<p>I need my second teacher recommendation to be a humanities/english teacher, but I only have 2 of this type. My English teacher has only known me for 2 months (for the last 2 years, we never had one that stayed for more than half a year), and my Econs teacher doesn't want to write recommendations. But since she's my only choice, I asked her, and she asked me to write it myself! Of course she will edit it before sending it, but this is quite alot to do! </p>
<p>And in my country, our all-important national end-of-high-school exam starts right this month!</p>
<p>One of my teachers asked me to write his rec myself, too. Being from a country where teachers recs are completely unheard of, I understand the teachers reaction. He liked me, but he did not know how to write a rec and he may not have had time to do it.
I spent my sophomore year in high school in the US and the English teacher there handled requests for recs similarly. He asked you to give him a list of things that you want colleges to know about yourself and if he agreed with them, he will wrote those things (and nothing else...) in his rec.</p>
<p>Look at it as a chance rather than a burden. You have the opportunity to let colleges know anything you would like them to know from a third-person perspective, which usually has more credibility than your personal statement.</p>
<p>Rec letters are not heard of in China, too. I had to write them by myself and then the teachers signed them without even asking me what the letters said.</p>
<p>Chinese teachers can refuse to write letters of recommendation since they know that there's another option available: letting the students write the letters themselves. Similarly, the option of writing letters of recommendation for yourselves is unheard of in most Western countries. It's a cultural thing. But when the event occurs cross-culturally (i.e when a Chinese student write letters of recommendation for himself when applying to schools in the States, it would place him in an unfair advantage). A letter which is deemed untrustworthy in China may worth a million-dollar in the States.</p>
<p>I know what's like in most Asian countries; you need to show original certificates to verify every achivement of yours. Ppl simply don't trust each other...</p>
<p>
[quote]
when a Chinese student write letters of recommendation for himself when applying to schools in the States, it would place him in an unfair advantage
[/quote]
Just to let you know, no teacher writes any ''negative'' aspects unless you chose a teacher who doesn't know you well or is not a good mood at all..
And, the adcoms are experienced enough to know that who is writing your recs provided they know which country you are from...</p>
<p>welll... my case is different somehow. it's more similar to b@r!um's US English teacher. The only difference is that I need to write them in the full letter format. Most of my teachers are experienced in writing recommendation letters, it's just that particular teacher. </p>
<p>As for trust, in the Western world it's more like "Innocent until proven guilty", right?</p>
<p>I had to write my recommendation letters too, and my teachers just made some minor revisions before sending them off. It's a pain, yes, but as b@rium said you might as well look on it as an opportunity. Plus it is often the case that your teachers may not be the strongest in english, in which case it is helpful if you are writing the letter yourself. </p>
<p>It's still a pain, though, and I'm glad I am done with it. :)</p>
<p>Btw if you need help writing the letters, there are many useful online resources that can help. They are all directed towards teachers and professors, so it's not like teachers are born experts at writing recommendations either. Just make sure you don't copy any 'sample' word for word; like your essays the recs also need to be original! Oh, and if you are writing more than one letter, try to make them 'sound' different from each other, as if it's two different teachers speaking. Good luck!</p>
<p>Sometimes the public school teachers in the US are so busy and overworked that even when they know and like a student, they still ask for the student to give them a "list" of all the special things that student did while in their classroom. They need it to remind them of the student's achievements, even if they have a good student/teacher relationship!</p>
<p>Often the teacher's letter is very strongly influenced by that student's list, prefaced by, "I have known X student for X months as a student in my course in X." So I wouldn't worry because what you describe sounds like it is similar to this common situation. If you believe you have certain qualities in the classroom, and it's an honest description of yourself, I'd add to your list of accomplishments a line like this, "This student approaches studies in a way that is consistently attentive, motivated, trustworthy, thoughtful, curious, partifcipates in class discussion..." or whatever you feel truthfully describes how you comport yourself within the classroom. If you did anything unique, or wrote on a topic, or did a series of laboratory experiments, write the titles of those very interesting projects. It will give the universities an idea of the kind of education and training you have received.</p>
<p>In the US, some teachers have more than l50 students so need even their best students to "remind" them of what they did unusual. Yours sounds like this; so don't worry. If you make it a list with concrete examples of work you have done, it might be better than trying to write flowing paragraphs, simply because this is more honest. The teacher is not being admitted for their beautiful English or style of writing! You are the applicant, not the teacher :) I suggest: Do not pretend to write paragraphs of poetry by the teacher. So I disagree with NBZ above. </p>
<p>Good luck. I am always amazed by the differences in teachers around the world (I am one).</p>
<p>There's one thing I'd like to ask you since you are a teacher: do teacher recommendations include the student's work in other subjects? I'm asking for my Econs teacher's recommendation letter, but the things I do more is more oriented towards Computer Science etc, which means the most I can write about is my positive learning attitude towards Econs as shown in the classroom (I really like it :)), but not that much else. I don't keep a mental note of anything "special" I've done in classrooms, and this gives me a lack of examples to include. </p>
<p>Right now I'm digging around in my brain for anything interesting I've done. But the only things I can remember is how the whole class is late and she became angry :p</p>
<p>and NBZ: I looked through some online help, but most of the things I found is directed towards students who want to get a recommendation letter. The only free resource I've found is from Collegeboard.com... most of the others either ask you to pay for some weird service, or a pack of "sample" letters. Luckily I only have 1 teacher who asked me to do this, so I don't have to worry about varying tone and such ^_^</p>