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Would 1 bad rec hurt you? I mean, if it does, can you do anything about it?

By Medlevell (Medlevell) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 04:02 pm: Edit

YES it could! And it depends on just how "bad" it is. I would not take any chances. Look for another teacher or somebody else who can write a better rec. colleges read recs religiously. i would advise you to find someone with something better to say about you.

if you have already sent the bad rec...well, pray the adcoms don't dwell on it! However, if your scores, gpa, ECs, and essays are good - they would pay more attention to that and it could help.

By Shadow67 (Shadow67) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 04:50 pm: Edit

yea, my bad recs were already sent...but i send in also 2-3 other recs that were good....so would that help?

By Najy (Najy) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 04:56 pm: Edit

I just don't understand why someone would ask a teacher who ISN'T incredibly nice/ a great writer/in love with you to write you a rec.

That's why I choose two AP English teachers who loved me/knew me well/wrote extremely well.

Here's a tip for juniors: try and find previous recs a teacher has written for your friend if your friend applied ED somewhere (thus, you can see it before you ask teachers to write you recs)...then you'll know how they'd write yours (provided they like you).

I'd always request to see my OWN REC before sending off...i mean, I proof-read my essay, right? It's almost as important!

By Shadow67 (Shadow67) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 06:26 pm: Edit

the teachers are supposed to let the student read the recs...also, i didn't know about it until it was too late.....but any advice?

By Themabrklyn (Themabrklyn) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 06:29 pm: Edit

I thought you were supposed to waive your right to see your recommendation--if you see your recommendations, then teachers won't be as honest and they'll try to make it as nice as possible.

By Duncan79 (Duncan79) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 06:29 pm: Edit

Teachers aren't supposed to let the students read the recs if you sign one of those waiver forms...if students could read the rec, and if it was bad, then they wouldn't send it and would try to ask teachers to write them recs and it would waste their time if they weren't using it.

By Shhh (Shhh) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 06:38 pm: Edit

what is bad about it?

By Innsayneidiot (Innsayneidiot) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 06:45 pm: Edit

i think colleges ask you to waive your right to see recs because otherwise, teachers won't be as honest. i suppose you could ask your teacher to see it, but then that defeats the purpose of waiving the rights...
at my school we're required to waive the rights and most students don't ask to see their recs (i don't know if it's just common practice or if that's also against school policy) and teachers don't even show what they write to their best/most well-liked students.
i wouldn't ask any teachers to show me their recs, just because then it seems like i don't trust them.

By Najy (Najy) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 07:04 pm: Edit

I think it's only fair for the teacher to print you out a copy at least. That's what my teachers did.

By Shadow67 (Shadow67) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 07:43 pm: Edit

what's bad about my rec is that my teacher made me seem like I care about my grades more than what I really learn..which is completely false...also, he mentioned how he asked me to be his ta but i refused

By Cornell_Hopeful (Cornell_Hopeful) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 07:47 pm: Edit

I did ask a teacher who loved me, but she wrote some crap in there that would've hurt my chances (luckily it didn't). She used to be my favorite teacher but she's done some things to me and my friends in the past year that made me dislike her. And the thing that bothers me most is she tries to be nice to me even after the horrible recommendation.

By Shadow67 (Shadow67) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 08:04 pm: Edit

Omg...that's the same thing with me adn my math teacher, cornell hopeful....do u know what horrible thing your teacher wrote about you? cause mine wrote some pretty bizarre things about me...

By Nmoreno1 (Nmoreno1) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 08:33 pm: Edit

I had my band director write my recommendation for USC. Let's just say, he's not exactly up to par in terms of grammar...

Oh well. got me in!

By Evrythingonebad (Evrythingonebad) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 09:58 am: Edit

At my school, rights are waived to read all recommendations but my counselor reads through them, tells us whetehr or not the are worth sending, and ultimately decides whether or not to send them.

By Chibiutena (Chibiutena) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 07:07 pm: Edit

ugh, i asked my teacher to write a rec at the beginning of the year. then she began to gradually hate me because she *claims* I lifted something from the internet for a minor assignment. and now i'm getting rejected left and right. dun kno if she decided to append something to her rec afterwards and send it to all the schools i applied to.

By Psychochic7686 (Psychochic7686) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 08:42 pm: Edit

I asked a teacher who knows me very well to write one of my recs, and he allowed me to read it through after it was sent to my first choice. As I was reading it (it was an awesome rec) I came to the last paragraph where he referred to me by the wrong name. He changed it for the other colleges, and I got into BC where the typo letter was sent, but do you think that admissions will notice??

By Ifyoucould (Ifyoucould) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 09:02 pm: Edit

my teacher addressed UVA as Yale but I still got in. i was so worried that UVA would reject me thinking that i applied to them as a safety.(not that UVA can be a safety to anybody) well the bottomline is..trivial mistakes on recs are the teacher's fault, not yours. i dont think those kind of mistakes will bear much impact on your application.

By Mjl86 (Mjl86) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 09:10 pm: Edit

woudl it be rude to ask the teacher let you read the recommendation?

By Die_Emperor_Die (Die_Emperor_Die) on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 05:10 am: Edit

We waive our rights but some teachers show it to us anyway.

My French teacher of two years showed me what she wrote and it was excellent.

My Guidance counselor and Ap English teacher this year wrote me reccs also...I guess they couldn't have been ALL THAT bad, I got into BU...

By Bluexcow (Bluexcow) on Sunday, April 04, 2004 - 04:57 pm: Edit

my teachers actually showed me my recommendations and asked if there was anything i thought was missing, etc.

i asked my ap english 11 teacher and the advisor to the book club i founded. and i asked my ap span 2 and 4 and advisor to the thomas jefferson forum. they knew me, the student, and me, the person, so i knew they were the best to write my recommendations.

my advice to future seniors is to definitely make good relationships in and out of the classroom.

By Perintastic (Perintastic) on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 10:05 pm: Edit

teachers in my school won't write a rec for kids they don't like. they'll tell the kid to go elsewhere. guidance won't even send out a bad teacher rec. =/