<p>(Feel free to skip the first paragraph... you'll probably come back to it though)</p>
<p>Today, my teacher asked me how come I had not asked for a recommendation from him for my college applications. I told him I was going to, I just wasnt completely finished with them and wanted to show him all my stuff before asking for it... Anyway this is a teacher I can say I absolutely love and have tremendous admiration for. He feels the same way about me and I would dare to say he feels I am one of the best students he has taught in his career. He has not only been my teacher in 3 classes (American history honors, AP American, and AP Euro) and is the sponsor for the Model UN club I founded last year.</p>
<p>So, Anyways I showed the Common App teacher reccomendation form and you know what he told me.... "Fill it out, and i'll sign it." and on top of that he added "Jdelavalle (lol), please make it as good as possible. I trust you." I was shocked and in fact, I still am. Its like I have the power in my hands to make my case much much stronger, but I don't know what to put. Its driving me nuts...</p>
<p>I thought you guys might have any suggestions for me, which I would inmensely appreciate. THANKS GUYS!</p>
<p>PS: I dont know what I would do without CC.</p>
<p>Well to my defense I guess I should say that again, he feels I am the best student he's ever met and he wants me to have the best possible chance to get into whatever school I want.</p>
<p>He graduated from a top university in the country and he has told me I have the capabilities of excelling at ANY college in the country.</p>
<p>I cant see how you think this is unethical.</p>
<p>You said it youself - you are shocked. And rightfully so. The point of a teacher recommendation is that the teacher reviews you, not you. They can see what you think of yourself from your essay/personal statements.</p>
<p>Ask your teacher for a recommendation. Since he thinks so highly of you, he should have no problem doing it. (Of course, this could be an elaborate mind game that he is playing with you...a test of some sort).</p>
<p>He said it perfectly. It's not called a Student Rec, it's a teacher rec. This isn't about trust, this is about what the instructions call for. And they pretty explicitily say that a teacher is to write a rec, not just fill in the information</p>
<p>--- Ask your teacher for a recommendation. Since he thinks so highly of you, he should have no problem doing it. (Of course, this could be an elaborate mind game that he is playing with you...a test of some sort). ---</p>
<p>Wow, I hadnt thought of that, thats scary.... some sort of mind game. I hope its not, what I think im going to do is right down some stuff I want him to include, and then just give to him so he can write it. I dont know what to focus on though... what should I tell him to write about?</p>
<p>I would be very disappointed and shocked if a teacher did that to one of my kids.
He should know better. What value does a rec have if it's your words and not his?
Tell him that you appreciate his trust in you, but that you really want HIS own insights, not your thoughts, to be conveyed. Do this while you hand him the several copies of your rec form with stamped envelopes made out to each school. He only has to write one letter and copy it for each application.
A truly outstanding rec would be one you couldn't write anyway. How can you compare yourself to other students he's had through the years? And how strange it will be for the adcoms when they hear your own "voice" in the rec as well as your college essay!</p>
<p>Dude, take advantage of this opportunity! Make you you can compose the best rec you possibly can, by any means! You dont get these chances often, take advantage of it!</p>
<p>you can give him an activities list, or you could write down what you see as some of your strenghts that you'd like him to include, as well as your goals...</p>
<p>the reason you don't "know what to focus on"is because that's HIS job, not yours.</p>
<p>but wouldn't the school be able to tell that the essay and the rec were written by the same person? and by school i mean college not high school</p>
<p>Celebrian- yes, I think most adcoms would. They are trained to sniff out essays written by adults- and I think that would work the other way, too.</p>
<p>If this teacher is from such a great college himself, writing a rec for his possibly greatest student that he loves wouldn't be too hard.</p>
<p>Plus, if you just tell that you don't feel right doing it, it gives him another plus to write about in his recommendation: honesty and sincerity.</p>
<p>well, if you're expecting a great rec from him anyway, then it wouldn't hurt having him do it... i mean, if you're as confident about the situation as you are, wouldn't you basically get the same result having him do it compared to you doing it (except it wouldn't be as ethical in the latter case)?</p>
<p>really. i think this has to be the most unethical thing one can do in the college admissions process. and ppl complain about urms and legacy's getting unfair advantages. well at least they don't choose to become a urm or legacy.</p>
<p>Definitely don't write your own rec. It would be pretty obvious to admissions officers that ou wrote both of them, not to mention it would be completely unethical. </p>
<p>Maybe the teacher was just testing your sincerity and honesty? I hope that was the case, because it is just as unethical for the teacher to say that to you as it is for you to write it.</p>
<p>I don't know that it's unethical so much as incredibly lazy -- and not doing you any favors. What I would do, if I were you, would be to return it to him, tell him you're just not comfortable writing your own recommendation. Since he seems to be at a loss for words, you might help him by suggesting a few things he can focus on - and some examples to support each aspect. Teachers seem to complain a lot about writing recommendations. I can understand why if they have a lot of students. But it's still part of the job.</p>
<p>Perhaps it is different at other schools, but for the most part, letter of recommendations are ESSENTIALLY written by the students themselves. We hand over an envelope, application papers, and a resume to our teachers. The teachers will look at the resume and incorporate as much of it as possible within the essay while adding things about the student's decorum, etc. Although having the teacher write the rec. and writing it yourself seems to have no differences, you should let him do it anyway. He may be able to highlight things that you have not noticed about yourself, etc. Just my $0.02</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice to those who bothered to give me advice instead of condemning me for something I havent even done.</p>
<p>Those who have said he would probably do a better job than I will writing it are right, he's a heck of writer, and I'm guessing the best thing to do is let him know what I want him to write and let him do it. Thanks to everyone who has cooperated.</p>
<p>And to all the other ones who have condemn me as "unethical" (which I dont particularly consider insulting), don't come tell me what ethics are. I was asking for advice and thanks to all those who have commented. Despite what these perverted minds think, I am more confused than thrilled.</p>
<p>The funniest thing is that there are actually some "depraved" individuals here who do worse things like lying about their extracurriculars and making up jobs and officer positions, despite whatever confidential has to say about it. I hope you live miserably for the rest of your days whining about the "unfair advantages" others have over you.</p>
<p>Snorky is right: The teacher is not doing you any favors or paying you a compliment; the teacher is just lazy.</p>
<p>It's usually not very hard to tell whether something is written by a teenager or by another adult, so the adcoms will likely sniff this out if you write it. If this teacher won't get in gear and write it himself, find another teacher who will write you a real rec.</p>