Which teachers should I ask for a recommendation from? How should I ask?

mikemac
Wed, 17 May 2017 19:44:12 +0000

Every student asking for recs should ask the teacher(s) whether they can write a positive letter for you. This is always appropriate, phrased politely of course. For example, “Am I a student you would write a strong letter of reccomendation for, or do you suggest I ask someone else?” Don’t argue or question why if the answer is ask someone else, simply to thank the teacher for their honest answer.

While it can be uncomfortable for a student to ask a direct question like this to a teacher I would never assume a teacher will write a positive rec. In “The Gatekeepers”,in which a NY Times reporter followed the admissions committee at Wesleyan for a year, is a real-world example of a bad rec. Obviously when the student asked for a rec she assumed it would be positive, but here is what she got:

There were times, I must admit,that I thought Tiffany might have taken a stronger interest in mastering the material in our course. When I saw that Tiffany was a National Merit Semi-Finalist I was a bit surprised. While clearly bright and competent, I had seen in Tiffany neither an exceptional skill for testing nor a particular affinity for the subject.

This could have been avoided if the teacher had been asked if they would write a strong rec. The student did not get in.