DD was refused a letter of recommendation based on something dumb

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD asked her AP Computer Science Principles teacher (from last year) to write her a letter of recommendation. She is applying to very selective colleges as a computer science major, so as you can imagine, this letter would have been an important part of her application.

However, the teacher said she would not be willing to write it since DD missed class a lot last year. Due to a combination of her sport, a family emergency, and travel, DD missed a significant amount of school in her junior year, but all her absences were excused and she explained this to the teacher. I'm really surprised the teacher would act like this- we are at a large public (not magnet). DD got an A in the class and is obviously passionate about the subject, and thought the teacher liked her. It's really surprising, and not fair.

DD was counting on this letter, and she doesn't know who to ask and what to do. Any advice? She is getting a letter from her AP Comp teacher as well, but it won't be strong since that's not her favorite subject.

Her favorite subject (and yours) seems to be Travel & Making Excuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD asked her AP Computer Science Principles teacher (from last year) to write her a letter of recommendation. She is applying to very selective colleges as a computer science major, so as you can imagine, this letter would have been an important part of her application.

However, the teacher said she would not be willing to write it since DD missed class a lot last year. Due to a combination of her sport, a family emergency, and travel, DD missed a significant amount of school in her junior year, but all her absences were excused and she explained this to the teacher. I'm really surprised the teacher would act like this- we are at a large public (not magnet). DD got an A in the class and is obviously passionate about the subject, and thought the teacher liked her. It's really surprising, and not fair.

DD was counting on this letter, and she doesn't know who to ask and what to do. Any advice? She is getting a letter from her AP Comp teacher as well, but it won't be strong since that's not her favorite subject.

Her favorite subject (and yours) seems to be Travel & Making Excuses.

Sick burn brah

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD asked her AP Computer Science Principles teacher (from last year) to write her a letter of recommendation. She is applying to very selective colleges as a computer science major, so as you can imagine, this letter would have been an important part of her application.

However, the teacher said she would not be willing to write it since DD missed class a lot last year. Due to a combination of her sport, a family emergency, and travel, DD missed a significant amount of school in her junior year, but all her absences were excused and she explained this to the teacher. I'm really surprised the teacher would act like this- we are at a large public (not magnet). DD got an A in the class and is obviously passionate about the subject, and thought the teacher liked her. It's really surprising, and not fair.

DD was counting on this letter, and she doesn't know who to ask and what to do. Any advice? She is getting a letter from her AP Comp teacher as well, but it won't be strong since that's not her favorite subject.

Her favorite subject (and yours) seems to be Travel & Making Excuses.

Sick burn brah

But it’s true. Audacity of some people to think that they are entitled for a recommendation when they can’t even show up to class half the year.

[Anonymous]

Attendance is now "something stupid"? Good lord, no wonder these kids are insufferable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this was a national level competition, missing school is unavoidable as scheduling is set by a national federation and results/points often affect national ranking and championship eligibility.

I taught at a DC private and had a student who was the top athlete in the us who went on to be a 3x Olympian. She traveled multiple times a semester, usually internationally. She was one of my best students. Super organized, polite, planned ahead, emailed me questions while away etc.

Don’t let that teacher write her rec. it won’t benefit your kid.

Of course, for this applicant the college could care less about the LOR.

This.

DC has had several teammates compete at the international level and their (at most) one- or two-day absences have been excused by the principal at our large, public HS. Eventually, though, they usually end up homeschooling/GED/DE by the time they're juniors and seniors.

At that level, LOR mean nothing. Otherwise, sports and travel are generally not excused absences. I'm with all the other PPs -- Teacher did OP's child a favor and politely declined.

[Anonymous]

You don’t have a right to treat high school as the lowest priority and then get upset when people call you out on it.

You do if you are a recruited athlete. I did not read the whole thread but that is a valid reason to miss school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Her absences were excused but the teacher probably wasn’t happy that sports and a vacation took priority over her education.

This. I can kind of understand not writing the letter. Her education was not a priority despite her grade.

[Anonymous]

How much is a "significant amount"?

[Anonymous]

Bunch of useless middle managers on this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You don’t have a right to treat high school as the lowest priority and then get upset when people call you out on it.

You do if you are a recruited athlete. I did not read the whole thread but that is a valid reason to miss school.

Not a valid reason for this particular teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You don’t have a right to treat high school as the lowest priority and then get upset when people call you out on it.

You do if you are a recruited athlete. I did not read the whole thread but that is a valid reason to miss school.

No, you don’t.

Parent of a recruited athlete who prioritizes school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You don’t have a right to treat high school as the lowest priority and then get upset when people call you out on it.

You do if you are a recruited athlete. I did not read the whole thread but that is a valid reason to miss school.

No, you don’t.

Parent of a recruited athlete who prioritizes school

+1. A student who attended our high school a few years ago (I'm going light on details here so as not to reveal them) competed at an international level throughout high school, including the Olympics, and was the class valedictorian. I'm guessing they had no problem finding a teacher to write a glowing LOR.

[Anonymous]

+1. A student who attended our high school a few years ago (I'm going light on details here so as not to reveal them) competed at an international level throughout high school, including the Olympics, and was the class valedictorian. I'm guessing they had no problem finding a teacher to write a glowing LOR.

And there is no doubt that they missed many days of school if they were competing internationally, but the school chose to excuse those absences and teachers did not mind because the caliber of the athlete reflected favorably upon the school. Among my child's peers, there are two kids who attend the same school and compete in the same sport - one is earning medals at an international level, the other is middle of the pack at national tournaments. Both excellent students, but guess which one the school accommodates without pushback?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Travel” isn’t a valid reason to miss class as a junior in high school. I wouldn’t recommend her either.

This

I mean.. you reap what you sow?

A arent with a kid in sixth grade called me recently to gauge whether I thought it was a big deal if he misses a couple of weeks of school to visit their homeland. She didn't think so, but one in my opinion. I agreed with her. It's very normal to say, we can't be traveling during such an important year, if we are aiming for top schools and want to show our teachers that we are committed and passionate about a subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You don’t have a right to treat high school as the lowest priority and then get upset when people call you out on it.

You do if you are a recruited athlete. I did not read the whole thread but that is a valid reason to miss school.

No, you don’t.

Parent of a recruited athlete who prioritizes school

+1. A student who attended our high school a few years ago (I'm going light on details here so as not to reveal them) competed at an international level throughout high school, including the Olympics, and was the class valedictorian. I'm guessing they had no problem finding a teacher to write a glowing LOR.

Why do you have to go light on details for an Olympic competitor? For example, anyone that knows fencing knows that Tatiana Nazlymov made the Olympic team while at GDS and now fences for Princeton. Olympic competitors aren't a secret.

BTW, Princeton couldn't give a shit about her LOR unless a teacher wrote something like she is worried that Tatiana will one day chop someone's head off with a sword.