<p>Just out of curiosity, I was wondering how important teacher recommendations are. My favorite teacher (Ms. Wolf) told me that she checked the "best of career" boxes with an occasional "best of the year", and said she would do whatever she could to get me in to the schools she beleived were right for me (she's a little obsessed with Brown). It was very flattering, and made me feel very good! In all of my readings, though, even The Gatekeepers, rarely did they mention the teacher recs. Ocassionally something was said along the lines of "the english teacher said he was the best of his career" - but it seems this would be all too common amongst the top applicants. After all, what top college would want a student who was not that "one of a kind" type. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any knowledge in this area, as I am hoping it will help me out - especially to help explain the ole bad grades in non-accelerated courses thing.</p>
<p>Ilcapo, I am not sure the last part of your post and what you mean. But regarding the significance of the teacher recs...I think they matter but like any piece of the application package, it is just one piece, and not the strongest piece but an important piece that helps paint a certain picture. It is like one stroke of that picture. In that vein, sure, it looks good to be "best of career", how could it not? But like you say with highly selective colleges, many will have this, I am sure, so it might not get you in or set you apart. </p>
<p>For example, my college freshman daughter's guidance counselor wrote in his report that she was the best he had ever seen in his 24 years at the school. A teacher who wrote a rec after a deferral at Yale, wrote she was the best chemistry student she had ever seen in her 25 years as department head at the school and the highest grade ever received as well. Well, ya know she did all right getting into college. But even still, she did not get into Yale. So, it was NOT everything. Might have helped paint a stroke along with other strokes on her application but clearly did not GET her in, as she was not in at Yale and was waitlisted at Princeton. So, who can say what affect that kind of statement has. It certainly does not hurt. Who knows how much it helps. I think they like to get a total picture and if several people are saying the same thing and it correlates with other documentation, it is like verifying things. Also, I would not be too worried with "best of year" as that is also GREAT, congrats! You do not have anything to be concerned about on this particular front. </p>
<p>Let me add that while I have no idea the effect those comments had to do with getting into college, they do have another "side" effect and you hit the nail on the head...that you were flattered and felt very good about yourself. I know when I read what others wrote about my kid and same again this year with my daughter who is a current applicant, I felt moved to think anyone who was not family would think of them the way these folks wrote what they wrote. So, ya know, be happy. If they think highly of you, others in admissions office likely will as well. See it as affirmation, if nothing else. </p>
<p>Susan, me too. If anyone says anything good about my son, I am so very happy. A lot more than if they said anything good about my cooking (which happens once in a very blue moon). When my son was in elementary school, I used to joke that I needed to color my hair blue and wear a nose and tongue ring to make things exciting because the comments about him were so uniformly good, it was boring! But then teenage years and rebellion took care of some of that boredom!</p>
<p>How much weight will a college give to a teacher recommendation that s had sophmore year who graduated from that particular university? Does it matter that it is sophmore year?</p>
<p>I have no idea about the importance of a recommendation from someone who graduated from that university, but I do know some colleges specify that rec's should be from junior or senior year teachers while others do not specify this and accept rec's from sophomore (and, I guess, freshman) teachers as well.</p>