Drastically differing recommendations?

Applying to College
1

<p>How do colleges look upon drastically differing recommendations?</p>

<p>The reason i ask is that any math/science recommendation i get will most likely be very positive, but at the same time any humanities or counselor rec will most likely be VERY VERY negative (as in they would probably state out loud they dont think i deserve to goto college).</p>

<p>Would colleges just assume that the humanities teachers hate me and have biased opinions? Or would they assume that the math/science teachers like me and have biased opinions?</p>

2

<p>What the heck…</p>

<p>Of course the colleges will think you’re a bad students if you could choose your teachers to write your recs and the best humanities teacher for you writes a hate letter.</p>

<p>Why did you ask a teacher who hates you to write your rec?</p>

<p>How could your counselor possibly hate you?</p>

3

<p>well wut if EVERY english/history teacher i’ve ever had hates me?</p>

<p>and i only get 1 counselor to choose from.</p>

4

<p>You’re screwed. That’s for sure.</p>

5

<p>that’s why you get to pick teachers for the recommendations.</p>

<p>The counselor thing doesn’t matter too much if you’re at a big school.</p>

6

<p>That you don’t deserve to go to college? Ouch.</p>

7

<p>why would you ever have someone that hates you write your recommendation?? but i know at our school, no one is supposed to write negative recs. like, teachers are supposed to turn you down if they don’t think they can right you a decent rec and counselors are definitely only positive or explanatory, at least.</p>

8

<p>Why would they even agree to writing your recs if they knew they would be bad?</p>

9

<p>Why don’t you just ask two science/math teachers to do the recs? That is better than having one in the humanities that says you shouldn’t go to college…</p>

10

<p>Find two teachers who you believe will write good recommendations. You do not need to have one rec from a math teacher and another from humanities. Maybe find a math teacher you had in an earlier grade, a science teacher, or a teacher you had for an elective write the second rec. I’m really hoping you are a junior, and not someone who has already submitted bad recs. </p>

<p>I suggest you also talk to your guidance counselor to find out how he plans on writing your recommendation. Maybe he could just highlight your strengths and just not write anything about your weaknesses. If you truly expect a poor rec from your GC, perhaps your parents could intervene.</p>

11

<p>You made EVERY english teacher you’ve ever had hate you… do you see a problem here?</p>

12

<p>icypineapple37 that is not very nice. For all you know this student might have a disabilty that causes him to struggle with reading, but excels in math.</p>

13

<p>collegemom16, no teacher would HATE a student for not being able to read.</p>

14

<p>If they were unaware of his stuggle they could easily mischaracterize his disability for laziness and/or apathy.</p>

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<p>Simply doing poorly in a class would not cause a teacher to tell colleges that the student doesn’t deserve to attend. On the other hand, simply doing well in a class wouldn’t cause a teacher to write a glowing rec. A student who struggles in the humanities, but maintains a positive attitude, works hard, makes use of support resources, etc. is not going to incur any English or history teacher’s hatred, no matter what the grade (and of course, a student who has a negative attitude, disrupts class, fails to turn in homework, doesn’t cooperate with classmates, but aces every science class shouldn’t expect a very good rec from any science teacher).</p>

<p>Either the OP is being dramatic, (s)he’s misjudging teachers’ opinions, (s)he’s had very bad luck with teachers who pass unfair judgment, or icy’s point is valid. I’m all for giving the benefit of the doubt, and I assume that one of the first two is true. But if I’m being overly generous and all humanities teachers really have ‘hated’ the OP, then the solution is pretty simple…as others have said, don’t ask these teachers for recommendations! If for some reason you have to have a humanities rec, well…maybe you should have thought about that possibility before doing whatever it was that caused the entire English and history departments to turn against you. And if you really have somehow been the victim in this, then you need to talk to a higher-up about the situation.</p>

<p>If I were an adcom and received one “very positive” rec and one “VERY VERY negative” rec, I’d really consider the specific content, not just the overall evaluations. Is the basis for the positive rec that you do well in class, and the basis of the negative rec that you have a terrible attitude? Or is the basis for the positive rec that you have a great attitude, but the basis of the negative rec that you don’t do well in humanities courses? Big differences (and will be judged differently by different colleges).</p>

<p>Good luck. If you’re a junior and you really predict that this will be an issue, I suggest making every effort to sign up for senior English and/or history with teachers who don’t know you, and doing your best to fix whatever it is that was so problematic in the past.</p>

<p>ETA: Crosspost with collegemom16.</p>

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<p>Again, the OP claims that any humanities rec will be “VERY VERY negative,” and says that EVERY English and history teacher has hated him/her. You don’t incite that kind of reaction just by appearing apathetic. But “If they were unaware…” is important. If a student has a personal issue that’s causing HATRED in his teachers, and he’s aware of these reactions, then he (or another appropriate party) needs to address that problem.</p>

16

<p>Sorry if that’s what it came across as. </p>

<p>What I meant was, teachers don’t hate students who struggle in a subject (or maybe one or two outliers might). But if EVery single English teacher hated this student, one wonders what caused the pattern.</p>

17

<p>Student615 obviously the student is exaggerating when he uses the word, “hate.” My guess is he struggles with the subject matter and has earned poor grades. Many young people assume a teacher dislikes them when they earn poor grades. Struggling in subject matter can cause some kids to develop a poor attitude about their classes and lose perception about how their teacher views them. I’m mystified as to why he would ask for recs in a class where he didn’t perform well.</p>

18

<p>icypineapple37 cross posted with you. I guess I just hope we would all try hard to read between the lines of what others post and be sensitive to what might really be going on. I doubt his teachers hate him. They may even recognize his struggle. :)</p>

19

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<p>I also imagine that the OP is exaggerating. But this alone doesn’t justify–even in jest–the strong wording of his/her posts. Reading between the lines, I imagine an attitude issue (perhaps only a perceived issue) in humanities classes. Might be as simple as obvious disinterest. Regardless, it seems to me like there’s more at play, and those details are relevant to the original question. The bottom line is the same no matter what: if possible, don’t request recs from teachers that you don’t think will be able to give you a positive evaluation. But for future reference, know that a high grade, while nice, is certainly not prerequisite for a strong recommendation letter (or for a teacher’s goodwill, in general). Adcoms can see “stronger in the sciences” from transcript alone (if that happens to be the case). One of the nicest rec-writing offers I ever received was from a professor I visited twice weekly in office hours. I just had a terrible time understanding the material in his class, but he got to know me during these meetings, he got to know the way that my brain worked (and the way it conflicted with his teaching style), and he saw the effort I was putting in to the class.</p>

<p>If the only issue that the OP has had with his humanities teachers is academic struggle, then this will be easier to deal with. Character won’t be called in to debate (and hopefully, there’s no need for it to be). I do hope the situation is simply avoidable, and I’m sure that the <em>imagined</em> issue is much worse than reality!</p>

20

<p>Bottomline : The OP was stupid enough to ask a teacher who"hates" him to recommend him.</p>