<p>So apparently I keep hearing this myth that if your teachers don't mark you in the top 5% or top 1%, you basically have no shot at HYPS CBU?
Is that true?</p>
<p>So if my teacher doesnt say I am the best that she or he has ever seen, basically I'm screwed?</p>
<p>say my Stats are:</p>
<p>2320, 800 CR, 790 Math, 730 Writing
800 Math, 800 US history, 790 Chem
GPA UW: 3.95 W: 4.3ish
Essays: Decent
EC: Art / mega internship at top company in its field</p>
<p>How would the recommendation affect me if it was a decent rec that shows that the teacher supports me a lot, but just not naming top 1%?</p>
<p>I think that if you go to some crazy private school, it's likely you won't be the best a teacher has ever seen just because of the qualities of other crazy private school kids like yourself. So school type could factor in to those rankings as well. It's a really subjective way to format it--How do you distinguish between top 10% or 5%? I don't like it very much, personally.</p>
<p>The numerical 1%, 5% and 10% is only a rough gauge. It's the anecdotes, the sincerity and the depth of the written material that will make a good or mediocre recommendation.</p>
<p>If a teacher checked "top 10%" but the body of the rec was glowing and sincerely enthusiastic and backed by concrete examples -- it's a good thing.</p>
<p>If a teacher checked "top 1%" but the body was formulaic but with praise -- then it wouldn't help you much at all.</p>
<p>what is meant by concrete examples? I was just wondering b/c would it still be looked upon as a good recommendation if the teacher says things like "leads class discussions", etc., etc., and talked about character of the student but with no specific incident?</p>
<p>By "concrete" what I've heard is "memorable" with details. Example: John's opinion is respected by his peers in our class. He offers solid reasoning behind his thoughts and considers others' views. One time, he had an assignment where I asked him to lead a group defending Global Economic integration, a view I knew he opposed. Yet he was extremely eloquent and persuasive and his examples were completely compelling. His group "won" the class debate.</p>
<p>If I were reading 1000 applications over two weeks -- something like that would make me take note.</p>