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[unsuregrad]

Well, I just got off the phone with the professor to see what's up with all of this before I talk to my MA adviser, just to reconcile this one more time.  Yes, DvP, you can see that I'm the kind of person who just doesn't exactly shy away from issues, especially if they are integrated to my ability to do well in life.  If the issue wasn't important, then I would've walked away.

She admitted that she really wants and plans to write a very strong letter because she does believe that I am a great researcher.  First, she just had a hard time watching me going through the process last year so she just felt horrible and just wanted to be helpful with alternatives.  Second and more importantly, it was only those check boxes on the application form that made her pause, particularly those involving class participation or something of that sort.  She said that she couldn't ranked me up in the highest if she had to be honest because she felt there were times that my disability was not allowing me to be in the top, what, 5%.  She was worried that the adcoms would toss my application out if it wasn't ranked the highest.

I told her that I know about these things and the letter itself is far more important than those checkboxes and adcoms don't really pay close attention unless she put me below 50% or something like that.

I can't believe this.  Over check boxes.  *headdesk*

Thank you all for your help and insights.  I'm not going to say much to my MA adviser about this after all because I do like my confidentiality and this professor was genuine and she's already helping me out a lot as it is.

Check boxes.  Who would've figured that it would make a LOR writer all anxious.  (And, yes, she is a tenured faculty member but hasn't had a whole lot of experience being involved in grad admissions)

[daniel_von_flanagan]

I told her that I know about these things and the letter itself is far more important than those checkboxes and adcoms don't really pay close attention unless she put me below 50% or something like that.

Your basis for this assertion?

Check boxes.  Who would've figured that it would make a LOR writer all anxious.  (And, yes, she is a tenured faculty member but hasn't had a whole lot of experience being involved in grad admissions)

Please stop publicly denigrating this person who is doing you a favor (and certainly knows more about graduate admissions than you do). - DvF

[unsuregrad]

She was clearly anxious at times and I had no idea what the hell that was all about.  Yes, it's true that every department is different in how they handle check boxes, just like GRE scores.  Some value them, some ignore them.  But, as jackofallchem said, letter tells more than numbers and it's what she's trying to do.

Now back to my work.