<p>you don't really have to mention the "strong" word 56 times when asking for a rec...
You should just simply ask teachers who like you.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, if you didn't ask if the teacher would write a strong recommendation, you don't really have any polite opportunity to inquire once everything is sent in. You can, however, arrange a meeting with this teacher to talk about college issues. If it's an English teacher, you could ask if s/he feels that you are prepared for college-level writing requirements; if not, are there ways you could improve? The same holds for other subjects. If you value the opinion of a teacher enough to ask for a recommendation, it can't hurt to get some face-to-face feedback on your preparedness for college.</p>
<p>Also, signing the waiver doesn't mean that your recommender cannot choose to show you the letter. Two of my three grad school recommenders gave me my own copy of their letters in addition to the signed/sealed copies for the schools, and one of my college recommenders did so. They knew that they had the choice and freely shared what they wrote.</p>
<p>I think the Common App - which requies that teachers write a generic rec for an applicants entire range of schools w/o knowing precisely what schools -is the source of some of the problems mentioned on this thread.</p>
<p>Students aren't asking that a teacher write a rec for a particular school - - say, Hamilton, Kenyon or Earlham. Instead, the student is asking that the teacher write one rec for as many as 12, perhaps unspecified, schools w/ comletely diff profiles - - unis and lacs, sub/urban and rural ranging from Brown and Amherst (crush/reach) to Hampshire.(safety).</p>
<p>How can a teacher promise a good, tailored rec w/o knowing the school to which the student is applying? I recall a friend who unknowingly highly recommed a student for Princeton, a school for which she felt he was unqualified. The student (we all believe w/o intending to mislead or deceive) added a couple of uber-reach schools at the last minute - - after having rec'd teacher recs.</p>
<p>With ED apps, some guidance offices now require that the student put the ED college's name on the rec so that the teacher knows whether s/he is recommending a student for Wesleyan or Furman or Wooster. In this case, the perhaps understandably tepid rec for Amherst as ED-reach may later end up also going to Clark (RD-safety) - - to which teacher/counselor would have unqualifiedly receommed the student.</p>
<p>As for writing a strong rec, I wonder how much an individual teacher rec from a teacher who gave you a good grade matters, if that grade and rec are inconsist w/ the student's overall academic perf and the guidance counselor rec, which requires some context (class rank, percentile, sch profile, etc.).</p>
<p>"She already wrote the rec, and I really want to know what's on it; is there a polite way of asking her whether it was a strong rec or not?"</p>
<p>No. And even if she says it's a strong recommendation, you wouldn't know if by the colleges standards it really was. The strength of a recommendation depends on many things including evidence that the teacher uses to back up their opinion.</p>
<p>Anyway, it's too late now to worry about it. Time to move on.</p>
<p>A teacher at my school apparently wrote an "anti-rec" for someone last year. It's been a bit of an issue since...</p>
<p>nyc- even if you're using the common app, you should always talk to your recommenders about what schools you are applying, and also why. When you discuss this, you may have an opportunity to show your recommender that you've put thought into your choices, and even if they wouldn't have pictured you as being right for a certain school, that you see something in it that makes you feel like it's where you want to be. OF COURSE you're not going to get those great, specific recommendations if they don't even know where you want to go.</p>
<p>Agreed, students should certainly discuss the list w/ recommender. But even if recommender knows all schs on the list, a student applying to 8-10+ schools is unlikely to get specific or tailored recs. </p>
<p>This may be one of the reasons some pvt schs, where teachers still do indiv recs, limit the number apps. At D1's sch w/ grad class of 100 and 4-5 college counselors, the limit was 8: 3 reach, 3 match, 2 safety - - exclusive of state uni system. I don't see how the guidance counselor (singl.) and teachers at a large public sch could possibly provide tailored recs - - and the common app certainly allows those students to apply to a full range of schs w/o burying the guidance/teaching staff under a mountain of paperwork, I 'm just saying that to the extent that one-size rec does not fit all, the recs may be mis/over/under-stating the student's "fit."</p>
<p>i actually saw a teacher pretty much tell a student that she could not write him a positive rec today. i felt bad, but the kid is a big jokster that often "forgets" his homework.</p>
<p>well i think we can all agree that its in the particular phrasing a teacher uses. </p>
<p>for example.
