How do they know their reference letters were strong or not?

[Anonymous]

If you browse the posts on Reddit and etc, some people list their stats and mark reference letter as ‘strong’, ‘good’ or even rate them as 9 out of 10, and etc. yes, I believe they were estimating/speculating. But anyway, how did they get that impression or confidence? I am very curious. Do your kids know what their reference letters say? Do most people know what’s the teacher will write? Is there any way to communicate with teacher about it?

[Anonymous]

I don't think most people know, to be honest.

[Anonymous]

One of my daughter’s teachers (known for writing good recs) asked DD if she wanted a recommendation because DD hadn’t asked and the teacher had reached her limit. So I’m assuming that one is good.

[Anonymous]

My DD’s CCO said it was one of the strongest she’s seen in a while.

[Anonymous]

I don't know for certain but his school counselor told us that he had really good rec letters. I also suspect this to be true based on the commentary those teachers wrote on his report cards last year. We could tell the teachers seemed to know him well. He ended up getting in to his ED, so it worked out well.

[Anonymous]

Well DS knew not to submit a rec letter when the teacher told him it was completed and said in an email that he really matured over the school year and probably learned something in the end, or something like that. Don’t know why the teacher even agreed to write it in the first place? He ended up using one from another teacher - always wise to ask for 2!

[Anonymous]

My kid thinks one from a HS teacher is strong bc kids okder than he is said she writes good letters. Of course, who knows? Kid took a few college classes in the evenings and one college professor wrote a letter and showed it to him. It was excellent. Third letter was similar, but not from a teacher (again, showed to him). That one was also excellent.

[Anonymous]

The teachers emailed the letters to kids before submitting asking if there was anything else that should be added or addressed.

[Anonymous]

Can college counselors see them?

[Anonymous]

People here and there make stuff up.

[Anonymous]

It’s just an educated guess. I’m guessing DDs were strong because she has a close personal relationship with the two teachers that she asked, both were very happy when she asked them and both teach core AP classes and are used to being asked/doing it. Also, whether true or not, there are rumors around the school about who is “good” to ask and who isn’t.

[Anonymous]

At some schools, they tell kids to ask a core subject teacher. So as you can imagine, English and Math teachers are pretty busy come writing time

[Anonymous]

Nobody cares about them.

[Anonymous]

DD’s BC Calc teacher has rep for writing very good letters. That teacher does take the time to meet with each kid and discuss what kid would like emphasized etc. That’s more than any of my other kids’ references have done

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At some schools, they tell kids to ask a core subject teacher. So as you can imagine, English and Math teachers are pretty busy come writing time

Yes, and they receive no time to get this done. These teachers quickly become overwhelmed.

Regarding where they are good or not: we’re not going to write a bad recommendation. We’ll simply suggest the student selects someone else. And yes, it’s true that certain teachers have reputations for writing strong letters.