<p>so my teachers are asking me what I want them to put for rec letters. My physics teacher has put "one of the top few I've seen" for half of the attributes and top 5% for the other half. He put mostly how well-rounded I am in the rec letter, and that I'm smart, motivated, and creative. Does this sound like a stellar rec letter? Thanks</p>
<p>Sounds like a very good recommendation.</p>
<p>I second Isleboy it sounds great. By the way is it a Boston College recommendation?</p>
<p>You have more important problems if you honestly couldn't figure out on your own that "one of the top few I've seen" for half of them makes a good rec.</p>
<p>LoL mathwizard...</p>
<p>I think you're worrying too much, judy. Many students can't find a teacher who know them well enough to address qualities like motivation and creativity. I definitely think that sounds like a strong rec.</p>
<p>lol, the sarcasm... just wanted to be sure</p>
<p>well, if all the teacher said was "He's very creative, highly motivated and briliant. Also, he is smart"
then it's not a stellar rec. </p>
<p>A stellar rec is one that speaks for itself, without making use of randomly thrown adjectives.</p>
<p>Agree with negru. My history teacher talked of specifics. He didn't just put in adjectives. He mentioned actual incidents. The way he wrote it, it was more convincing.</p>
<p>Why are you guys telling him this? Isn't it obvious that now he'll go and ask his physics teacher to write incidents in place of adjectives(or worst he'll write it). That's cheating and you all are helping him. I mean Recs are to prepared by teachers not by sstudents...</p>
<p>Recs are supposed to be confidential. So the student does not get to see them. I agree with you that students should have no say. We are only discussing what it means to be called a "stellar" rec.
In my case, I was shown the rec only by the history teacher although I waived my rights, because, as he put it, he wanted me to be proud of what I achieved. He had a right to show it to me, but I am actually not interested in seeing any of my recs, I trust my teachers to be fair.</p>
<p>If colleges come to know that recs are manipulated with student's input, they will lose faith.</p>