Mistake in asking wrong teacher for recommendation

Northstarmom
Sat, 29 Sep 2007 06:49:33 +0000

“Or do what I did and ask every teacher for one, and just pick out the best ones. :]”

I hope this is a misguided attempt at a joke. I was a prof, so used to write recommendations. They would take me at least an hour to write, because doing good recommendations (meaning recommendations that are useful to the people who receive them) takes a lot of time and thought.

What you’re suggesting is incredibly selfish.

Anyone who did what you did would be on all the crap lists of teachers/professors, something that would hurt a person like you even aftrer all of your applications were in. There also would be a good chance that someone would send a revised recc to the college giving you minus points for integrity. Teachers also could refuse to give you breaks in other ways including for the lapses that often occur toward the end of senior year when senioritis sets in.

It’s rare, too, that students get to read their recommendations.