Unconventional Recommendations: Bad Grade, Great Attitude

Unconventional Recommendations: Bad Grade, Great Attitude

The recommendation should, theoretically, be a bit of a lock on your application. You find a teacher who worked well with you and ask them to write a brief description of how wonderful you are.

Though, there are some risky types of recommendations that can really pay off. Today I’ll talk about one of these rec-writers, and why it may not be so crazy after all.

So today’s unconventional writer? The Bad Grade, Great Attitude.

While hopefully you have not gotten any poor grades in your time as a student, sometimes there are just inevitable pitfalls or Everests that cannot be scaled. 

For example, maybe you cannot for the life of you understand chemistry. You go to extra help in the mornings, stay after school for review, and go to lunch tutoring, and even those steps cannot help you get even a B. All of that work and effort is going to keep you at a 78, no matter how hard you try. You’re working twice as hard for a quarter of the result, but the second you slack that 78 is going to become a 50.

If you remain positive and diligent, your chemistry teacher is going to notice. If you’re spending an extra 3, 4, 5 hours a week with them, they’ll probably get to know you pretty well. They’ll see how hard you’re trying, and what a dedicated student you are. Maybe in these extra help sessions you’ve discussed you’re intense love of foreign languages and government. Maybe you talked about current events with them and debated issues. They see that chemistry isn’t your thing, it doesn’t click and it probably won’t ever click. But they see how intelligent and hard working you are.

Do you see what I’m getting at?

 This teacher could write you a fantastic letter of recommendation. They know you. They know your academic strengths and weaknesses. And they have hard proof of how diligent you are, even in things that don’t interest you or things that seem to be hopeless. And they know you as a person, outside of an academic setting.

That letter is going to stick out in a sea of “they’re so bright, of course I gave them an A,” letters. Because this letter paints you as an academic. It shows tenacity. And it shows that you are constantly trying to improve yourself.

And the other clincher? It could explain a minor hiccup in academic performance.

These letters aren’t going to work if you’re a B student who has a few C grades in various topics. But if you’re an A student who got one C+? The admissions committees are going to see that is inconsistent, and this letter is going to explain the inconsistency, and turn it into a positive.

Yes, you are terrible at chemistry, but holy moly did you try to improve that, and you never gave up. You worked your butt off for that C+, harder than you ever had to work for any A you’ve ever gotten.

That’s a story. That’s interesting. That shows so much more than two perfectly crafted “they have such a natural ability in this topic” recommendations.

Passion and Work Ethic, that’s what you want to show.

So when it comes time to ask for recs, don’t go running to the teachers that gave you As. Think about how they’re going to represent you on paper, and what picture they will paint.