<p>I have several teachers who I have good relationships with, but all of them are absolutely terrible at writing letters of recommendation.</p>
<p>How would I define terrible?
Copy-pasting recommendation letter templates off the internet and pasting the student's name on the top.
Using the same generic letter of recommendation for every student that asks.
Writing recommendations that are only around 3-5 sentences long.
Writing recommendations with virtually no anecdotal evidence or examples at all whatsoever.
Just writing a generic letter in general.</p>
<p>If you really have good relationships with them, you should be able to tell them what kind of thing you want them to write. Tell them the recommendation letter for whatever you’re applying to isn’t just a formality and it’s important that they say something about you as a person. Give them some ideas of what to write. The word “terrible” should not be involved.</p>
<p>(And no need to bump stuff before it goes to the second page.)</p>
<p>Don’t worry, I don’t use the word “terrible” when asking them! That would be awful. I usually just try to stress how important the recommendation is to me and to my acceptance into the program.</p>
<p>In addition, I usually supply a packet of materials (service letters, various college essays, class evaluations, essays on my experiences in school, a list of extracurriculars, etc.) and fill out a letter describing the letter of recommendation and its requirements.</p>
<p>^
If you supply additional stuff for them to read, make sure you tell them it’s just for reference if they need it and they shouldn’t just regurgitate accomplishments that you’ll mention elsewhere in the application.
(And don’t include irrelevant stuff. I’d be inclined to procrastinate on a recommendation if I felt I had to read a folder full of stuff first. :D)</p>