mishtophoid

How can you really tell which teachers to ask?

I honestly don't really have a close relationship with any of my teachers, although I get good grades. I don't know who to ask and it's stressing me out. I'm a junior now, can I make a really good impression next September and October and ask one of my new teachers to write me one?

I had one teacher in mind, but I want on a trip in which he was a supervisor for a week and kind of had a mental breakdown the whole trip and ruined the trip for the supervisors. Now he doesn't like me at all anymore and gives me poor grades for no reason (I got a C+ last quarter, asked him to go over my grades and it turns out I should have gotten an A). So I am kind of screwed because of that, and all my teachers have been treating me different since that.

So it would be very awkward for me to ask one of my current teachers because none of them know me. I don't know what to do!

rlm89

if you have to provide your teachers with a resume, you are not asking the right people.

Student615

I understand your point, but I disagree. My high school advised us to supply a simple (keyword!) resume to the teachers we asked.

For one thing, not everyone has the luxury of knowing any teachers (let alone a few of them) on a personal level. In such cases, its probably easier for all parties if the teacher (who, let's assume, does like the student, just doesn't know him/her very well) has more info at hand than "Is never tardy; is good at math."

For another thing, sometimes it's easier to contextualize a student's in-class achievements when one is also familiar with their out-of-class commitments. My teachers all knew that I regularly had a lot of absences for sports competitions. They knew the sport. I made up the work. End of issue in most cases. Giving rec writers a resume let them know the depth of my involvement and the extent of my accomplishment. It was not a local or a school sport, so the info wasn't easily available, but knowing the details put my absences (and chronically drooping eyelids) into a new and more positive context. Comments from teachers definitely let me know that the info was appreciated, although it wasn't explicitly discussed in their recs (nor did it need to be).

I've also heard of students sharing admissions essays or requesting meetings to talk about personal interests, college goals, motivation, etc. Might accomplish the same goal as a resume--contextualizing in-class achievements. Might also let students talk about personal issues that can't be included in a resume. Knowing that a student gets great grades is good; knowing that the student was abandoned at birth, raised by chimpanzees, and gets great grades is something else altogether, though it may not come out in casual before/after class chit-chat.

What makes a teacher feel prepared to write a rec depends on the teacher as well as on his/her relationship with the student. Some will want to be sure that they have lots of contextualizing info, others will limit themselves to what they see in the classroom. Some will know a student well enough that they can speak entirely personally, but others will feel that they need more info in order to do a student justice. Of course, some teachers will turn down offers for resume, essay, or lunch meeting, and hopefully that's fine, too.

At best, "If you have to provide your teachers with a resume, you are not asking the right people" might work as a guiding principle, but not a rule of thumb.

Student615

mishtophoid:

Asking a teacher who has known you for 2mos but thinks positively of you is preferable to asking one who has known you for 3yrs but thinks negatively.

If you really end up feeling stuck, you could consider going back to your current teacher and asking, specifically, if he would be able and willing to write a positive rec for you (some schools will require him to tell you if the answer is "no"). You might also bring up the trip and let him know that you'd like to talk about it with him. Think a verbal version of an application addendum: "This happened, but I've grown from it and I've moved on." The appropriateness and potential effectiveness are, IMO, for you to judge.

Good luck.

mishtophoid

Exactly, my guidance counselors make the resume with us and make sure we give it to teachers, and the teachers themselves ask for a resume. That is just my school, but I think it helps the teachers to know what you are interested in and what they should write about.

mishtophoid

Thanks for your reply Student615. I think it was just my nerves talking before, because I asked two of my teachers and they were happy to write the recs.

dimpleyy

How many recommendations do we have to send to colleges.. or does it depend on the college itself? And when I ask my, do I have to give them a copy of a resume? (It can just be a simple one right?) And lastly, when should I start asking teachers?

Sorry for so many questions lol. I just need to start planning everything this summer.

mishtophoid

It depends on the college, but the common application asks for two recommendations. It is a good idea to start asking your teachers now, so they will have the whole summer to write it. Instead of cramming it in with the other 20 recommendations they have to write in December, they have a while to do it.

The whole resume thing is disputed. Personally, I think it's nice to give your teacher a list of your extracurricular activities and intended majors. It is helpful to them and they might be able to include something in their letter about your ECs. At my school it is pushed very hard that we give the teachers resumes. If you want an example I can send you mine.

dimpleyy

Do you mind sending me yours? I'd like to look at an example. Thank you =)

Oh and you know on Common Application, it says you have to ask an academic teacher to do it? Can I ask my elective teachers? Like my accounting or graphics communication teacher?

nvilla

i asked my precalc teacher for a rec last week, and she handed it to me today (the last day of school). i was planning on waiving my right to see it on the common app, but it seems like she wants to wrap the whole process up as soon as possible. do you think it will really make that big of a deal if i send in the recs instead of the teacher?

Zester

Wait, I'm confused, sorry...
So I'm applying to 18 different schools (don't ask me about it), using the Common AP for most, and choosing to do 5 of them from the college's applications.

Does that mean that for every teacher, I need to give them 18 copies of the Common Ap. Recommendation checklist, and then 5 from the College's Application Recommendation Checklists ?

Sorry, the process just sounds crazy, especially since my teachers just gave me a packet to fill out, and no other information attached to it (well I obviously knew that I need to give them stamped envelopes, but checklists too!?)

CDN_dancer

No, you would give them one copy of the Common App form, and they would photocopy it 18 times. As for individual college apps, I would give them each form (usually colleges like teachers to submit that form; makes it easier to file I guess) but generally teachers will staple a copy of their rec to the form (instead of filling it out again)

dchow08

And your teacher will probably write one recommendation letter each, and make 18 copies and put one copy in each envelope.

ali_mayhem

Can I have my swim coach, who is a history teacher at my school but not my teacher, write my rec??? I mean I see him everyday(even after the season is over). He even calls himself my big brother

dchow08

If you really think that it will add to the rest of your application (generally I've read that college people don't want supplemental recs unless they're really necessary), ask for one as a supplemental rec. But only if it's necessary, OK? A lot of people have been asking about this on CC.