<p>BAD NEWS.....my chem. teacher who did my common app. rec's for oberlin, vandy, brown, and princeton printed out a copy of the letter for me to use for a scholarship. i was skimming through it later on....sounded pretty good but i got to the third paragraph and started reading about things i had no idea i had done....b/c I HADN'T DONE THEM! he got me mixed up w/ someone else i guess (he does tons of recs) and so there's a whole paragraph that ivy league adcoms are probably reading right at this moment about me chairing this committee and going to that conference and being NHS vp....and it's all total BS and they totally know it, having my 4 page long brag sheet handy which definitely doesn't include any of those things....</p>
<p>so i don't really know what to do except get him to print a corrected version and mail it in to those places with a written explanation/apology..... AAAAH! i am so upset. i realllly hope it doesn't reflect poorly on me..... i mean, they must be aware that students technically aren't even supposed to read their rec letters.... but just the fact that i chose a recommender who did such a sloppy job.... and what if they think i'm trying to make stuff up so i'll look good? ...........</p>
<p>suggestions? tears of sympathy? reassurement (is that a word?)?.... any of that would work....please reply!</p>
<p>You should definitely have your recommender contact the colleges and send out a corrected recommendation. I think that colleges will recognize the fact that this is not your fault. You need not be too concerned. I don't know about all of the schools on your list, but Vanderbilt puts less emphasis on your recommendations and more on your test scores, gpa, and ECs. Upon exploring their website (I mean looking pretty deep....this is hidden somewhere in there...I have seen it a few times), you will find that they list scores, gpa, and ECs as very important when considering you for admission, while they only take into consideration your recs.</p>
<p>Best of luck. I am sorry that this isn't working out. Maybe you should talk to your college counselor/advisor for further advice.</p>
<p>no one is going to blame you. instead you are going to come across as an applicant with integrity and there will be sympathy for you for the logistical mess. I generally believe that adcoms have the ability to balance out this sort of thing quite fairly...
Recs are tipping factors and do matter. I am sure you deserve a fine letter and will get a fine one...don't worry, the final decisions are no where near made for this class. This will all work out.</p>
<p>Possibly they think you are too modest to list them and it will look good for you. Look, you cant read the letters for most schools anyway, so it can't hurt you as you have no control over it.</p>
<p>If you are really worried, I would call and explain the situation</p>