A supplemental "exceptional" teacher recommendation explaining a bad grade?

Applying to College
1

<p>I’m a senior at a speciaialized NYC public school. Take a look:</p>

<p>Freshman year, term 1: 85 GPA; term 2: 85 GPA
Sophomore year, term 1: 93 GPA; term 2: 97 GPA
Junior year, term 1: 100 GPA; term 2: 100 GPA</p>

<p>If that ain’t an upward trend, I don’t know what is. Here’s the problem: the reason my freshman GPA is so bad is that my freshman geometry teacher gave me 65’s, a D, for both terms. All my other grades are mostly A’s and a few B’s. This guy calls himself rigorous but everyone knows he can’t teach. I tried in his class, believe me. I did all the work, did extra work, went to tutoring, even had my parents shell out extra cash to get me a private tutor, all to no avail. He says that he has “a special method of teaching.” Interestingly enough, over 60% of his students receive a grade of 65 or less. </p>

<p>The vice principal himself told me that they tried to fire him but they can’t because he’s been working for so long. He’s even been taken to court for failing too many kids.</p>

<p>For the state geometry test, I received a score of 97. Obviously, I know my geometry. So I went to him and told him how much this grade is holding me back from my dream schools (Ivies and such) but he said it’s impossible for him to change it (a lie, it’s been done before). I showed him my transcript, AP score report and my SAT’s (see below). He agreed that they were exceptional scores and that obviously I was an exceptional student. He said the only thing he can do is write me a recommendation letter. He said that he has never done this before for a student with a D (which are many) but he said he can write an amaaaazing letter for me because I portray such an “increase in maturity” and that his letter would explain that his class is rigorous but that the grade doesn’t mean I’m bad at geometry.</p>

<p>My stats:</p>

<p>2300 SAT
770 Literature, 770 world history, 800 u.s. History, 710 Spanish
5’s on AP Spanish, government, us history, world history, English (most rigorous course load in my school)</p>

<p>700+ volunteer hours in 3 different places, secretary of UNICEF Club,editor of school newspaper (two largest clubs in the school), big sibling </p>

<p>Hooks: low-income, first generation, ethnically “other” female</p>

<p>What do you guys think? Does the blatantly unfair grade he gave me ruin my chances at the Ivies? Should I accept his offer or bring it up to the principal? Any input is highly appreciated.</p>

2

<p>To give you a better perspective, I also took the most rigorous senior courseload. My other recommendations are all fantastic and stress how in a school of 5000+ students, I stand out. My essays have recieved praise from multiple teachers.</p>

3

<p>Don’t trust this teacher and don’t let him near your application. If you feel that you must explain the grade, tell your guidance counselor what you just said; the counselor can confirm it with the vice principal if you like.</p>

4

<p>Brooklyn tech? Just tell your guidance counselor to do it; I agree with Marita. Because the difference in your GPA is weighed heavily upon this one class, your situation should be different. I doubt admissions officers at top schools are stupid enough not to look at your actual transcript and figure out the discrepancy.</p>

5

<p>Good grief no! Why would you want to draw extra attention to a poor grade in one class back in freshman year by dragging this teacher into your application?? That grade is obviously out of sync with the rest of your academic performance, adcoms will note that, and it won’t keep you out of your “dream school”. All you can reasonably request is that your guidance counselor put the grade in perspective by giving facts (“lilahrosie’s only low grade in her time at XYZ school was in a class where a majority of the students received a D” ); there’s no way a counselor will put an opinion about the competence of a teacher in a recommendation letter, and the principal isn’t going to revisit your grade at this late date. You need to relax.</p>

6

<p>Yeah, I figured that they would see the difference but I feel that they might have so many applications, they need some way to filter. Why not just see my 65 and throw it into the trash bin?</p>

<p>And Mommaj, I certainly don’t want my counselor to say he’s a bad teacher, I just want her to emphasize that a 65 is not me, that this teacher and I were not compatible.</p>

7

<p>Incompatibility is not good explanation for a poor grade–it’s a mushy excuse, and the colleges may rightfully wonder about what will happen if you encounter some professors with whom you have “compatibility” issues. A simple factual explanation of the grading curve in the class will put things in perspective and make it clear the grade should be disregarded. However, even without that kind of cooperation from your counselor, I don’t think this will be a problem. The grade is clearly an aberration. They aren’t going to use it as an excuse to toss your application, because you are an attractive candidate that they will want to fully review. I really mean it–relax!</p>

8

<p>Thanks Mommaj. Your advice is perfectly sound, incompatibility is a bad excuse.
I guess I am freaking out about this. I don’t know if my counselor has access to that data but we can still try.</p>