Anonymous
12/15/2025 11:32
Subject: How do they know their reference letters were strong or not?
Impossible to know in most cases.
Anonymous
12/15/2025 11:29
Subject: How do they know their reference letters were strong or not?
But no one writes a ‘bad’ letter
Anonymous
12/15/2025 10:25
Subject: How do they know their reference letters were strong or not?
Curious as well-my kids submitted it 1 hour before deadline. It was stressful!! He is too nice and agrees to write for anyone-so not sure how individualized they are!!
Anonymous
12/15/2025 10:20
Subject: How do they know their reference letters were strong or not?
Anonymous wrote:People here and there make stuff up.
Not sure what happens "there" but most of what you find "here" is total BS.
Anonymous
12/15/2025 10:20
Subject: How do they know their reference letters were strong or not?
At DC’s private they have the students request the recommendation letters from teachers in the spring of junior year with a deadline to the college counselor office by September (or earlier if applications are going to be submitted before September). We signed a form that said we could not read the letters, but will give kids a sense of the letters eg “so and so wrote an amazing letter…” Although writing ability and depth of knowledge of a student varies, no teacher will agree to write a letter for a student they don’t fully support.
Anonymous
12/15/2025 09:42
Subject: How do they know their reference letters were strong or not?
Probably more than half the posters on that reddit forum are international students. For many international students the teacher will have the student write the LOR who presents it to the teacher. So obviously they know what was said in it.
Anonymous
12/15/2025 09:07
Subject: How do they know their reference letters were strong or not?
Anonymous wrote:Nobody cares about them.
Can actually be the largest differentiator.
Talk to admissions counselors. Some schools (Yale) make it a central feature of their review.