<p>for my thing, i asked, and teacher told me that he gave me "outstanding top 5%" for all of them except for about five of them in "one of the top few encountered in my career" and then he ranked me as "outstanding 5%"</p>
<p>is this a good thing?...</p>
<p>if i wanted to get into ivy-league, is this good enough?</p>
<p>it's such a subjective rating system, I really doubt they have cut-offs.</p>
<p>From what I've found, this really depends on the rest of the recommendation. If it's as glowing as the ratings, then they'll be taken more seriously. If the ratings are 'top 5%'/'one of the few' and the rest of the rec doesn't really reinforce that, then it seems as though the recommender a) hasn't written many recs, b) didn't really think of the impact of one of the ratings, or c) is just trying to boost your chances. In short, sincerity is the key.</p>