should I choose him as one of my referees?

[doa]

I have asked a professor to be a reference for me but he said this, should i still write his name as a referee? he will only write a short essay and rate me 1-10

Dear x,

I’m happy to act as a reference.  However, any information I provide will be objective and factual, as in “present 90% of the time”,  “participated actively in class” (ok, some subjectivity there), and “belonged to top half”. With your 7.7, you belonged to the top 48%. For some schools that would not be enough (they demand top 25 or sometimes even tpo 10%), so let me know if that would work.

In any case, all the best with the applications.

Best,

x