<p>Would not having very good recs kill my chances? The only people who would give me a honest good rec would be my art teachers. Last year my math teacher and I never spoke other than to argue about my low grade. This year, I'm in a class of 1, but never really speak with my teacher as it is more or less an independent study. In the science wing, I have been pegged as the rebellious kid who never does things as told or makes up ways to do things. My relationship with English teachers is bitter sweet as they all think that I am an amazing writer, but put no emphasis on their class and thus never read the assigned material. My gifted adviser hates me for my seeming lack of work ethic and downplay of her rigid schedules. My best academic rec would be in history, but who cares how many facts you can remember for a test then forget. Overall, I am deemed as the kid with the 4.0 who couldn't care less about your class I am the only person at school who has a 4.0, yet can lose 20 pts on a test and get every answer correct. </p>
<p>Outside of school, I am considered the laziest person on the tennis team, least interested on the science team, and a procrastinator in Boy Scouts. My only activities where I personally know the person in charge are art club and ski club, both of which I am considered amazing. </p>
<p>Any suggestions other than pursuing an art school?</p>
<p>You must submit two teacher recs, figure out by yourself which one to choose, but since they are not going to be great, send two extra recs from the art and ski persons in charge, if you are sure they will be amazing. Or better yet, try to do something to impress the teachers you plan to ask for recs (forget about personal pride until they send them:) )</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with the history teacher, but I just felt that due to the nature of how the subject is taught that it would not carry as much weight. I am mainly concerned about the math/science one, as that is where I meet my stiffest resistance.</p>
<p>there are two possibilities. (1) most of your teachers are all treating you very unfairly; though you are not as bad as they think, for some reason they all gang up on you; (2) you really do have the flaws they point out.</p>
<p>while that’s framed to make (2) more look likely, situation (1) is not uncommon and you may be in it. (it really does happen!) usually big groups of teachers aren’t actively evil, they’re just all making the same pedagogical mistakes. you may want to talk to a trusted friend or teacher or counselor about what is driving the hostility toward you so that you at least understand the misperceptions. or you may realize that there are some things responsible for the trouble, like personality issues, that you can fix. ask your friend/teacher/counselor to be brutally honest; there may be a problem that’s fixable and which accounts for all the ill will. but you’ll never find out if you ask the people you trust to take sides and confirm your belief that your critics are evil and wrong.</p>
<p>of course the answer to your simple question is that you are very unlikely to get a good math/science recommendation unless you make peace with the relevant teachers, which is why this is in your interest. if, after your best effort at finding an accommodation, you are still not being treated fairly, try to find an objective someone who can at least talk about the reasons why you and your teachers don’t see eye to eye. that person would make an excellent choice for a third letter of recommendation to shed more light on your case. who knows; it may work. finally, your own part of the application can serve as a way to explain the troubles and what they reflect and don’t reflect about you. just be very careful not to sound bitter or unaware of your flaws. you surely have flaws related to your academic performance (as does everyone) and it would be horrible to seem like you think you don’t.</p>
<p>let me also say that i realize that unfair treatment really does happen and it’s not right. what you have to realize is that in the end, only the appearances matter, especially in college applications. try to be pragmatic and do your level best to prevent this situation from messing things up for you. the way to do that is by leaving people no choice but to admit that you do EVERYTHING they expect from you. rise above the problem by being better and calmer and more reasonable and more hardworking and more disciplined than the people who would try to stop you. even if you never get a fair shake from them, they may be forced to grudgingly admit your virtues if you leave them nothing to complain about. and even if not, obvious evidence of having tried your absolute best will surely look pretty persuasive to an objective outsider.</p>
<p>incidentally, one of the most common causes of resentment of smart people is that they do so well and don’t try. since this resentment hurts you whether it’s reasonable or not, you have to kill it by trying really hard and doing obscene amounts of work, even if you don’t really need to. of course, you’re free not to do that, but then there are the consequences…</p>
<p>so, anyway, sorry about the rambly nature of these remarks and good luck.</p>
<p>I am not saying that many of the character flaws that are mentioned are inaccurate. I will admit, as it is rather obvious, that when I get bored with a subject, I tend to procrastinate and/or blow off a lot of the work. Though I turn in every assignment completed, it becomes quite clear when I do not put any effort into it. </p>
<p>My main problem with the science and math teachers is the way at which I approach and solve the problems given in class. Last week in AP Chemistry, we were given a simple problem of developing a formula from a set of data. I made a connection that the teacher did not and it resulted in his 25+ step solution being cut to 5 steps. After he began to explain to the class why my solution was incorrect, I had to interrupt and justify myself. After spending 10 minutes explaining my solution he finally just stopped trying to find holes in my answer and just said that on the AP test, if I did something like that, I would not get any points as it is not what the solutions manual said. (BTW, I received no credit for that 20 point problem) :mad:</p>
<p>I had the same situation last year in math where my CalcAB teacher said that I should not even waste my money taking AB or BC test since I would surely only get a 1 or 2. After spending the year blowing off his class (this really ticked him off), I took the BC exam and got a 5. I went back this year to tell him, and he said that I must have had a sympathetic grader. These experiences have only led me to believe that the educators at my school are good for nothing other than preparing us for standardized tests and thus, I do not believe it to be worth my time to suck up to them. However, I do realize the implications of my (I’ll give it to them) “rebellious” attitude.</p>
<p>I have approached the administrators and counselors at my school, but since these teacher’s students score very well on the PSSAs, they feel as though I am making ridiculous accusations. </p>
<p>Perhaps your attitude towards studying doesn’t make you a good fit/match for certain schools.
