Interesting Penn Rec Strategy- Good idea?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
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<p>I am applying to Princeton and Penn and still need letters from two teachers. Wharton's my top choice.
My friend sent me this Dignified Company book advice on seeing the letters that the teachers write.
The link's here. The advice is below too.
Letter</a> of Rec</p>

<p>Secondary school instructors often send letters directly to a student’s university, causing students to wonder, “Is my teacher going to be able to write cogently about my abilities?” “Just what is she writing about me?” “Is this letter the best letter for me to send or should I send another instructor’s?”
The best way to see the content in a recommendation is ask the instructor for a letter of recommendation that the student can use for a variety of purposes: scholarships, employment, honor societies, etc. If the student asks for a recommendation and links the recommendation to a university, most teachers are in the habit of not showing the student the recommendation. But if the recommendation is generic and will be used for a variety of unforeseen purposes, teachers will be happy to provide the student with multiple copies.
From there, the student can evaluate the recommendation and decide whether or not to ask for the teacher to send the recommendation to a university. The chances of the teacher changing the recommendation for a university are minimal.
Students can use this technique to review a multitude of recommendations and then select the best recommendation to send as part of a college application.</p>

<p>Cool idea. My dad thought so. What do you think? My friend got an older edition of one of their books and said it was solid.
Asking for recs on Monday, so all thoughts appreciated!</p>

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<p>Truthfully, I doubt any teacher is going to write you a bad rec. They just won’t write you a rec at all. That being said, I feel like this idea is betraying the confidence of someone who is doing you a huge favor, and that in itself is in bad taste. In addition, if they somehow find out that you are doing this to see their college rec letter that they didn’t want to show you, that big have bad repercussions.</p>

<p>A better idea, if you are really unsure, would be to judge the teacher’s reactions when asking for a rec and thanking them. If they are happy to write you a rec, and say yes without hesitation, they will probably write you a good one. If you are still not sure, when you thank them for the rec, if they look you dead in the eye, and say it was a pleasure, they you know you have a good rec.</p>

3

<p>I like this. And the guide is complementary. Nice.
I wish D had used a more scientific approach when applying to school. Being able to look at a variety of recs allows a student to select the best of the best recs.
Long after she got into school, we were able to see the actual recs that the teachers sent. One of them was written very poorly, albeit enthusiastically. We would have preferred to have had that one sent.</p>

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<p>Thanks so much. I followed their advice and asked today!</p>