Ugh, Teacher Rec Ratings

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey guys, my teacher showed me a copy of her Common App teacher rec today (I guess she doesn't care) and I have to say...I am kind of disappointed in the ratings she gave me. She was much more stingy than I expected. She gave me "Excellent - Top 10%" in most of the categories, and about five "Outstanding - Top 5%." Zero Top 1% ratings =/ She gave me an "Excellent" in the overall. I guess I was expecting more checks in the rightmost column..</p>

<p>Is this an "okay" recommendation? How much effect would this have?</p>

2

<p>Also, how much do these rating boxes matter?</p>

3

<p>Can you really expect to be in the top 1% of the teacher's kids for each thing? I never did the commonapp (none of my schools used it), but it's possible other people are better than you at certain aspects. It might just be a different group that's better in different parts.</p>

<p>Just because a teacher is giving you a letter of rec does not mean they think extremely highly of you. Plus, what would a college do if they saw the same teacher rate all the students in the top 1%?</p>

4

<p>I'd say that looks like a pretty honest recommendation, and I wouldn't be worried about it.</p>

5

<p>Better than all top-1% checkmarks that make it look like the teacher didn't even think about it.</p>

6

<p>I personally would take a rec like that more seriously than one where you are considered top 1% in everything. No one, no matter how brilliant, is top 1% in everything, and I would have a hard time believing a teacher who claimed a student was top 1% in everything. It sounds like a very honest rec to me too...</p>

7

<p>Thank you everyone! Yeah, I guess I had an unrealistic expectation of some perfect recommendation. I am hoping "Excellent - Top 10%" with a handful of "Top 5%" is good enough for the colleges I am applying to.</p>

8

<p>A perfect rec wouldn't be helpful to schools. Schools like to have insight on you as a person, they don't want recs that rave about students without any substance. If anything, in my opinion, it could help that your teacher was honest.</p>

9

<p>Yeah and I have also heard that the letters are far more important than the rating boxes. I mean, rating boxes can vary so much depending on how generous the teacher decides to be...</p>

10

<p>I think that shows honesty. Obviously a Top 1% in your best area would have been nice, but an application with that column all or mostly checked is obviously fluff. I'd imagine the school would appreciate the honesty and take the recommendations seriously. Kids with all Top 1%'s aren't regarded at face value; adcoms have to weed out the over-niceness.</p>

11

<p>Only thing I can hope for is the letter to be good enough to make up for those ratings haha</p>