If you blew off your hs classes, why should a college assume that you don’t blow off their classes?
By doing what you did, you aren’t leaving yourself much good ending or choices.
Haven’t you learned in your iono at least 11 years of schooling NOT to argue with teacher about their mistake in front of the whole class? (unless it is just pointing things stupid mistakes out that the teachers admit. if they don’t, just leave it, or unless you got into college already XP).
Teacher are people too and they have pride. If you don’t leave them some pride, they can easily put you in a bad position through various ways.</p>
<p>For now, just find teachers that won’t write bad things about you.</p>
<p>Though I can understand your frustration at being better/smarter than the material taught to you, and at the obvious signs of resentment from petty teachers, you must realize that, if what I gather from your stories is true, even an infinitely wise and patient and all-knowing teacher would not write you an altogether glowing recommendation. </p>
<p>Since in no career could you ever avoid interacting with peers and superiors, learning to deal well with situations and people will be unbelievably important. It’s all about attitude. You may not realize it, but sustaining an argument with a teacher in the middle of class over the inferiority of a method that he/she has taught for many years to your new abstract/enlightening simplification is an obvious sign of disrespect (especially if your objections are phrased the wrong way). Almost unacceptable. This is regardless of who’s right and who’s wrong. If the teacher was petty to begin this public debate, you are petty to continue it instead of approaching him after class. This is very typical of students who’ve not met too many intellectual equals throughout their schooling. For every freshman who enters MIT scared ****less, there is another who thinks that this will barely be a challenge at all. Arrogance is not a subtle trait. “Bright… but…” “Promising, except…” Work on getting rid of that last part. You may be completely justified to feel superior to those around you, but don’t let them feel inferior. Because that’s when you run into problems.</p>
<p>More severely, lack of humility (however well it can be “justified”) can ruin you as a future scientist.</p>
<p>You have plenty of time (a whole semester!) before your recommendations need to be in. You might find that a tiny shift in attitude makes a big difference in how others treat you.</p>
<p>Your lack of work ethic will not be endearing to an admissions committee. At MIT, you will also have to do work that you don’t care about sometimes. In any job that you take, ever (including academia) you will have to do work that you don’t care about it sometimes. I do sympathize with your conflicts with teachers who want you to do things their way and try to tell you that you’re wrong when you’re not (though the way you present yourself in such situations can make a big difference), but you only tell one such story. Everything else seems to be about you blowing stuff off and not even having the sense and respect to decently disguise it. You come off as a kid with a superiority complex and an attitude problem.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong. We’ve all had plenty of classes where the material didn’t interest us and where we could get As by spending almost no time on them and not paying attention in class. The key is to not make it obvious that you spend no time on them and pay no attention. People skills are important.</p>
<p>Can I just say that the post by pebbles above is incredibly good advice, as is the one by jessie.</p>
<p>Don’t think that this means you have to give up your “rebellious”/creative/unorthodox side. You just have to pretend long enough to get past the hoops they make you jump through. Petty people have the power to stop you, and no amount of smartness or rightness will change that. The best people I know still have the obnoxious know-it-all alive and well inside them, and deploy him effectively in things like making fundamental discoveries about the nature of the universe. But you can hide that guy for a while sometimes to make the rest of life smoother. This is essentially the only workable compromise that there is.</p>
<p>Last three posts all correct and good advice. Also, please do try to remember, as you go through life, you will probably be 5 x smarter than your boss, and you’ll have to do all sorts of stuff you don’t like or think are beneath your intelligence. But, it’s part of life and a mark of maturity is how you will deal with these and the other issues that face you in your journey.</p>
<p>If these teachers do not like you, an obvious candidate for “best/brightest,” perhaps it is that they feel your arrogance. This attitude is unlikely to change in teachers, no matter where you go to college. You may find that if you change your attitude… just a little, your teachers may change their attitudes toward you a lot.</p>
<p>I would like to thank you all for your advice. I realize that my attitude can be trying at times; however, I have been trying to improve some relationships. Yesterday, during that chem class that I hate, after completing the 3 period lab in under 1, I spent almost 2 hours helping the teacher teach the other students who were struggling. I did learn 1 thing, being a teacher is a really hard job, even when teaching to the brighter kids in the school. After class the teacher pulled me over and said I did a great job.</p>