I went to a very underserved high school in a poor rural area. Most of the graduates do not go to college, and those that do matriculate to state colleges that do not require teacher recommendations. As a result, teachers are not used to writing recommendation letters, especially to top universities (neither of my recommenders knew what Naviance was, and I had to spend a few days learning and then teaching them how to use it). I was waitlisted at multiple top schools last year - ultimately rejected - and my recommendations were not the best. They were pretty generic, with one being only 3 sentences long (essentially just listing my GPA and my extracurricular activities.) This year, the recommendations were still somewhat generic but better than last year’s. While I am not attributing any of the college admissions results to the teachers, I’ve read that they are pretty important in the admissions process, and had a few questions regarding admissions officers considering context.
Do colleges take the high school into consideration when looking at recommendations, and recognize that the teachers might not be used to writing the types of recommendations usually sent to top schools? Also, does the counselor recommendation have as much weight as the teacher recommendations, and could it possibly make up for other lackluster letters? Or additional recommendations sent from a non-academic source, such as an internship mentor? Thanks
College admissions counselors, are very aware that they will get different recommendation letters from high schools where the counselor to student ratio is 1:50 vs a school where it is 1:500. At a info session, a admissions counselor said, he sometimes get recs that simply say, this student has had no disciplinary action during high school, and he doesn’t hold it against the applicant, as at some high schools, that’s the best they can get.
Not knowing Naviance does not imply that your teachers don’t know how to write a good letter.
Your teachers have all been to college. They all have at least Bachelor’s Degrees; many probably have Master’s.
My question is this: Have you signed the waiver saying you wouldn’t see your letters? If so, then how do you know the content that was submitted? If not, then I think you’ve made a huge mistake.
@bjkmom I didn’t mean to use the Naviance example as a testament to their writing ability, and I could have worded that a lot better. I was just trying to highlight that the recommenders were not used to writing letters, as they’ve told me themselves. I did sign the waiver. Both of recommenders gave me physical copies, without me asking, a few days after they submitted them to colleges.
From the Common App site: "2. In the application you’ll be asked if you want to waive this right. Why would you want to do that?
Waiving your right lets colleges know that you do not intend to read your recommendations, which helps reassure colleges that the letters are candid and truthful.
Some recommenders may refuse to write a letter for you unless you waive your rights. Check with your counselor or teachers to see if any of them follow such a policy."
My school does. It’s not worth the time that teachers put into writing letters to have a kid NOT sign-- and mean what they say when they sign-- that waiver.
Signing the waiver does not mean the applicant cannot read a letter that is provided unsolicited to him or her by the recommender. At least one of my D’s teachers sent her a copy of the letter after it was submitted. The waiver just means that you waive your right to demand to see the letters. The OP did nothing wrong here imo.
Although my D’s school does not do this, my S’s school did. S had to submit a “brag” sheet to the teachers writing recs highlighting some ot the wonderful things he did in each teachers class. The teacher then had something to go by or not as they saw fit. In addition, I am sure that your teachers could have googled " great teacher recs" and come up with some ideas on how to write the letters.