A kid is diligent without talking about talent, giftedness etc means they are bland grinders. A teacher not pointing out a kids ability to lead class discussions or stand out will be seen as blah. ... A recommendation doesn’t need to be negative to actually be negative

Geez. pp you're probably right but for most of us our kid doesn't need to be the-perfect-human to get into the college they want.

Anonymous wrote:I trust all these kids will get the letters of recommendation they deserve.

yup

To the teacher: parents appreciate what you do! There’s anxiety if the deadline is very close and something should go sideways. Internet outage, family emergency, sick child, and other things can come up at the last minute. Or, if it happened that a file was thought to be uploaded but it’s discovered a day or two later it didn’t take. That’s why we try to get the applications in early to have a good buffer to account for unexpected circumstances, and have time to correct any problems that might come up.

Thank you for taking the time to help your students with this very important, and tense!, milestone in their lives!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you teachers are gluttons for punishment. I cap the number of recommendations I do at 20. Even 20 takes a long time. And I say no if a kid asks me and I can think of nothing positive to say about them.

I get a lot of pressure from the college counselors. But yea, I next year I'm going to say no to most for sure. My issue this year is the amount of entitled and demanding emails I keep getting from parents, and from parents pretending to be students using their student's email.

Next year it stops.

Trust me, no child or parent wants to rely on someone like you to get into college. We all hate this system as much as you do, maybe even more because it leaves our kids at the mercy of an overworked disguntled teacher who would rather spend Saturday and Sunday complaining on a message board than just knocking it out.

Anonymous wrote:Some of you teachers are gluttons for punishment. I cap the number of recommendations I do at 20. Even 20 takes a long time. And I say no if a kid asks me and I can think of nothing positive to say about them.

I get a lot of pressure from the college counselors. But yea, I next year I'm going to say no to most for sure. My issue this year is the amount of entitled and demanding emails I keep getting from parents, and from parents pretending to be students using their student's email.

Next year it stops.

Some of you teachers are gluttons for punishment. I cap the number of recommendations I do at 20. Even 20 takes a long time. And I say no if a kid asks me and I can think of nothing positive to say about them.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter asked a teacher for it by October 15 (all her apps where in by Sept 5). The teacher said "well the due date is 11/1" and still hasnt written anything. Luckily for my kid she had backups, so if the teacher never submits she doesn't care but it is very rude and God forbid my kid was relying on that.

YOU and your daughter are rude and entitled.

I wouldn't expect this teacher to be writing a very enthusiastic letter for your pompous child.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was disappointed that UC schools no longer accept teacher recommendations because my kids had some teachers that they really bonded with in areas they wanted to major. However, the more I read about how awful teacher recs can be, I’m relieved.

1. AOs will read between the lines. A kid is diligent without talking about talent, giftedness etc means they are bland grinders. A teacher not pointing out a kids ability to lead class discussions or stand out will be seen as blah.
2. There were several reviews and studies done that showed the majority carried significant gender and racial bias.
3. A recommendation doesn’t need to be negative to actually be negative.
4. Some teachers use form recommendations.
5. Most have no idea what AOs are really looking to see.

What's wrong with the bolded? You expect teachers to lie?

I wonder if the PP’s concern is that a teacher’s recommendation may not align with what the school is looking for.

I’m very honest in my recommendations. If the student is a once-in-a-decade top student, that’s the focus. If the student is a diligent worker, then that’s what I write about. If the student is great at overcoming setbacks, then I give examples of that. I only write positive recommendations; I’ll tell students to look elsewhere if I can’t make a positive argument for that individual.

But I won’t lie. I won’t embellish, nor will I write a recommendation based on what a student/parent wants it to show if I don’t agree with that image of the student. My name goes at the bottom of that letter.

And I can’t control the variables. Nobody knows what an individual school is looking for each year. I can only write based on my own experiences, not based on what we think a school is looking for.

Anonymous wrote:I was disappointed that UC schools no longer accept teacher recommendations because my kids had some teachers that they really bonded with in areas they wanted to major. However, the more I read about how awful teacher recs can be, I’m relieved.

1. AOs will read between the lines. A kid is diligent without talking about talent, giftedness etc means they are bland grinders. A teacher not pointing out a kids ability to lead class discussions or stand out will be seen as blah.
2. There were several reviews and studies done that showed the majority carried significant gender and racial bias.
3. A recommendation doesn’t need to be negative to actually be negative.
4. Some teachers use form recommendations.
5. Most have no idea what AOs are really looking to see.

