<p>[8</a> Big Changes to College Admissions in 2010 and 2011 - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2010/11/15/8-big-changes-to-college-admissions-in-2010-and-2011.html]8”>http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2010/11/15/8-big-changes-to-college-admissions-in-2010-and-2011.html)</p>
<p>“As high school teachers and counselors get overwhelmed with recommendation requests, they often provide less specific or thoughtful comments, admissions officers say. NACAC found that the percentage of colleges giving “considerable importance” to teacher or counselor recommendations fell from 21 percent to 17 percent from 2007 to 2009. “Ninety-eight percent of recommendations tell us what students already told us,” says Philip Ballinger, director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Washington. UW this year stopped asking for or even reading teacher recommendations from applicants. The trend towards bland or generic recommendations causes headaches for schools that still rely heavily on them. About half of the applicants to Pitzer have perfect or near-perfect grades and test scores, says Angel Perez, director of admissions. “How do you differentiate among perfect GPA and SAT scores? I lean on those letters,” he says. But, he complains, a growing number of the recommendations ‘are not that useful…. It is making our job a lot more difficult.’”</p>