<p>Achat, yeah, well she also forgot to write it without the reminder too. Looking back at the rec now (it has been nearly two months since I read it initially), it is not like it is bad but she basically regurgitates the data off the resume, listing everything she participated in and all the awards she has received in our state, etc. It tells nothing new and really is not commenting ABOUT her, if you know what I mean. It is partly lack of effort and partly maybe being inept, not sure. The leaving in of "Jessica" on one line early in the rec, though she uses my D's name elsewhere in the text, was the clincher for me that she has a form letter she writes and plugs new information into it. My D did not need another resume. There are no anecdotes or opinion type things in it. It just seems very basic to me if you are a rec writer, that you put thought into making comments about the student, not listing their credits only. For instance, she lists that my D won two state scholarships in two different categories but she could comment that that had never been done in our state before (as announced at the All State Festival) or she lists that my D had been leads in the musicals there (which is the field she is pursuing a professional degree in) but never mentions that she was the lead in the HS productions as a middle school student (again rare here) or any comments about her performances on stage or what it was like to work with her or anything. She lists that my D created and directed a musical revue at the school but never comments about how this was never done before at our school or anything she could have commented on. She is well aware of my D's work on stages in our region and never comments. She basically plugged in some info. off the resume on the "individualized" lines of her formula letter. It just is not that useful. While it is just an optional rec and would not work against my D (it is not like it is bad!) but it just does nothing to help her. If you were to contrast it with how the others wrote personalized letters, it just does not compare. It just reminds me of how some are very dedicated to their work and put lots of effort into these sorts of things and some do the minimal effort, even though I realize they are not required to write recs. It has nothing to do with what she thought of my kid because I know she thinks well of her and just selected her as one of two girls to represent the school at a regional jazz festival and so forth. It is really a reflection on how she went about writing recs for all kids basically. Well, at least when she said Jessica will graduate in 2005, she got the year right and changed it from 2004 when the real Jessica did graduate!</p>
<p>Susan</p>