What's wrong with the bolded? You expect teachers to lie?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish schools would get rid of teacher recommendations. For all of you that want to complain about bias from tests, let’s talk about recommendations!

My kid also asked a teacher who said yes and now we wait at close to the deadline and only hope it gets done in time. Luckily they applied to many schools that don’t require any teacher recs but unfortunately their top choice does.

And that recommendation isn’t late. The teacher still has a week. Why assume the worst of the overworked teacher?

I said we hope it gets done in time. That’s all we can do. How would you feel if this was the only piece missing to your kids application with less than a week before the deadline?

I know exactly how I’d feel. I may be a teacher, but I’m also a parent. My child was class of 2024. Her applications were in by early October, and her recommendations were posted right before 11/1.

And I didn’t stress. Why? Because I KNOW what teachers are going through and I KNOW that those teachers were swamped. I also trusted them to do what they said they would do because they are professionals.

And I also know that the way weren’t going to receive many thank you letters for all that extra work, too… many hours of unpaid work that isn’t covered by contract. So I encouraged my daughter to be one of the rare “thank yous.”

Anonymous wrote:I was disappointed that UC schools no longer accept teacher recommendations because my kids had some teachers that they really bonded with in areas they wanted to major. However, the more I read about how awful teacher recs can be, I’m relieved.

1. AOs will read between the lines. A kid is diligent without talking about talent, giftedness etc means they are bland grinders. A teacher not pointing out a kids ability to lead class discussions or stand out will be seen as blah.
2. There were several reviews and studies done that showed the majority carried significant gender and racial bias.
3. A recommendation doesn’t need to be negative to actually be negative.
4. Some teachers use form recommendations.
5. Most have no idea what AOs are really looking to see.

Did the UCs ever accept recommendations? They weren’t part of the application when I applied in the 90s.

Anonymous wrote:It’s infuriating, college and medical school applications held up for months because teachers can’t take 5 mins.
Have your kid make an appt during office hours and sit there while they do it.
Teachers, do what you say you’ll do in a timely manner.

High school English teacher here, and I was asked to do 32 letters of rec for kids applying this year.

1. It takes me a minimum of about an hour to do a thoughtful, individualized letter of rec.

2. My contract does not require me to write these letters of rec. I agree to do them because I want to help, and I will have every one of them done by the deadline. If you are going to prod and pester me because you don't trust that I will submit the letter on time, then ask another teacher.

3. If your child were so breathtakingly rude as to appear in my classroom, sit down, and inform me he/she was going to wait while I finished the letter, I would probably be annoyed enough to do it. The results would not be what you expect and intend in advising this course of action.

I was disappointed that UC schools no longer accept teacher recommendations because my kids had some teachers that they really bonded with in areas they wanted to major. However, the more I read about how awful teacher recs can be, I’m relieved.

1. AOs will read between the lines. A kid is diligent without talking about talent, giftedness etc means they are bland grinders. A teacher not pointing out a kids ability to lead class discussions or stand out will be seen as blah.
2. There were several reviews and studies done that showed the majority carried significant gender and racial bias.
3. A recommendation doesn’t need to be negative to actually be negative.
4. Some teachers use form recommendations.
5. Most have no idea what AOs are really looking to see.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish schools would get rid of teacher recommendations. For all of you that want to complain about bias from tests, let’s talk about recommendations!

My kid also asked a teacher who said yes and now we wait at close to the deadline and only hope it gets done in time. Luckily they applied to many schools that don’t require any teacher recs but unfortunately their top choice does.

And that recommendation isn’t late. The teacher still has a week. Why assume the worst of the overworked teacher?

I said we hope it gets done in time. That’s all we can do. How would you feel if this was the only piece missing to your kids application with less than a week before the deadline?

Not just your kiddo. Sigh,

Hit submit too soon

Meaning get a grip. Your precious is one of many and it’s a week out…

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish schools would get rid of teacher recommendations. For all of you that want to complain about bias from tests, let’s talk about recommendations!

My kid also asked a teacher who said yes and now we wait at close to the deadline and only hope it gets done in time. Luckily they applied to many schools that don’t require any teacher recs but unfortunately their top choice does.

And that recommendation isn’t late. The teacher still has a week. Why assume the worst of the overworked teacher?

I said we hope it gets done in time. That’s all we can do. How would you feel if this was the only piece missing to your kids application with less than a week before the deadline?

Not just your kiddo. Sigh,