<p>What is considered to be a "good" teacher recommendation? Is it one that has all ticks in the last column and gushes praise about the student?</p>
<p>A "good" and useful teacher recommendation would not only gush about the student, in my opinion. Obviously it should make them look good, but it should also create a nuanced, complete person. I personally would have a hard time believing a rec that claimed a student was top 1% (or whatever number it is) in EVERYTHING and would get much more out of an honest and nuanced but still very positive rec.</p>
<p>If your rec says excellent everywhere, adcoms probably won't take it seriously. The best would probably be a good/excellent everywhere and one or two 'best I've encountered in my carreer''s.</p>
<p>The best recommendation is one in where the teacher writes a letter on official school stationary in addition to checking the boxes. The teacher should use 2 to 3 specific examples that relate to the categories checked. The school does not need to see a vanilla form - they need to see if the teacher really knows the student. Better yet, if the teacher can focus on the school the student is really interested in, the teacher can say "XXX school is the perfect school for YYY because of its ZZZ program" or something like that.</p>
<p>What if a teacher only fills out the boxes (no additional sheets). Is that going to hurt ones chances?</p>
<p>It's only optional to fill out an additional letter. One of my teachers will just write on the form and no letter.</p>
<p>but it won't bring down chances, right?</p>
<p>no, not really.</p>
<p>K, I got it</p>