<p>IzzyJ: I think it's the content that matters rather than their writing ability. Admissions offices must get foreign letters all the time; as long as the reader can tell what they are trying to say then it should be fine.</p>
<p>Yeah...makes sense. Thanks.</p>
<p>riverfish--</p>
<p>print out a blank rec and hand it to a teacher who can tell you they'll write you an excellent rec.</p>
<p>provide the teacher with a self stamped addressed envelope and have them mail it pronto. You have to explain to the teacher that you need at least one more. beg if you have to do so. it may be worth it depending on what school.</p>
<p>good luck</p>
<p>Bottom line- make sure you get along well with this teacher and can talk to him/her about personal and academic things. Make sure you ask the teacher "will you give me an excellent letter of recommendation?"</p>
<p>Have you ever thought that maybe you annoy people? Maybe, just maybe, you are a type of student which simply memorizes everything instead of knowing it. Maybe you act like a smart ass. I could list a hundred reasons why your bio teacher may not like you, however I do not know you, so who knows.</p>
<p>Just be open to the possibility that maybe you aren't great in every way/</p>
<p>Whoa, Moose...who you talking to there? </p>
<p><em>rereads</em></p>
<p>Hey, calm down. There shouldn't be personal attacks here. And if you want to tell the person that perhaps he/she has some traits the teacher doesn't particularly like and said so in the reference, tact is usually a useful thing to have in hand...</p>
<p>I don't understand any of this. Our teachers mail the forms, we don't even know if they mailed them or not much less know what's in it.
Are those recs mailed by the students taken seriously by colleges?</p>
<p>Am I the only person who thinks that it's suspicious for teachers to tick any of the "top few in my career" boxes?</p>
<p>Of course, this may be true...but it seems like a lot of people on CC get these boxes checked off...but this happens every year...</p>
<p>I know some brilliant people who have been through my school, and I don't know if any of them would get that top box. My point is that there's always someone who's been better, and it's probably not you.</p>
<p>A not college admissions savy, but very smart friend asked a NASTY French teacher at our school for a rec. The prof. gave the kid all 2s and an "ehhh.. smart but dosen't like French and shows it in class" rec. He got accepted at Hopkins<br>
Recs can't kill you...they can hurt, but not kill.</p>
<p>Be glad that the teacher is even willing to sit down and fill out the paper. A friend of mine asked an English teacher who then refused to fill it out because he was applying to a military academy and she doesn't like the military or something to that extent. Her words were along the lines of "I think you're a great student who will do well, but I can't fill out this recommendation for a military academy because I don't believe in it." It makes me wanna ask her to fill out a recommendation to a religious school and see what happens.</p>
<p>For a summer program I applied to once my chemistry teacher filled me out the rec then seemed stunned that I got in to the point where I was uneasy. When I got to the camp later on letters of rec came up in converstion so I said to the camp director as a statement "I had a horrible letter of recommendation didn't I" and his response was, in the same tone, "yes and I disregarded it." After hearing that I was gonna take AP Chem with the teacher, he asked if I'd waived a right to read the letter and when I said no he showed it to me... basically it was written with the most foul statements you could possibly stay about a student without one positive thing along the way. I was really hurt but at least I knew full well what I was getting myself into with her.</p>
<p>"Whoa, Moose...who you talking to there?</p>
<p><em>rereads</em></p>
<p>Hey, calm down. There shouldn't be personal attacks here. And if you want to tell the person that perhaps he/she has some traits the teacher doesn't particularly like and said so in the reference, tact is usually a useful thing to have in hand..."</p>
<p>It wasn't a personal attack at all. I don't know anything about the thread originator. I was just saying that it is a possibility. I've known many people who think they are perfect, yet are utterly annoying. I never said this person was, I just said it's a possibility. If the student is truly that good, I don't see how a teacher could give all 3s and not higher. Obviously something's missing.</p>
<p>I chose not to waive my right to see reccs, but I won't be peeking at them til after decisions come in. Like the OP, I swear I would be agonizing over every little thing about the recc and killing myself with unneeded stress if I did end up looking right now.</p>
<p>In fact, I got a recc in an unsealed envelope from one of my club advisors the other day. His supplemental recc was crucial for my app because it was <em>supposed</em> to highlight my leadership, while the teacher reccs focused on academic ability. I seriously sat with the envelope in my hand for an hour, battling the intense desire to read it. Every few minutes, I'd say to myself, "God. It's right in my hand. I should know what it says; it could determine my future. But what if it's bad? Then, I'd worry about it forever. It's better to be in blissful ignorance....But I wanna read it. errghhhh."</p>
<p>I say, don't concern yourself with reccs once you pass them off to capable teachers. Focus on the parts of the admissions process that you can control.</p>
<p>So would it be appropiate to get letters of rec from my coaches to all of my schools even though not all necessarily have a supplemental rec form? Also how good is a rec with many top 5% of the class, but only a few top few in my careers. Also the letter seemed pretty generic, with only a few bits highlighting me and my community service and success on the AP?</p>
<p>At my school, some of the teachers just let you see your letters and whatnot before they send them in. My English teacher gave me all 5s but he had to mention in the margins that the college admins shouldn't consider it an inflation, that I really was that strong. On the other hand, my history teacher, whose rec won't be that strong (as I wasn't near as strong in history, haha) is just going to send in the rec. And my counselor is such an idiot that the secretary in charge of all the letters he gets has to go over it to make sure he hasn't put in errors.</p>