<p>Teachers and GCs are too professional to give “hate”
recommendations no matter whom. They are people
who chose to put up with crap from us so they
could give us a direction …?</p>
<p>Why don’t you write a heartfelt letter explaining your ambitions,
fears and thoughts to a SS/english teacher and see if they will
be your saviour?</p>
<p>Think positive dude and keep the tone of the letter honest and
non-egotistical </p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>^ You could also try setting up a one-on-one meeting with one of them. IMO, though, this is only if you need a humanities rec (I know that some schools suggest one math/sciences, one arts/humanities rec, but I’m not sure whether any require that split-up). Like a letter, a meeting gives you the chance to talk about your goals, interests, and concerns, but it lets the discussion be a dialogue (which could be good or bad, depending largely on you). If you haven’t spent much time letting these teachers get to know your ‘good side’, this is a chance to sit down and show them (you don’t have to pull out all the stops, just be polite, respectful, and mature). </p>
<p>Also, re: my previous post, I completely forgot to note that collegemom16 could be 100% right in her hunch (and in a way, things may be easier if she is). All I wanted to point out was that “reading between the lines” could just as easily lead to another, very different ‘hunch.’ No way for us to know unless the OP chooses to clarify.</p>
<p>actually quite a few schools REQUIRE one from each division (like MIT or harvard)</p>
<p>and i know for a fact my english teacher hates me since one of the essays i turned in was written by one of my friends last year (i changed around a few words of course). I got a D, he had the high score.</p>
<p>Still not the same as “hate,” but not likely to lead to a good rec, no. I’m surprised you received any credit at all for that essay. If plagiarism (a fairly significant example of it, too) is described in your rec, then I can’t imagine that adcoms will just assume the teacher is biased. A concrete example of dishonesty + immaturity is very different from “I just didn’t like him much” (not that I can imagine a teacher actually writing something like that). Now, momentarily ignoring the fact that a student who would attempt to turn in someone else’s essay to a teacher who’d already received it is talking about schools like Harvard and MIT…</p>
<p>Is this the only humanities teacher you’ve ever had? Your rec doesn’t need to be from a current teacher. You still haven’t said whether or not you’re a senior, but if so, all of our advice is irrelevant. If not, perhaps you’ll be able to start next year with a clean slate. If that’s not a possibility, I suggest talking to your GC, as (s)he’ll be more familiar with your situation, and might be able to help you decide whether coming clean in your applications, setting up a meeting with your English teacher, or none of the above are appropriate.</p>
<p>I’m still wondering why you received any credit for someone else’s essay, even if only a “D”. Did your teacher ever confront you about it? Something seems off, which makes me think that concrete examples may not be given by this teacher. You’re still not likely to get a particularly positive recommendation, but even “grudgingly neutral” is a different story than “VERY VERY negative”.</p>
<p>I don’t want to pass too much judgment on something that you didn’t originally volunteer and that we don’t know the circumstances behind, but I do hope that you’ve learned (or are yet to learn…) from your mistake.</p>
<p>Teachers talk amongst themselves and if you’ve been academically dishonest (plagiarizing), then all of the teachers and school administration are likely to know about it. If your cheating is on your transcript, you’ve got a problem. If your cheating is not on your transcript, you can circumvent the recommendation problem by applying to schools that do not require recommendations.</p>
<p>she clearly doesnt know its mostly plagarized. she just picks out problems that arent there. and i’m not a senior btw.</p>
<p>oryZa so you are saying that you are, “hated,” because you turn in the same work as another student but get graded much more harshly? In this case I’d say perhaps your karma is working against you. Too bad you can’t go tell the teacher why her grade is just so unfair…I defended you and I was wrong. It seems you have a lot of growing up to do. Good luck getting in to Harvard or MIT.</p>
<p>Harvard has no honor code, in spite of its extremely severe punishments for plagiarism. Harvard’s disciplinary system is entirely negative: if someone cheats during a test or borrows from a secondary source without acknowledging it in a paper, he faces the rigors of an unsympathetic Administrative Board. Freshman week programs ensure that all students know the perils of academic dishonesty, and the Handbook for Students is very frank in its pronouncement of the penalties for this most serious of Harvard crimes: “Students who, for whatever reason, submit work either not their own or without clear attribution to its sources will ordinarily be required to withdraw from the College.”</p>
<p>Don’t worry, MIT doesn’t have an honor code.</p>