my brother asked his spanish teacher for a rec when he was in hs. she was v happy he asked! she spoke with enthusiasm to him about how she was excited for him going off to college! </p>
<p>later, she handed him the rec and he read it.</p>
<p>it said pretty much: </p>
<p>'---- is an excellent student, when he comes to class. he is awesome at this and this and this, but unfortuanately is sick a lot and has missed many classes. its too bad, because he could be amazing.'</p>
<p>needless to say my bro did not use the letter.</p>
<p>He's lucky he saw the letter. I know Eagle Scouts who got similar letters that the recommenders thought were very good, but were very much like that one!</p>
<p>Never could understand why the recommenders would write that, especially when the absences are due to health rather than the student goofing off or being truant. Seems a double-whammy. The college counselor said he wrote in my S's recs that because of health issues that have caused some prolonged absences, S has had to overcome significant challenges and has learned a great deal independently, which will stand him in good stead for the independent work expected of college students (or something of that nature). I think that's a MUCH more positive way to state the issue.</p>
<p>He's lucky he saw the letter. I know Eagle Scouts who got similar letters that the recommenders thought were very good, but were very much like that one!</p>
<p>Never could understand why the recommenders would write that, especially when the absences are due to health rather than the student goofing off or being truant. Seems a double-whammy. The college counselor said he wrote in my S's recs that because of health issues that have caused some prolonged absences, S has had to overcome significant challenges and has learned a great deal independently, which will stand him in good stead for the independent work expected of college students (or something of that nature). I think that's a MUCH more positive way to state the issue.</p>
<p>This would be a rare occurrence, but since it happened to my S I thought I'd mention it: Make sure the teacher does not have a child or other relative of the same age in the same high school who may be applying to some of same colleges as you are. We miscalculated on this one. We were aware the teacher's S was a senior in the same high school, but we weren't worried about it. First, the teacher was a lovely person and consummate professional. Secondly, we were convinced that she had a highly favorable opinion of my S. And thirdly, while the teacher's S was a very good student, my S knew him and didn't see him as a candidate for an Ivy/top LAC. It turned out the boy and his mom apparently did see him as Ivy material and he was applying to practically all of the same schools as my S. The teacher admitted after the fact that it had been rather difficult for her to write those recommendations for my S because she kept on wanting to add "and my Johnny too!"</p>
<p>We think she still gave my S a good rec, but she probably should not have agreed to do it. We will always wonder whether she consciously or subconsciously toned down her praise at all.</p>
<p>Not much sympathy here for slackers who don't do the homework or disrupt classes, however when you hear about cases where the student did very well in a difficult course, perhaps short of A level - and a teacher backstabs the student - that is something to be concerned about </p>
<p>Avoid recommendations from teachers with difficult crabby, acidic, arrogant, and/or whiny personalities - those are the types likely to take it out on some student</p>
<p>See the thing is that at my school, NO teacher has ever had to, or knows how, to write recs like that. They all pump out the generic "he is good at writing" etc. I have one good rec, but I felt I had to get one from the aforementioned teacher as I always talked about his class being my favorite (in interviews and essays). My teachers and counselors just don't know what is going on. I am hoping for one from my quiz bowl coach that will be good though.</p>
<p>I wish all teachers had strict lists of qualifications so u know what they'll write before u ask.</p>
<p>Do teachers actually care about recomendations? My teachers are letting people write their own recomendations.</p>
<p>At my kids' HS, it's the teachers stand behind their recs. It's important.</p>
<p>Recommendations wouldn't be such a big deal - if colleges were not trying so hard to bypass the hard numbers like SAT scores, GPA, class rank etc. Yes, these things do matter and those that don't understand this are going to be in for big surprise yrs later if and when they pursue careers in for example law or medicine - where high peformance is mandatory.</p>
<p>Essays, recommendations, and EC's (except for EC's involving serious acomplishments) can be subject to a huge amount of manipulation</p>
<p>Are counselor reccs weighed less than teacher reccs? In a school of nearly 5,000, it's kind of hard to get to know your counselor.</p>
<p>Don't obsess or worry. The counselor rec is mainly for the school to have a place to write anything the Us should be aware of in terms of unusual things in the curriculum, whether the student has taken the most rigorous curriculum offered, whether the student has had any disciplinary actions taken by the school, & a bit of info about the school so the Us can have a context to understand the student better.
Most counselors don't know the students as well as the teachers do & Us are used to this. As long as the counselor (or someone) covers these topics (as applicable), no worries.</p>