Hey guys, so one of my teachers showed me her rec after she submitted it. I thought it was nice, but it was the most generic rec I could have imagined. Apparently, the other teacher I asked writes generic recs as well. Although I have close relationships with both of them, I’m very worried this will hurt my chances at the selective schools I’m applying to. When I look at results pages, it seems like almost everyone rates their recs as mines or tens, and many seem to have helped their teachers write them. Personally, I would rate mine at around a 5-6 to be honest, simply because they are generic. Do I have a chance at the ivies if I have an otherwise stellar application but my recs are notably subpar? Thanks.
Oops, meant “nines” above
bump
Would also like to know the answer to this question
Im not going to beat around the bush: subpar recs will definitely hurt. However, if you come from a very large school where teachers are commonly asked to write 100+ letters of rec every year, then the college may understand why they’re bland or seem formulaic.
The bad thing is that almost all of the Ivy League applicants will have stellar teacher recs. Having decent or mediocre ones will definitely lower your chances.
PS I personally think that having students help write their teacher recs defeats the whole purpose of them.
I feel like I have two good recs, and 1 potentially generic one (I didn’t want to submit it and told the school not to, but two days later after submitting the first ones,they submitted it in anyways and I can’t retract it.). How will this work out?