Rec Letters

Applying to College
1

<p>Hello CC,</p>

<p>I'm going to begin my college application process very soon. I have already asked two professors to write me recommendation letters, and I have a question ablut this.</p>

<p>One of the professors that I asked is a professor that I am very experienced with. He has been my advisor for the most important extracurricular in my academic life (Model UN) and has seen me strive and develop solid leadership skills. Also, he has coached our baseball team and has seen me win the MVP award and also seen leadership when I was chosen as captain. </p>

<p>I've asked him to write me a rec letter for various reasons. First, the extracurriculars. Second, I've only taken one class with him (Economics), but it is my intended field of study.</p>

<p>The problem is, during the year, there was one assignment where I had no idea what to do. I didn't understand the material, and I resorted to copy-pasting. It wasn't an important assignment (first draft of essay) and when I got caught it wasn't made into official school business, but my professor insisted on including this little incident on my rec letter. He wants to do this because he says "i've never seen a student make a comeback like you have".</p>

<p>There's my question: he wants to include how I learned and overcame a plagiarism problem, but I'm not so sure schools will be accepting of this. He said it will only be a minor part of the rec letter, but who knows?</p>

<p>Should I stick with him, or ask someone else for a rec letter? </p>

<p>Not sure if this matters, but some of the schools I'm looking at are CMC, GW, American, NYU...</p>

<p>Thanks for any responses and sorry for the long post!</p>

2

<p>Bump 10char anyone?</p>

3

<p>Colleges tend to like hearing how you overcame difficulty in rec letters. I think he sounds like a good person to write your recommendation.</p>

<p>However, since this isn’t a typical struggle (e.g., struggling with content, test scores, etc.) and is an issue of academic integrity, it might be different.</p>

<p>I’d ask your GC about it.</p>

4

<p>Thanks RedSeven, but my GC has given me mixed responses about it…</p>

5

<p>This could be one of the most interesting scenarios I’ve read in a while. In terms of advice, I don’t have much cause I would be leaning towards not including it. However, I like this.</p>

<p>o.O</p>

6

<p>Haha, i’ll let you know how it turns out. The plan so far is for the professor to write the rec letter and then the GC would read it, and the GC would let me know if its positive or negative.</p>

7

<p>Yes that’s a good plan, BUT your professor is the absolute PERFECT guy for a rec. Even if you messed up once in his class, your professor obviously forgives you and is being smart enough to include it in a positive way! And colleges know that people mess up. They would probably appreciate the honesty.
I think you should let him write it; it could be the best recommendation of your life. But yes it does make sense to have your GC read it.</p>

8

<p>Thanks, that is an uplifting comment. I really hope its a good rec letter because I don’t want to have to ask for another teacher to rush though a rec letter for me…</p>