What do teachers actually say in recommendations?

<p>Just wondering.. has anyone seen their teachers' recommendations about them? What kind of things do they say? Is it all like "Susie is a wonderful person, always participates in class discussion and always has a smile on her face" or "Mikey is never on time, never does his homework, does not play well with other children"? And that kind of thing. Or do they talk about specific things that have happened in class... or.. yeah. Anything really, I'm just curious.</p>

<p>Well it varies by teacher... one of my teachers showed me the letter he wrote and it was just basically that I'm a conscientious student and other stuff. If the teacher doesn't like you (you would be stupid to get a rec letter from them) they are in no way obligated to write something nice about you.</p>

<p>What they might say and what YOU WANT THEM TO SAY may be different. The compelling recs have anecdotes that back up their positive assertions. The more detail and memorable instances that evidence their nice words, the more useful the rec will be for the reader. </p>

<p>For you, maybe you can jointly recall a meaningful project or assignment that exemplifies your academic prowess or character?</p>

<p>i got a copy of a rec my teacher wrote for a summer program-i was embarassed to read good things...but it was mostly like, "leader in x, good student" blah blah</p>