<p>Sorry, as this is already posted in some other places already.</p>
<p>I am an international student, and the curriculum I took is completely science, except Chinese and English. So I approached my English teacher, who is quite traditional and harsh. I hope he wrote me a positive recommendation. But what if he is far too honest that he includes some strengths and some weaknesses as well. (Nobody is perfect, neither am I) Will this affect my chances?</p>
<p>Anyway, his recommendation should be sent away already.</p>
<p>Look at the two cases:
1 - He wrote, “Studying demanded for his time and effort quite much. Thus, I can understand why he didn’t get involved in a large variety of social activities like many other strong MIT applicants”
2 - He said, “His ECs look bad to me”
See?</p>
<p>MIT actually requests letters that are honest and list both your strengths and weaknesses. They expect some amount of flaws - nobody is perfect.</p>
<p>It’s a tricky balancing act. MIT is looking for honest feedback, but it also knows that you have your choice of which teachers to approach for a LoR, and it presumes that you are going to approach teachers who know you well, and broadly approve of you.</p>
<p>Certainly for internationals, it knows that these teachers might not have english, so there is no requirement that recommendations have to be written in English. From the Admissions instructions on the MIT Admissions website:
</p>
<p>As a result of this free choice, if the teacher you chose writes that you are not suited for MIT, then that will hurt you a lot. However, if the teacher does in fact strongly recommend you for MIT with some detailed reservations, then that should not hurt so much.</p>
<p>I don’t think this teacher knows me so well that he can write my weaknesses with details, I think he is writing a generic thing. (Math geek doesn’t usually get along with language teachers :P)</p>