<p>Last year I wrote several articles for my school paper which exposed corruption in the Mayor's office and in my high school. The scandal even implicated school board members. It was a big deal in our town and exposing the situation led to many positive changes. </p>
<p>One of my teachers wants to write about the incident in her recommendation. I'm probably overthinking this, but I'm concerned how admissions officers will perceive it. I am an activist, but on the other hand, I don't look for dirty laundry in every corner! Will inclusion of this incident help me or hurt me?</p>
<p>(I haven't finalized my college list, but I'm considering 3 or 4 women's colleges and a few others).</p>
<p>speaking only as a parent and not a 'professional' college counselor, I think your actions were commendable and I would certainly say that they'd be worth writing about. Presumably they'd be included with other outstanding qualities of yours.</p>
<p>From what you write it sounds as though what you wrote was true and resulted in positive changes; if that is the case I cannot imagine how it could be a negative for a teacher to mention it in a rec. I would think it should be a plus at virtually any respectable school.</p>
<p>Schoolgurl, you should be proud of your accomplishment. Although you uncovered the dirt, I suspect you exposed it with dignity and without rancor. This might be something the GC could mention in the letter. </p>
<p>To the rest of the women on this board...did anyone else have a little wrench in their gut at first reading the OP? I mean, isn't it characteristic of even the brightest women to want to AVOID being seen as the whistleblower? I bet Geoffrey Feiger wouldn't have batted one eyelash if he had done this as a high school student. YOU GO (school)GURL!!!!!</p>
<p>Sounds like a terrific topic for a college essay to me, especially for the type of schools you mention.</p>
<p>I can't give specific advice to a stranger, but just speaking generically, I think that sort of thing could be a great cornerstone feature for the application.</p>
<p>What you did is the kind of thing that makes students stand out in an excellent way in college application pools, particularly for journalism schools adn for top colleges. You demonstrated courage, passion, and strong writing and research skills. WTG!</p>
<p>I hope you're also applying for some writing/advocacy/journalism scholarships. Check the Internet because you might be a good candidate for things offered by Freedom Forum (journalism foundation) and by groups supporting the First Amendment.</p>
<p>Impressive indeed. Yes, you are way over-thinking it. I agree with others that it would make a great centerpiece for an essay and can't imagine how an adcom would look negatively on it. Congratulations!!</p>
<p>Good heavens! Do you know how many kids your age would give their eye teeth to uncover such scandal, and do the investigative reporting that made the case?????? This shows your TALENT and sucess that so few your age can ever hope to achieve. Go for it! I am sure your rec won't dwell on the seedy details, but on how you took the intitiative and through hard work ended corruption.</p>
<p>That's awesome. I'd definitely be psyched to read about this in an application. To be honest, it's even better that it's coming from a teacher - that actually shows that you've impacted the community instead of you just saying that you've impacted the community.</p>
<p>thats a great acheivement!! you should definately mention it because this is one of the best ways you can serve your community and work towards a positive change. best of luck :)</p>
<p>Schoolgurl: This may not apply to you, but for me, the bad rec I used for Princeton had stuff like this. It was also the only school I was rejected from. My bad rec talked about, essentially, what I had done to expose some rather dirty things about some fellow students in the name of honesty and fairness. However, it made me sound like a tattle-tale. If you want to have this event mentioned, have it done in a few brief sentences and not for the whole rec like my teacher did. I don't think it will impress the adcoms. As long as it's done "in passing" it'll still allow room for the meat of the rec.</p>
<p>But there's a difference between "he is a great student because he told me when his classmate was cheating" vs. "she exposed corruption in the mayor's office" I think the second shows more maturity than is common for a teenager. Plus, legend, you really can't draw a correlation between that particular rec and your rejection, since we know college admissions is random and that rec wasn't the only thing different from your rejected app and your accepted ones.</p>