I see so many people rating their rec letters as 9/10 or 10/10 but how do you get to know your teachers so well? As a student at a quite large public school, how do you really get to know your teacher? I’m guessing “knowing you well” is more than just regularly participating in class…
I asked my teachers that I have had 2 or more classes with. I also stay after school for extra help or have a question that needs to be answered.
Unfortunately by next year I’ll only have had one teacher who I’ve TAed for all of high school…the rest I will have known for only one year.
I go to a large public high school, and I found it just came naturally. I love history, and my teacher could tell, and we would talk about things during class or during study hall. We would communicate outside of class about world issues and other things like that. For English, my teacher really loved my essays and literary analysis, and I just became one of her favorite students through academic achievement. The best way is to just make yourself known. Become a top student. Become a unique student. Say things that are thought provoking (depending on the class). Do so much more outside of the classroom and bring that into the classroom.
basically, in order to get to know your teacher you have to be an extrovert who loves older men and women.
jk jk
if you find it hard to get to know your teachers, you are not alone-only a handful of students in a public school teacher’s classroom can actually get to know them.
standard rec letters by teachers using their template are good enough, great rec letters will only improve your chances by like 0.5%
If you regularly participate in class, I think the teacher will take notice and write good things about you.
Top schools want people who lead discussions, frequently challenge old ideas and introduce new ones. If you participate regularly, you probably do those things, which the teacher will mention in the rec letter, and those qualities are what top schools are looking for.
Being brave enough to raise your hand constantly in a class of 30+ students is already a good trait that not too many people have.
Edit: Also, the teacher can be an adviser of a club of yours which offers opportunities for a closer relationship.
Many of the kids I’ve gotten to know very well over the years have spent some time with me outside of class. For most, it was in extra help; for some it was in an activity I was moderating or my homeroom. For some, their personalities in class simply made the connection possible.
I remember one so very well. She was horrible, horrible in math. She came to me every day for extra help-- frequently in her soccer uniform. There, she morphed from a kid who would not say a word in class into one with a sense of humor and a wonderful smile.
I’ve always been so very, very thankful that she was so awful in Precalculus. She died 2 weeks after graduation on TWA flight 800.
That said, over the course of a year in class together, I can almost always find some anecdotes I can use in a letter.