In my teacher rec for Brown and BU my teacher referred to me as “her” in the second to last sentence of an otherwise very good rec. I guess she used the same conclusion for all her students, I dunno.
So basically every part of the rec is spotless except for the second to last sentence where she said “her” instead of “him.”
Is this anything to worry about? Should I ask her to change it for me? Will one word out of a whole rec among a multitude of other things hurt in any way?
<p>oh I first I was like, so what aren’t you a HER? But now I get it, it’s such a small change, couldn’t you ask her to change it to the proper gender? This could help in the future as well. No need to cause suspicions, if there needn’t be any</p>
<p>Moving along past ameechee, a pointless post, to <em>hey</em> celebrian, someone useful.</p>
<p>Alright celeb, I could ask her, but is it really needed is what I want to know. The change would technically not be small. She would have to change it on her comp, print out two new copies, I would have to send her a new envelope with address and then I would have to delay my sending it by a day. Also meeting with her and telling her everything would be a pain.</p>
<p>Anyways, ask her if it would be an inconvienance, if she seems mad, or annoyed, even a little, keep it as it is, if she seems happy to do it, than go ahead. Also, I don’t think it would make a difference, but better safe than sorry as the saying goes</p>
<p>I can’t see it hurting. Most students don’t see the rec so it is not held against them if the teacher made a mistake. Great comeback celebrian! At least it didn’t say you would be a great addition to Harvard</p>
<p>I’m very surprised that you have seen the rec, but since you did you should not hesitate to ask her to fix this error of fact. The school could think she doesn’t even know you!</p>
<p>I was surprised, too. She just said, “Here is an extra copy if you need to send them to other schools.”</p>
<p>But, damnit, I was hoping you guys would say it’s no big deal and just brush it off. I really don’t want to go see her again. Today when I got the rec she was crying about how she has so many to do and that this will be her last year doing them(with a normal countenance, she wasn’t enraged or anything).</p>
<p>I’m seriously considering just letting it go and pretending I didn’t even see the rec. Colleges can’t hold it against me, right?..</p>
<p>(Btw, newt, you don’t happen to go to Mira Costa, do you?)</p>
<p>I disagree with your course of action…instead of pretending you didn’t see it, I’d pretend that you didn’t see her crying. As you said, it will take less than 5 minutes to fix and is no big deal for her to do.</p>
<p>I’d never let my daughter walk away with a recco that said he (esp since her name is a feminization of a masculine name.), so I’m giving the exact same advice I’d give my own kid.</p>
<p>Mega, I agree with Bettina…you gotta get it fixed. Otherwise it casts doubt on your rec as if the teacher just “cranked 'em out,” which even if true is not the impression you wish to convey.</p>
<p>Yes, you have to ask the teacher to fix it so it doesn’t look as if she sent the same rec for every kid on her list. If she’s in such a tizzy that she’s crying, perhaps she’ll be grateful that you caught her error.</p>
<p>While the “her” vs. “him” does come across as someone just cranking them out in a formula way, I don’t think this error is going to make any difference. I think it is perfectly reasonable to ask the teacher if she can change it as you caught it and it might as well be fixed. That is a reasonable request so please try it. But if for some reason it does not get changed, I would not get upset over it as it is not a reflection of you and is not going to have any effect on admissions. </p>
<p>I will share two things along these lines with you from our experiences (I am a parent of two teens) just so you know this is VERY common. First…oldest child applied to colleges last fall, starting with EA to Yale and then during that same period, filed her other 7 applications. One of her teachers chose to mention Yale about five times within the text of his narrative letter. For subsequent colleges, he changed the college name. AFTER all her apps were in, we noticed that while he changed Yale to X college for all the other recs, he inadvertantly left ONE “Yale” in at the very end. So every college got some remark about her at Yale. Result…the ONLY college she got rejected at was Yale and so obviously it had no effect on her admissions at other schools, including safety schools. She is now at Brown. </p>
<p>Second child…one of her recs was by the music dept. head/teacher she had had for five years at school but this was a supplemental rec, not a required one. She asked more people to write supplemental recs than she was going to actually use and pick from. That was good because this person’s rec was of the sort that does come across as cranking them out using a formula used for every kid but plugging in “data” about this particular kid (giving them the same information she already has on a resume) and so she chose not to use it as she had others that were given more personal effort and attention. But that aside, she would NEVER have used this rec because this teacher had forgotten in one line to change the name from Jessica…my D is NOT Jessica. It only proved she was using some form letter she has written for others and changed some things. So, having the wrong NAME is a lot worse than a mere “her”. But both recs do show that someone used a formula rec and that is something that I do not admire in a teacher who does that. </p>
<p>the easiest thing to do is to change genders… but otherwise doesnt matter … me too, my couselor rec is missing one word but i only saw after it was sent out so i’m just hoping they’ll understand…</p>
<p>"I strongly believe that XXXX would make a great addition to Harvard University. She is versatile, intuitive, and a perfect match for the nurturing environment that Yale provides. Engaging, thoughtful, passionate – these few words can only scratch the surface in describing XXXX.</p>
<p>If XXXX is accepted to Princeton, I am sure she will make a deep impact in the community surrounding her. Her skill, her finesse, and her creativity, along with her superb academics in my 9th grade English class, will make her a perfect fit for Dartmouth College!</p>
<p>It is with great enthusiasm that I recommend XXXX to Stanford University.</p>
<p>megathunder - I wouldnt worry about asking her to make such a small change. I know when I got a postcard from one of my schools saying “we are missing one of your teacher recs,” the teacher who needed to send it in was so helpful. She called them, faxed a copy, and mailed 2 hard copies, just in case. If your teacher was willing to write a good recommendation for you, she probably likes you enough to spend the effort to change one word.</p>
<p>Well guys, I decided not to ask my teacher. My dad mailed out the recs this morning. I didn’t want to talk to a teacher who I was more in a formal relationship with to change one word. Her presence isn’t really comfortable to be in and the only reason I asked her was because I spoke to her a lot after classes and whatnot and because she was an EXCELLENT english teacher - thus, she would write a good rec.</p>
<p>I figure one single word out of three recommendations and a whole app isn’t going to make a difference. I wouldn’t want to make new envelopes with all the stuff required, ask her the day before christmas break, and just stress out in general. </p>
<p>Lastly, the rest of the rec is very personalized, where she talks about my hope to become a physician and whatnot, but it looks like she just recycled the conclusion, which is perfectly acceptable. I’d rather her use a general but very exquisite and well written conclusion than a personalized one off the bat after having already written 15 recs which probably wouldn’t be too good. I hope Brown understands that she just recycled the conclusion, which it looks like to the common eye, and not the whole essay. Ahhh, I’m getting nervous again, but screw it, I don’t want to worry about these things anymore. It’s not going to be a big deal.</p>
<p>I really appreciate your responses, though, and if this was any other teacher at any other time and for any other reason I would have asked for the correction.</p>
<p>Wow, the latest thing in PC - gender neutral recs! :)</p>
<p>I guess it’s too late to recommend that you just open the envelopes and line through the word “her”, write in the word “him,” insert in new envelope.</p>