I am currently a junior in high school and am ranked 3rd out of around 300 students. I am taking the toughest course load possible, and am involved in many unique extracurriculars, which I am dedicated to and have leadership in. I plan on applying to a couple schools in the ivy league, and am concerned about teacher recommendations. The ones I have read online from ivy admits are really good, but I am really shy, don’t often talk much in class, and am generally not known by my teachers other than the fact that I pull off really high grades, except in oral presentations, Socratic seminars, that type of stuff. Due to my inability to form a coherent sentence while in front of a class, I am concerned recommendations about my personality and that type of stuff won’t be very good. I am concerned my recs will hinder my application and I would like to know what I should do to improve them.
Gain confidence, ask questions, “suck up” to your teacher. You need to learn how to be comfortable speaking and presenting in class. It might be hard at first, but try each day to ask at least 1 question. Good luck!
You’re not that shy if you have leadership roles. Start getting more active in class, this will help you in life too. However, many teachers notice things like interesting and original thoughts in your essays, an inventive way to solve a problem etc.
Do you have any teachers for academic classes that are also involved in your ECs as supervisors or coaches? If so, start there.
If you’re really nervous about speaking in front of the class, you can always try finding opportunities to speak with the teacher outside of class. Linger after the bell rings to ask a question. Email them an interesting article that ties into their subject matter. You don’t necessarily have to be the most outspoken person in class to be known by your teachers.
One of my kids was shy, but very helpful one on one with other classmates. I was concerned about the same thing but the teachers took notice and wrote strong recommendations (according to the GC.)