I’m a terrible student.
I’m still top 5 for GPA at a relatively competitive high school, and have good ECs/national awards/test scores.
However, I have really bad study habits, sleep late, and absolutely cannot stay awake in any of my classes. I know that colleges look at reccs/essays very heavily in addition to just the usual numbers and ECs, and I’m worried.
What should I do about recommendations?
Step up your game. Be an active student in all of your classes for the rest of the year. Then you may be able to approach a teacher about getting a rec.
What exactly is going on in your life so that you can’t stay awake in class? Go get a physical to make certain there is nothing wrong with your health, and meet with your counselor to get help finding a therapist if your issue turns out to be emotional or psychological. While you are chatting with your counselor, ask about getting screened for learning differences including ADHD. Getting really good grades, while having bad study habits, often is a flag for that kind of thing. You need to start improving your study habits or you won’t survive college.
I mean, firstly, stop sleeping in your classes. Then be active! If you find a subject interesting, ask a your teacher about it outside of class, if possible. Show that you want to be there, and they will want you to succeed.
The problem I see is that if you’re actually sleeping in class on a regular basis without a valid medical excuse, you’re showing contempt for your teachers. The message you’re sending is: I don’t need you and I don’t get anything from your teaching. So it’s hard then to turn around at the end of the year and ask them to write you a compelling recommendation.
You’ve correctly guessed you won’t be getting great LORs that are needed for the most selective schools. Create a broad list of schools that don’t require LORs.
Try to be more engaged for the rest of the year and for all of your senior year leading up to application season. Then get LoRs from those you think would write the best ones.
Don’t be dumb/lazy and get your homework done early. Then you will be able to go to bed earlier. You really have no one but yourself to blame on this one.
dude wth, dont sleep in class. sleep at home please.
As a teacher, I’m going to have to agree with @Corinthian – sleeping in class is contemptuous and intolerable, and I have a hard time imagining any of your teachers will want to go to bat for you in a rec letter. Get your act together or lower your sights.
Consider if you are really ready to attend college at this point.
If you’re a junior, you still have the rest of the year (and summer if there’s any sort of thing you do with a teacher such as sports conditioning, etc.) to show that you’re interested in their class and that if you didn’t have to show up for their class, you would anyway - speak to them after class, apologize for past behavior, etc. - that might help. I actually had the same problem for the first three semesters of highschool - I breezed by with all A’s freshman year but maintained an odd work/sleep schedule and slept a lot in my classes (actually, I’ve learned recently I might have narcolepsy - check to see if you have a similar problem).
Just try to turn around teacher’s impressions of you, stay active in class - participate in discussions, work diligently on classwork, etc. - then, maybe you can approach them about getting a letter of recommendation.
If you’re worried about teacher recommendations, why don’t you find recs from other people in your life. Do you have any sport coaches? Do you have any church ministers? Any local organization advisers where you volunteer? If not, just try to stay more active in class the rest of the year. Sleep the necessary and allotted 8 hours during the night time. Teachers may say “no” to your letter or rec requests, but probably won’t write bad ones if they do say yes… good luck!
Participating in class may keep you awake. Chewing gum (assuming it is not against the rules) may help. As others have said, just try to stay awake through the rest of the year, show interest for the recommendation. Any of the teachers advise clubs where they can see you awake, get to know you?
When you ask for recommendations in the nicest and modest way let them know that you are top 5 in your class and the types of schools you are applying to, not all teachers will be aware that you are a top student. However, only if they know you are trying.
Are you done growing? This may be a growth spurt. Do you have trouble falling asleep? Some people have a mixed up circadian sleep cycle. Whatever the problem, you need to get over yourself and stop sleeping in class so you can get recommendations.
If you feel there is a problem that is medical or psy, or ADD (if you are asleep it is not H!) as a minor, the first person you should enlist, if possible, is one of your PARENTS.
As for the teachers, not everyone learns in class. OP if he really is in the top 5 of his grade is very bright. Not sure how it is now but at my college you did not have to go to most classes except seminars and labs. Keep mandatory attendance requirements in mind when choosing colleges. If the reason you do well now is that your school is especially easy then college may be a challenge and you may find that you have to develop new work habits.
My brother only learns by reading. He has trouble taking notes and compensated by copying notes from others. Even when he tried to pay attention he found the pace too slow for him and he would start to lose focus. He has the equivalent of a doctorate from a top 10 graduate school in his field. He found college easier because he did not have to pretend to go to class except when he felt he needed to. He may or may not have ADD but is fine otherwise and has never seen a reason to get tested. OTOH, my sister can only learn in class and would barely study for tests. She also has a doctorate. Just because the pedagogic system does not work for this student is no reason to tell him to forget about college, however, he may find college more or less difficult than high school.
Agree with much of the above. Also, when you ask for your letters, you need to specifically ask, “Are you willing to write me a positive letter of support?” Notice the word positive. If they mention the fact that you sleep in-class, that will severely harm your application.
Couple suggestions: