<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>Well, I kind of found out something a bit disheartening today. I caught a quick glance at my teacher/counselor recs that were sent into Yale. One of my teacher recs was great...said I was in the top 1% on everything and in the essay about me was glowing. However, my second rec wasn't as positive. I'd say about 60% of the boxes marked were in the 1% area but a notable few were in the 5%. Then, my counselor only put me in the 5% in first three boxes and gave me an overall ranking of top 1% (she said she does this for all top students). However, I attend a "nowhere school" in Nebraska and am greatly concerned about this. Will it hurt me that one of my teachers and counselor did not give me all 1%s?</p>
<p>Thanks,
Robbie</p>
<p>That really should not be a concern; Yale knows those boxes are pretty useless (a lot of teachers just go down the %1 column and tick them all, which is completely unrealistic). The fact that you got some 5% in fact makes the 1%s look better, because they know that your teacher is not just one of those who liberally ticks 1%. Getting 1% in everything, unless the rest of the materials really support he could be 1% in everything (which is very rare) sorta tells the adcom that the teacher didn’t do it properly and so they disregard it in terms of giving a nuanced view of the student.</p>
<p>Exactly what Ephemeral said.</p>
<p>Many teachers/counselors just check off top 1% for everything, but every student can’t be top 1%. Colleges know this and don’t really weigh so much on which box they checked (as long as its not the worst boxes), but rather they look at what the teacher wrote about you to really give them a look at you.</p>