<p>Well, how can you create a good impression on a teacher and how much to recommendations affect one's app.</p>
<p>recommendations affect enough for you to reallly want a good one. And just be a nice person. try your best. talk to your teacher a couple times after school, Be a part of class discussions. Get a bomb grade in the class</p>
<p>The affect on an app more often hurts than help. Adcoms expect a good rec, but if they get a bad one, or one where they can read b/w the lines, it could be the death-blow...</p>
<p>do you think recs. can be a deciding factor?</p>
<p>They most definitely are a deciding factor--for borderline students. The saying goes something like you can't heal a dead man. If your application is compelling, the recs. might just push you over the edge. If you were never that impressive to begin with, they won't do much for you.</p>
<p>I read a book and it states teacher/counselor recs are first line of defense for adcoms, ie they work for adcoms. So it must mean it can help or hurt a student's app.</p>
<p>Colleges want information about the student as a person, not a list of all their positive attributes. And they know a list of all-positive attributes is not a true representation of any person. They know that each student will bring his good and his bad into the school, and they want to know at least something about both of those aspects. I have been told by counselors throughout the entire college admissions process that recommendations that at least mention some areas the student could improve upon are looked at more highly. All-positive letters do not stick out, no matter by whom they are written. Letters that paint a more realistic pictures do.</p>
<p>what would you consider a borderline student?</p>
<p>I would consider them a borderline student.</p>
<p>Hahaha rence, the saying was something like "You can heal the wounded, but you cannot raise the dead."</p>
<p>Consider WHO a borderline Student, gimme an example of a borderline student and thanks for the replies.</p>
<p>Good recommendations mainly help good students. If you're in the academic ballpark, strong recommendations may be that tip factor that sets you apart from all the other candidates in the ballpark.</p>
<p>However, even the best recommendations don't work miracles -- if you're far below the academic profile of a school (in other words, a C student applying to a school that takes mainly A students) even the best recommendations won't get you in. </p>
<p>However, if you're a B+/A- student applying to a school that takes mainly A students, or a student with solid grades but test scores a little on the low side, a strong recommendation (or two) might convince an admissions committee that you're worth taking a risk on -- that's my definition of borderline. </p>
<p>Another example of a borderline candidate is one who is in the ballpark academically, but for whatever reason has a kind of lackluster application - essays don't sing, they were blase on the interview, etc. A great recommendation might make an admissions committee take a second look at a student like that.</p>
<p>Many admission counselors have been in their positions for years, which means over their career span, they have literally read thousands and thousands of teacher recs. They've gotten good at sniffing out the bad, the mediocre, the good-but-generic, the great, the great-but-general, and the great-and-super-specific. Recs that demonstrate that the teacher really knows a student and can talk specifically about how they are in the classroom, in discussions, in their papers, etc. are the ones that you want. The adcom can read and get a sense of how well the teacher knows the student by the level of sophistication of their vocabulary and how they talk about a student's work. For example, if the teacher is highlighting how a student is always prepared and always did their homework, that means the teacher didn't have anything to say about you other than you did your work and didn't turn things in late.</p>
<p>So, to get a good teacher's rec, it might not be enough just to get an "A" in that class. It might be the class where you got a lower grade, but came in early/late and got extra help, did more revisions for that paper, came in and brought up things in the news thats relevant to the class discussions, etc. etc. </p>
<p>Really, the teacher recs are the best way for the adcoms to know what type of student you'll be at their school. So consider them important!</p>
<p>I'm a borderline student EA to Yale.</p>
<p>SAT: 740V 750M 800W
SAT2: 720M2 730Latin 740Am Civ</p>
<p>Editor of yearbook. Policy debater. Mock trial and so on. </p>
<p>GPA: 4.0 unweighted</p>
<p>Other: published in a medical journal for research</p>
<p>I'm borderline. The recs could help me or they may do nothing.</p>