HORRIBLE Letter of Recommendation

<p>My English teacher wrote me a LoR in which she spelled my name wrong, and wrote nothing specific about me as a person (although she knows my passions and future career interests and personal things like that). It's more generic than one expects from a guidance counselor, although this teacher knows me much better. This letter adds nothing constructive to my application whatsoever.</p>

<p>The problem is, my teacher submitted it before showing it to me, so I can't remove her letter from my application and ask another teacher.</p>

<p>Is it possible that I can call up the school it was sent to (Princeton) and request to change recommendations?</p>

<p>I did waive my rights to read it, but my teacher insisted on reading it. Would I be in violation of the FERPA if I mention to Princeton that I read it (and that's how I know I want to change it)?</p>

<p>You can’t mention that you read it. I would have another teacher do a letter of recommendation and hope that the colleges read both. Schools know that some teachers write better letters of rec than others. </p>

<p>Try to offset that by getting a new letter that is more personal and enthusiastic. You may want to have your guidance counselor read both letters and make sure that the second letter does the trick before it is sent out. I’d make sure your guidance counselor is aware of what happened.</p>

<p>The problem is that she already submitted it, and I my application. I can’t change anything on the “School Forms” page to Princeton.</p>

<p>My counselor has also sent in her letter (and I expect it to be generic since our school has 3700 kids and she’s only on campus twice a week), so she can’t compensate for my English teacher’s.</p>

<p>I will let my other recommender know though. Thank you.</p>

<p>Plus think of this: most applicants don’t get to see their letters of recommendation. It’s very possible that although people claim that they have awesome letters of rec, their letters might not be as great as they imagine, too.</p>

<p>Thanks so much for the uplifting words (:</p>