<p>Stoic. I never feel any extreme emotions at anything. And</p>
<p>Unique. Unlike others, I don’t try to blend into the crowd. I do what I want.</p>
<p>Are “stoic” and “unique” good signs that my teacher will write an excellent recommendation?</p>
<p>unique: probably.
stoic: probably not.</p>
<p>but attempting to predict how s/he’ll blend those concepts together is a fool’s errand that likely only you know you teacher well enough to answer.</p>
<p>I’m pretty stoic too, but if you could subtly suggest to your teacher that they phrase it more like, “[student] is calm even under the most stressful circumstances” then it could look more favorable.</p>
<p>stoic - negative connotation</p>
<p>stoic means that you are socially ■■■■■■■■.</p>
<p>yea stoic has a negative connotation</p>
<p>Clarify:</p>
<p>not socially ■■■■■■■■, but calm all the time.</p>
<p>stoic does not mean blase or collected aisgz… close but no cigar</p>
<p>-admired by my peers-</p>
<p>(lol)</p>
<p>I think for me, it was :
creative
responsible</p>
<p>I never thought stoic had “negative connotations.” It may not be what adcoms are looking for here, but in general, it seems to be a positive word, one that has “strong, silent type” connotations.</p>
<p>If your teacher thinks that you’re “stoic and unique”, he probably views you as something of an unfriendly and antisocial person? Stoic has negative connotations in this context. If the teacher had wanted to say you were calm under stress, he would not have said “stoic”… he would have probably said something like “composed.” Stoic also means like untalkative, keeps to himself, silent, and stony.</p>
<p>Have you had some hardship you’ve had to endure? Stoic can be positive if it means that you held up well in circumstances that someone else might have been crushed by. Otherwise, it does sound like you might be dispassionate or unemotional. Maybe the teacher should have said “introspective” or “reflective” or “observant, reserved, but complex thinker”. Hopefully the teacher gave a positive example of your fabulous stoicism.</p>
<p>When I applied, one of my teachers mentioned in my rec letter that I was quiet, but that this wasn’t bad, because when I did speak, it was “insightful” or “intelligent”.</p>
<p>So no, “stoic” doesn’t have to be a bad thing.</p>
<p>stoic is generally more negative than reserved or quiet.</p>
<p>Stoic is just a weird word to choose. It’s tough to tell whether the teacher means it in a good way or a bad way. During times of duress or adversity, being stoic is an admirable quality. But if the teacher just means that you never show any emotion to anything (like you are a machine), obviously it doesn’t reflect well upon you.</p>
<p>I guess that’s why robots have a tougher time during admission.</p>