What would you consider an Ivy caliber recommendation?

Applying to College
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<p>I know these questions have been floating around, so I’m going to ask them on behalf of all curious applicants: What would you consider an outstanding letter of recommendation?</p>

<p>I got my letter of recommendation back from a teacher today who showed it to me personally. I’m really satisfied with my recommendation but I was wondering about a few things. </p>

<li>Do admission officers honestly expect a teacher to check off “best in my career” for all aspects of the evaluation checklist? </li>
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<p>My teacher had checked off “best in my career” for three things: open class discussion, sincerity, and respect given by faculty. Do you think thats “enough” for a good recommendation? I know it’s absurd to be asking, but I was just wondering if a typical Ivy league applicant needs to set such high standards.</p>

<li>Since the letter of recommendation is most likely more important than the checklist in the eyes of an admission officer, what are crucial things that the teacher could say about you?</li>
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<p>In my letter of recommendation, my teacher had written some awfully nice things about me, but I’m not sure the comments will garner the full attention of admission officers. For example, it says that I’ve had an “incredible level of dedication” and am a “self-motivated learner” while “being a leader in class discussions and lab groups” and “seeking opportunities to experience new things”. Would this be considered an outstanding recommendation? I’m not as confident anymore seeing as so many CC’ers have stressed the importance of the “dynamite” rec, in which a reader can immediately distinguish a great applicant. </p>

<li>Would it be considered “mediocre” for a teacher to go through extracurriculars you have done?</li>
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<p>My teacher also went through all of my EC’s, substantiating them and communicating that I could handle a variety of leadership and hobbies while balancing academics. Do colleges want a restatement of extracurriculars? I almost regret giving my teachers a resume because I feel that if I hadn’t, they might have written something based more on my character than my achievements.</p>

<p>Anyway, I was just wondering. Thanks!</p>

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<p>yeah, that is the problem with giving teachers a rec. Many of them rehash everything on your resume, when really they should be writing about personal experience with you (examples of how you are a great student -“he went out of his way to find more about the economics project than any other student i’ve had, or she was looking for a challenge in spanish and asked for supplemental work just so she could learn more,” instead of making broad generalizations like “he was a great student and a dedicated learner”). A great recommendation would not only show these types of examples, they would also talk about something (one or two at most, preferably) out of school. like “i’m also the faculty of the community service club in which he is secretary of, and blah blah blah” or “I’m a coach on sally’s basketball team, and she shows her dedication outside of the classroom by always having a good attitude and showing up to practice everyday on time, without fail.” This way, they get more of a character judgement based off example compared to things listed off a resume. </p>

<p>On the other things you brought up, they don’t expect the teachers to check off “best ever encountered in career” for everything. They certainly don’t give much weight to these simple checks, and mainly they are just checking to see if it is on the lower end of the spectrum (fair or average instead of great). Like you mentioned, the actual recommendation is what they pay attention most to.</p>

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<p>What do you think the weight is on teacher recommendations for public schools? I’ve heard from admission officers that they give public school recommendations from guidance counselors much less weight because they know that G.C.'s at public schools manage too many kids to get on an intimate basis with everyone. The same could be said about public school teachers who have 30+ kids in 6 or more classes right? </p>

<p>Also, I never gave my teacher any references to examples of my “abilities” in the classroom so she never cited any. Is that bad?</p>