How bad is it to ask a teacher to rewrite a rec letter?

Applying to College
1

<p>I am hopefully transferring [Moderators: please do not move this to the transfer section. I promise it's high school specific!] from a Canadian university to a top US economics program. Because my counsellor did not attach an essay in her recommendation, colleges request an additional recommendation from a former teacher. I chose my former Social Studies AP teacher who taught me for two years. I chose her not only because I had the highest social studies grade in the entire school that year, but because I enjoyed the class so much that I went leagues beyond the course material and did a lot of research on my own and gained new interests because of this. We also have a very good relationship and she became more like a friend than a teacher to me in the end. </p>

<p>When I approached her to ask for a recommendation, she was very happy and completed the letter in less than a week. Now, it is important to keep in mind during the rest of the post that she teaches in Canada, and has likely never written a letter of recommendation to a top US college (Canadian universities don't even require one!). Unfortunately, almost all of the letter is things that top colleges don't want to see were included in the letter (he was punctual, had a positive attitude, excellent oral and written communication skills, he is a hard worker, always polite, always well prepared and organized for class, one of the most responsible and conscientious students I have ever had). I need to be careful not to appear arrogant because I do truly appreciate her taking time to write the letter, but she is unaware that she is giving the impression that I was a plugger who studied all day. This isn't true at all, because I probably studied course material directly for six or seven hours in the entire semester (I almost never studied!). The letter does have some things that illuminate my strengths such as "strong interpersonal skills, strong leader and a team player" but given the aforementioned quotes I think that sending this letter would hurt rather than help my admission chances. She probably thinks that she gave me an excellent recommendation, but after reading A is for Admission, I know that it's not a great letter at all.</p>

<p>Knowing her, I don't think that she would take it the wrong way if I asked her to change parts of the letter, but being a traditional guy it seems disrespectful. She even asked as she printed out the letters if I wanted her to change anything but I said no to be polite. If she were to write a letter that would show my intellectual pursuit for learning in that class, I feel that it would significantly increase my chances. But, is it the right thing to do?</p>

2

<p>I think it’s completely all right. It is a matter of importance. I asked my school PRINCIPAL to rewrite my counselor rec, even though I’m not super-close to her. If you approach her in the right way, I’m sure she’d understand.
Tell her that you think what she wrote is great, but that you recently spoke to someone (invent some American counselor/friend someone) and they told you that the recs the colleges look for are a bit different, and that they have a specific format. Then give her a sample (make one yourself if you want), and enquire politely if she’d be able to rewrite it.</p>

3

<p>hmmm…to me the letter seems fine…</p>

<p>if i were u what I’d do is instead of telling her to write u another letter, y dont u get a new letter from another teacher which highlights the strengths u want to be shown… then u can send the 2 letters together and they can pretty much balance each other out…</p>

<p>Another thing what i did was, when i told my teachers to write my rec i gave them a list of things i wanted to be mentioned…</p>

4

<p>If it is that important to you, you could ask the teacher to revise the letter with just what you want and how you would like it worded. Then you are actually not asking for changes, but a few minor additions. With word processing, it only takes a few minutes to edit. Then you know you will have done everything you could to make the best impression and can stop fretting. And a nice thank you note and some movie passes or small token gift card is definitely in order. Just ask!
PS > Most teachers don’t even let you see your letter, and you have to sign off that you will never ask to see it, so you are very lucky! Most people have to have blind faith on the rec letter.</p>

5

<p>Exactly what is wrong with the letter?</p>

6

<p>Since you say your line of communication w/her are solid, I would ask. Colleges know that many teachers are not familiar with what a helpful rec letter should contain. They don’t penalize the student since it’s out of his/her control. But to me, it’s a lost opportunity.</p>

<p>Have a look here (the info is very applicable, despite being from MIT):
[Writing</a> Recommendations guide from MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/writingrecs]Writing”>How to write good letters of recommendation | MIT Admissions)</p>

<p>See if you can guide her to what’s contained therein.</p>

7

<p>Thanks. I’m going to ask her if we can work on it together one day.</p>