A college just informed me that one teacher recommendation I sent out only includes a few words. I’m sure these are good words, but they are considering this recommendation incomplete. I had no knowledge of this since I am not allowed to read the recommendations written for me. It is late in the application cycle. I have been given the chance to submit a new letter of recommendation by this one specific college. However, I am worried that this will severely affect my admissions chances to top schools. I also submitted two other letters of recommendation. Do you recommend I email each college explaining the situation and providing a complete letter of recommendation? If so, should this be from the same teacher or can I provide a recommendation from a new teacher. Also, do you think my chances of being admitted are now significantly lower because of this? Is it a good sign that this college contacted me and is allowing me to submit a new letter? Or is that just standard procedure?
The LoRs can only be submitted by your counselor. Have you talked with them? And yes, I would have them re-submit the LoR in question to all schools. Not sure why you need a new one?
Yes I am having my counselor submit it. The teacher who submitted the incomplete recommendation only wrote a few words, so they don’t have a fully written recommendation to be sent out, which is why I was considering having a different teacher write a new one.
Ah. Of course you can get a new one, but why not have the first teacher re-submit? Maybe they did write a full LoR and something went wrong on the upload? If they really only wrote a few words and considered that done, I would choose someone else.
That could be a possibility that something went wrong on the upload. However, I’m not sure if that’s the case because no college has informed me of a having an incomplete letter of recommendation until today.
Can the guidance counselor check the LOR or talk to the teacher?
This is such an odd scenario. I would not worry that it will have much of an impact on your admission chances. You have two other LOR, and a lot of schools only accept two. Even for schools that accept more, they already have two for you, and LOR are only one of the many factors they consider. So overall I would not be that worried. But I think it’s fine for you to ask your counselor to reach out to other schools and inquire whether they received complete recommendations and, if not, offer to send a more complete one. Good luck!
I would also check to see if it is indeed incomplete before doing so…and get that fixed if that is the case.
Really? If that is the case, I would choose someone else.
I’m sorry this happened to you. Kudos to that college for giving you another chance. I see this as a case of a teacher “damning with faint praise”.
HS teachers know what is expected in a LOR. By sending this one, which they know you will never see and probably didn’t expect you to ever get any feedback about, the teacher IMO acted deliberately. Some teachers write ineffective standard-length LORs that they do little to convey the strengths and personality of the student to the adcom; writing a great letter is an art. But this teacher just threw you under the bus and figured you wouldn’t know. The last person in the world you should ask for a longer letter is this teacher.
Now maybe I’m wrong. It’s their first year teaching, or you go to a HS that seldom has students apply to colleges that need LOR, or some other circumstances apply. But I doubt it.
I’m guessing that when you asked this teacher to write a LOR you didn’t ask if they would be willing to write a strong letter on your behalf. It’s a bit uncomfortable for a HS student to ask a teacher such a direct question. It would have been better for the teacher to decline to write you a LOR, but, hey, you asked. Anyway, that’s water under the bridge. Something to keep in mind when asking for future LORs.
At this point having a good GC can make a world of difference. One that will contact the other colleges on your behalf, see if this teacher sent them the same LOR (which is likely if it was done thru the Common App) and ask if they’ll accept another letter. Trying to do this on your own is not advisable. You haven’t actually seen the letter and the other colleges may be reluctant to disclose anything about it for fear of violating confidentiality as they view it.
Thank you! I ended up asking for a letter of recommendation from a different and current teacher after I explained the situation. The teacher I originally asked has been teaching for decades and previously wrote me a very strong letter for a summer program, so I was very taken aback when I found this out. I sent the new letter to all of the colleges and explained the situation and called them, so I hope it helps! I’m really glad that the admissions officer let me know in the first place, and it was surprising because this college is one of the top in the country and the only to let me know.
He ended up doing both, and I got a letter of recommendation from a new teacher. Thanks!!
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