<p>All of the teachers my friends and I have asked for recommendations requested a resume. I thought colleges didn't want regurgitation in the recs and would prefer comments on classroom performance/personality. I actually know these teachers somewhat well, actively participated in and out of class, and did well overall. I asked them under the assumption they would have things to say beyond my resume.</p>
<p>However, the fact that they do request a resume makes me a bit apprehensive. It seems most teachers at my school ask for one, but what's the point if they're supposed to talk about you and not your accomplishments? </p>
<p>Has anyone here had a teacher who didn't request any resume or list of activities before writing the recs? Is it standard procedure or something?</p>
<p>Would it be too rude to ask my teacher to focus less on the resume and more on the personal relationship?</p>
<p>Don’t worry, the teachers use the resume to remind them of what you do, so it is easier for them to remember anecdotes, activities, and your contributions to school life. Unless they are first year teachers, they are experienced at writing recs, so yes it would be rude to instruct them. </p>
<p>What you can do is include a personal paragraph on the resume about your aspirations, values and goals to nudge the teacher into remembering your character.</p>
<p>But the thing is, I’d be a lot more comfortable if they asked for works I’ve done in their class or whatnot. Most of the things on my resume (and I would imagine this to be the case for a lot of people) is new knowledge to the teacher as I didn’t spend a lot of time talking to them about my EC’s and awards. </p>
<p>But thank you for the advice. I will likely include that paragraph.</p>
<p>The guidance counselor and teachers are asked to rate your EC achievement and other factors. Your resume helps provide background information on you that is very helpful. You can’t expect instructors to know your life, and indeed they shouldn’t know everything in your life. Imagine how stupid your instructor looks if they mark your EC achievement as average and you’re the president of 5 clubs…</p>
<p>This helps you! To me, it says that your teachers are planning to write a thoughtful letter and they want as much information as possible.
I’d advise giving them both a resume that highlights your activities outside of their class and also a list of some of the major moments for you in their class (served as a TA, highest grade on the final, research paper kept as example for future classes, etc.).</p>
<p>I agree with the OP: I don’t think that resumes are that helpful when it comes to teachers’ writing the kind of reccs that colleges want.</p>
<p>Fine to give teachers resumes if they request them, but also give the teachers copies of excellent work you did in their class, and a note reminding them about anything else remarkable that you did in their class or in organizations that they advise. It’s OK to ask politely for them to use that info in their reccs. You are right: Colleges don’t want teachers to regurgitate resumes. Unfortunately, many teachers don’t realize that.</p>
<p>because you have 6 teachers a semester; in the past 2 years you may have had a total of 24, and its probably less because many courses are year long. So its not hard to keep track of each of them, foibles and all. Teachers have 30 per class, 6 periods a day. Its harder to keep track of 360 different students (and thats assuming they had each student for a year; it would be 720 if they only had them for 1 semester). Asking for a resume from each of makes the job easier for writing recs, and is a lot more diplomatic than only asking for resumes from the kids you don’t think you know well.</p>
<p>@mikemac: That thought ran through my head, but I can’t think of why they would attempt to be more “diplomatic”. If they can’t write something worthwhile, shouldn’t they decline anyway?</p>
<p>@Northstarmom: I’m afraid of coming off too…boldly by giving them things they don’t request. My friend wrote his teacher a thank you letter with detailed personal anecdotes of why he chose the teacher and aspects he enjoyed of the class, somewhat clandestinely implying that those were the moments he wished to see in the rec (of course whether or not that stuff ended being in the rec is beyond his knowledge). Is this a viable/acceptable option? I really don’t want to be rude to my teachers by doubting their rec writing abilities, but at the same time, I want them to avoid the resume at all cost.</p>
<p>I don’t think that your providing the additional info would be looked askance at by teachers. Perhaps you could say that a family friend who’s a teacher suggested that your teachers might find such info helpful. You have nothing to lose by including it.</p>