Teacher Recommendation help!

Applying to College
1

<p>I have a major problem with my teacher recommendation letter. After my teacher submitted it, I needed it for another program that didn't require it to be sealed so she printed it off for me to submit. When I saw it though, I discovered that the letter she wrote was WAAAY to short for my college recommendation. It was only a few lines long and included no specific detail.</p>

<p>I've known this teacher for a long time, and it wasn't short on purpose. Most of the teachers at my school have never had to write a letter for admissions to the schools I am applying for (Dartmouth, amherst, NYU), and she wasn't really aware of what was standard. We had a cummunication error before she wrote the letter I suppose. </p>

<p>I have already submitted my applications before I found this out and I am wondering if this is going to really hurt my admission chances. I know letters of recommendation are crucial to the admittance process and I need advice on what to do. My teacher is willing to write another one and send it in, but as my common app is closed, I was wondering what would be the best way to do this? </p>

<p>Any advice is greatly appreciated!</p>

2

<p>“I am wondering if this is going to really hurt my admission chances.” </p>

<p>It depends. Colleges know that often, teacher recs can be deficient due to the inexperience of the writer. They don’t hold this against the applicant and will simply discount the weakly written rec letter.</p>

<p>However, they then have to rely more on other docs in your file to determine if you have what they’re looking for. Thus, the strength of your remaining docs becomes more important.</p>

<p>Since she’s willing to write another, have her do so with this as a guide</p>

<p>[Writing</a> Recommendations | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/writingrecs]Writing”>How to write good letters of recommendation | MIT Admissions)</p>

<p>Then send it/fax it into the colleges with a note of explanation by her. Good luck to you.</p>