<p>So, for the common app recs and other forms of recs, how important are the rankings themselves in relation to the weight of the rec overall and also the stuff that the teacher/counselor has to say about the student? i mean, since its very subjective, a teacher could easily interchange top 1%, top 5%, and top 10%. are the rankings used maybe to see where the flaws of the candidate are? or are they just a very shallow precursor to what the teacher has written about the student?</p>
<p>Rankings actually carry quit a bit of weight. Like, they do make a difference and all, but it can be very subjective. I guess it depends on each school and your counselors rec that talks about your rank and how it should be higher. I wish rank didn't mean a thing cause all it does is show the kids who study a butt load and get straight A's throughout HS.</p>
<p>Logic would dictate how I'd read them if I were an admissions officer. If a rec writer said "top 1% in my career" but the praise was formulaic and bland anecdotes -- the rec would be easily overlooked by me to be frank. If there was a top 10% but the written examples were clear, convincing and sincere -- this would go much further to enhance what I'm trying to learn about the applicant. </p>
<p>remember -- it's always about the anecdotes and examples -- not the typical praise.</p>
<p>partly depends on the school. Some schools admit by the numbers, such as your class rank, while others like to read between the lines, considering EC's, recs, etc etc to determine potential success at a school.</p>
<p>I guess I'm trying to say that a small, private LAC is a completely different animal than a big state school. The ideal applicant (high match) at one school could get rejected at another.</p>
<p>oh, in response to post 2 and 4, i meant rankings on the commonapp where it has your teachers/counselors rank you based on various qualities.</p>
<p>i mean, for me anyways, i have a teacher who knows me very well and i would presume would (out of admiration or whatever) give me all best in careers. my other teacher however admires me as much but would prolly be more conservative in regards to giving out "best in careers" or "top 5%s", something that is also true with my counselor.</p>
<p>cuz if a teacher were to give me a rec that says "great student, great leader" blah blah blah, and were to give me all top 10%s as opposed to say all top 5%s, how much of a difference would it bother making?</p>
<p>i would assume it really shouldnt make a difference, but then after seeing harvards supplement to the secondary school report where it just asks the counselor to make a number of extra rankings, im not too sure anymore.</p>