a red flag to the colleges , especially because the student did not want to waive rights to read recs, since not waiving can be seen as a negative in and of itself. If that's the case, using the word without further explanation (as in a list of adjectives) might raise questions, whereas if the teacher elaborated with examples of what is meant by way of anecdotes , it could be a plus.</p>
<p>marian- I don't see that as a negative- although I do agree, that it * could* be described in that way.
Aspergers is just a different way of processing & many can be & are very successful.
Many, many computer "geeks", engineers, even politicians, have those tendencies- and most people can learn better social skills.
I also wouldn't ask it to be changed.</p>
<p>Hell, if he is applying to William and Mary, it'll be a big plus. I think 'quirky' is the single most used adjective used to describe our student body.</p>
<p>I have re-read the counselor's recommendation letter and feel sure her use of "quirky" was meant in a positive way because everything else in the letter was positive. I was unfamiliar with the word "quirky." Thanks again, everyone for your input.</p>
<p>Context is everything. Positive: "Student is a brilliant, quirky learner who often comes up with novel solutions to difficult problems." Negative: "Student's mixed results in grades are partly explained by his quirky personality."
It also matters whether he is applying to Reed, Carleton, Grinnell, or Brown on one side, or Bob Jones University or a military academy on the other.
In the context of a positive recommendation, it's positive.</p>
<p>Most apps want to know if the student signed off on the recs and take that into consideration. The reason many teachers and gcs do not want to show anyone their recs is because they would then have to show everyone and there could be a lot of flak generated which would discourage honesty. Colleges prefer blind refs for that reason.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my sister in law applied to a number of top business schools a few years ago. Her employer wrote recs and also filled out assessments which gave a numerical value to skills and attributes. He did give the sheets back to her rather than mailing them himself. He thought he was giving her a danged good rec, when he had really hurt her. She did talk to him and explain that she would not get into any top schools without top marks from him. He readily changed his assessments, and she got into all of her schools, Harvard, MIT and Stanford included. But unlike a GC, this guy really did not know what he was doing, and needed to be told. I don't know how this someone like a teacher or GC who do a lot of these recs will take criticism.</p>
<p>I've seen 'quirky' splashed about prominently in some college brochures (eg Oberlin). I think they wear the "quirky" label with pride.</p>
<p>Quirky will be positive at most schools, neutral at some, negative at a few. Grades and test scores will put the word in the proper context, as will essays and graded writing samples. Assuming that the authoring counselor is experienced, quirky will help guide the student to the proper schools, and away from inappropriate schools (as Hunt mentions above).</p>
<p>Did I miss the part where the OP said how she got to see the letter?</p>
<p>I will say that my son with Asperger's used "quirky" in his essay to describe himself.</p>
<p>"quirky" is kind of a synonym of "mavericky", isn't it? </p>
<p>Not trying to politicize this thread or anything!</p>