Letters of recommendation - rehash of resume?

Applying to College
1

<p>So, I'm a junior and I asked the teacher I had for an AP social studies class for a letter of recommendation, seeing as she had written me a super, super nice reference sheet for an activity I was applying for (it basically just asked the teacher to rank the student in personality areas, but she added comments saying stuff like "one of the top students I've ever had). Anyway, my school requires you to give the teacher you're asking a resume/info sheet, so I did...and when she gave me back the letter (I have no idea why, but she emailed me a copy) basically all that was in there was "Suzie is an active participant in the community because she [insert the volunteer stuff I've done]" and "challenges herself by taking many AP classes" "She is very active in the school community [insert name of clubs] etc...AND she used the wrong name once or twice (for example, let's say my name is Suzie, she occasionally referenced "Jessie") and when I e-mailed back asking if she could edit that before sending it, she said "oh yeah, sorry about that. I use a template and I forgot to edit it in some parts apparently."</p>

<p>SO...two questions - should I not give the resume to the next teachers I ask and explain why (so I don't run into this same problem) and can I ask the teacher to rewrite the letter and not rehash the LOR?</p>

2

<p>.Lecturing a teacher on how to write a letter of recommendation and what material to reference in the letter is inappropriate. </p>

3

<p>Most teachers won’t use your resume in this way. It sounds like this teacher is simply lazy, and I’d make sure I had stronger LOR’s than hers.</p>

4

<p>I agree with everyone above. May I suggest getting a recommendation from an English teacher? Writing is what they do, so they tend to write great letters. I was applying to a summer program once, and I know my teacher put a lot of effort into it. He told me that instead of filling out the small space provided, he was attaching a separate, typed version. I didn’t get to read it, but I did get into the program. </p>

<p>I think the especially great letters come from teachers who focus on analyzing, going deeper into the text, and self reflection. </p>