<p>Teacher recommendations, in my opinion, should be the least important part of the application or shouldn't even matter at all. Virtually no one will send/ask for a negative one, so everyone's will be positive. There is no proof that the teachers aren't lying on them. The length and writing quality of the rec have nothing to do with the student's ability to succeed. The overall quality of the rec. will be based on how much you suck up(to motivate the teacher to try harder on yours) and how crafty a bs-er your teacher is. Can anyone support the use of these recs aside from a personal benefit one who did suck up would receive in the admissions process?</p>
<p>That is why all UC schools ask the students to NOT send the teacher recommendations....well, although that is probably because they don't want to get overloaded with millions of paperwork. </p>
<p>Yes, but I agree that teacher recommendations should be the LEAST important factor in the admissions process. Why? Because this depends on how well the teacher knows the applicant. I know a brilliant student whose father is in the military. Therefore he constantly moved and transferred to different high schools, and as a result, had no relationship with any of his teachers. Is that his fault? Obviously no. So how can colleges ask this kid for teacher recommendations? They really can't. In my opinion, it's irrational.</p>
<p>But that doesn't mean they should abandon the use of teacher recommendation in admissions. I'm just saying that it should be the least important factor.</p>
<p>Sometimes they say SAT is useless. Other times GPA is the least important factor. ECs get their turn, too. Now it is the turn of the recs!
If one is talking of non-selective colleges, the applicant has to meet the requirements for applications (minimum GPA, SAT, a few ECs,recs to be on file, etc) and kid is offered admission. However, the selective colleges look at everything and form an impression. Each part of the application has to support the other to build a "profile" of the student. If the proifle meets the school's expectations, the student is admitted. So it is simplistic to say recs are the least important factor. Recs have a purpose: to provide additional information and to corroborate the other parts of the application.
To give an analogy, can you say legs are the least important parts of your body? Or, the hands? Or, the eyes... etc.</p>
<p>I would trade my eyes for an extra set of legs... or an extra *****...</p>
<p>Seriously though I feel recs are very important. For applicants that have a "stain" on thier appliation ie. great everything but no so hot SAT's or GPA it can provide insight into what's going on. The teacher can let colleges know that the student doesn't test well but knows the material, or that the student is brilliant but slacks off. Of course it would be less usefull for more generic students. But that's just IMHO.</p>
<p>i would trade my ears for an exta pen1s</p>
<p>I would totally trade my thingy for an extra set of eyes...or hands.</p>
<p>But recs are really important since (for instance) a smart cheater with a bad reputation could easily get good GPA, SAT, essays, lie about ECs, etc. but probably wouldn't be able to get a good rec from a teacher. Plus recs can help determine if someone's lying on his application (like if the applicant says he's really passionate about Key Club and none of his teachers write about Key Club in his recs).</p>
<p>Using your analogy, I would say the recs are your hair. They have little functional purpose, there are many of them, they can always grow back, and its mainly used to make oneself "look good".</p>
<p>I keep using UC's as an example, because it is a good one. Come on, why do you think they reject teacher recommendations, and not EC's or SAT II? Because it's least important. Not only do they make more paperwork, but most of them are generic.</p>
<p>I do agree that teacher recs have a purpose and they provide additional information, but GPA, SAT scores, EC's, and essays should all come FIRST. And THEN the teacher recs.</p>
<p>"(like if the applicant says he's really passionate about Key Club and none of his teachers write about Key Club in his recs)"</p>
<p>Many teachers ask the students to give them a list of activities and interests beforehand to make writing recommendations easier, even if they know each other very well. I know this because majority of teachers in my former high school did this.</p>
<p>You have a very low opinion of teachers. Very few will lie about an applicant, and the members of the admissions committee are skilled in "reading between the lines". Lukewarm recommendations will tell a lot about the student, and stellar recommendations are usually true. So while a lukewarm recommendation may not hurt, a stellar one can help.</p>
<p>And for the kid who moved around a lot due to his father's military service - that can be explained both in the recommendation itself and in the Additional Info piece of the application. For schools that take the "holistic" approach, that should be sufficient to explain the possibly lukewarm recommendation. For schools that don't take the "holistic" approach, teacher recommendations probably don't meand that much anyway since they are predominantly statistics driven.</p>