<p>I asked two of my teachers for a rec, only one of my schools required them since I applied to mostly publics. The school I applied to that required the recs I really love though and although it's not an EXTREMELY competitive school all around(top 60), some of its departments are, namely the one I applied to. </p>
<p>I was in guidance the other day when my counselor pulled my file out, he accidentally tipped it at an angle and I was able to see some of my rec(I waived my right). There was pretty much no way I could avoid seeing it, but I wish I hadn't. Preceding the request for a letter, the school provided a series of boxes with things like "character" and "intellectual potential" for the teacher to check off as either: Top few I've seen in my career, top 5%, top 10%, top 25%, top 50% or I haven't observed this quality(I think that's pretty standard). My teacher checked top 25% straight down the middle for me. I'm not particularly offended, because I didn't get an A in her class and she teaches the smartest kids in the school, but colleges don't know that. The reason I chose her is because I had her as a Freshman and I did very poorly because I just didn't care, and I had her again as a Junior and I worked very hard for a B. I figured she would possibly write about how much I matured throughout high school which would help me very much.</p>
<p>Maybe her letter is really nice and explains that she sees our schools best and brightest and when it comes to her department, I'm not in the top 5 or 10%, but still a good student who excels in other areas. Or maybe it just paints a portait of me as your average B student who could probably hack it in college, but couldn't survive in a competitive environment. I'm kind of scared, any advice or experience with a similar situation?</p>