How important are teacher recommendations for college admissions?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hello. One of the main things I am scared of is getting bad/average teacher recommendations for college admissions. I am a junior currently and am getting good grades in my classes (A- and A's), but I guess you can say I "screw around" in class with my friends sometimes and don't exactly participate too often. I was just wondering, just how important are teacher recommendations for college admissions? If you could rank teacher recs, GPA, ACT/SAT scores, extracurriculars, on a scale of importance according to your past experience/belief, I would greatly appreciate it.</p>

<p>Also, since at my school students generally ask for teacher recs towards the end of junior year, what are some ways I can stand out to teachers and get them to "like" me more, besides the obvious "ask more questions" and "participate in class"?</p>

<p>Thank you for your help. </p>

2

<p>It depends. It may be a college by college thing. For selective colleges everything matters. In college and high school for that matter, contribution improves the quality of the class and student engagement is important indication of student intellectual vitality. It is pretty obvious which candidate the college would be interested in, the “screw around” who doesn’t participate or the dynamic student who elevates the class.</p>

3

<p>I mean, the “screwing around” is mostly minor talking out of turn with friends, which I believe almost everyone does sometimes, not really severely disrupting the class. However for some reason, it seems like a lot of my teachers don’t like me, but don’t dislike me. I guess this is mainly because I do not participate too often, mainly because I am an introvert who does not need assistance too often. My main question is, how can a shyer/more reserved person get a teacher to know me better? I really don’t know how to get teachers aware of activities I do outside of school and realize that I want to succeed because just starting a conversation with them about non-school related things seems just plain awkward?</p>

<p>(sorry if this doesn’t make much sense; I am very tired right now)</p>

4

<p>Google “common data set (insert college here)” and look at section C7, this shows whether or not your school will even consider it</p>