My teacher wants me to write a "draft" of the rec?

<p>So I asked my teacher about writing me a rec., and he said that he'll do it, but he only knows me in a classroom setting and he wouldn't know what to write (that goes beyond "fatum is a good student..."). So he wants me to write a "draft" highlighting my traits with anecdotes..What are your takes on that? He said he wouldn't be the BEST person to write for me, and suggested my business teacher who knows me better wrt. ECs. But I shouldn't have recs from non-academic subjects so he suggested that I send in 3. </p>

<p>Now, should I follow my teacher's advice and submit 3 recs? Is this teacher a good choice for rec? Should I seek someone else? Or just be happy that he's letting me have an input in the rec??</p>

<p>Your teacher seems to have a given you a polite “no” regarding writing a recommendation for you. He’s encouraged you to ask other teachers. Take that advice.</p>

<p>How come business is a non-academic subject?</p>

<p>is accounting considered academic?</p>

<p>Yes accounting and business are both academic subjects!</p>

<p>And yes, I suggest you ask another teacher because this one is obviously uncomfortable writing one for you.</p>

<p>^really?! I thought that they weren’t…because in Canada (where I am), we rank the courses as U (university-bound), M (college-bound), and O (open course). Acct is an M course.</p>

<p>So what? Just because a subject is categorized as U, M or O doesn’t mean it’s not A (academic).</p>

<p>Academic classes are usually defined as core classes (math, science, history, english, and sometimes foreign language). Sometimes the definition extends to AP and IB classes, even those that are not core.</p>

<p>Business and accounting are electives. </p>

<p>OP, I would agree that your teacher seems uneager to write your rec. You are better off finding a teacher who is willing to put in the effort.</p>

<p>Just ask a different teacher man</p>

<p>Hey Fatum,</p>

<p>I don’t know what your teacher is like, or the relationship you have with him, but there seems to be 2 possibilities:</p>

<p>1) He doesn’t want to write the recommendation
2) He wants to write it, but doesn’t know the best way to</p>

<p>When I was applying, my teacher for Honors and AP Physics wrote one of my recommendations. Although he wasn’t the best writer (as he told me), he was still very willing to help me out, and ended up writing a letter for me. Of course, I never saw the letter, but I did get accepted to Duke, so I assume it wasn’t awful.</p>

<p>Between the two possibilities above, it’s up to you to decide which one is the case. If it’s the first, ask another teacher. If it’s the second, then do what he asks and write a draft.</p>

<p>When writing a draft of a recommendation, you should think of it as asking the teacher to focus on a few sides of you. One thing I’ve noticed from my experiences applying and from what I’ve heard from others is that Adcoms seem to like specifics. For instance, an essay listing every EC you’ve done, in little detail, will not nearly be as strong as an essay describing one event in one EC that you did. If a teacher writes a general “good student, hard worker, etc.” letter, it will seem generic. That could be why that teacher asked for a draft. . . he wants to know what specifically you think he could write the best about.</p>

<p>~Jimmy</p>

<p>Just write the draft letter and give it to him.</p>

<p>Business is not an academic subject in high school.</p>

<p>I think my teacher knows that I need a stellar rec but he doesn’t know me that well to produce something like that. So he wants my help…</p>

<p>Business is not an elective, but I’m very involved with the business department, so should I ask my business teacher (gr.10 teacher, current club advisor) to write one and submit that in addition to 2 normal recs?</p>

<p>Having a third recommendation can’t hurt you. . . as long as you don’t go overboard and ask everyone to write you a recommendation. At some of the information sessions I attended last year, AOs talked about people sending in 30+ letters. Don’t do that. . . haha</p>

<p>~Jimmy</p>