I think your daughter should go to each teacher and just ask. Just because some blanket statement about recommendations comes out does not mean that there isn’t any wiggle room. Your daughter should advocate for herself in this situation.
These are professionals with advanced degrees we are talking about, right? Most LORs are basically form letters anyway. They could quickly knock these out during their office hours, especially for the students that they didn’t really know very well.
Most of my kids’ teachers didn’t have advanced degrees, and among those who did, some couldn’t write very well. My kids know the difference between they’re, there, and their, but not all their teachers did. Should of? Really? Should of and not should HAVE? Drove me crazy.
I don’t really see the point in LOR if they are little more than a form letter.
I didn’t even know that it was a thing, and my kid’s HS has a graduating class of 900 students.
Our kids went to a private HS that had 200 kids in the graduating class. I’m not aware of our kids ever being told that the 11th grade teachers wouldn’t write any more recommendations. I don’t think my S asked until SR year. His physics teacher was busy writing letters every afternoon and weekend, as far as I know and I suspect many other teachers were as well. I’m sure it’s tiring but it seems the kids should be warned if there are deadlines for asking for recs.
Our S didn’t involve us in his college app process and our D didn’t involve us in her transfer app process so we are very light on details.
I agree that the HS guidance counselor should be consulted ASAP as to how to proceed and handle this situation.
Wow, this seems very arbitrary and unfair. At my S’s school (overseas international school), the process began in early May of junior year, at which time the kids were asked to obtain written agreement from two of their teachers to provide a reference. The general idea was that the teacher should not refuse so long as they could comfortably write a favorable reference. The school is relatively small, and the kids are generally permitted to apply to no more than ten schools, so the teachers probably don’t get too overburdened. This kind of system might not work as well at a larger school (and I imagine parents in the US would really resist the ten-school limit) , but there ought to be some sort of process in place to avoid the kind of situation the OP describes, which favors only those who are obsessed with the college application process and staying ahead of the curve. Many schools require that recommendations come from teaches of “academic” subjects, so I could see where this could really hurt some worthy students. This problem is just one more manifestation of how crazy the whole process has become - I also have sympathy for the teachers, who are being asked to deal with a vastly larger number of applications than would have been the case even ten years ago.
This is how my son’s APUSH history teacher rationed recommendations:
He would write a recommendation for anyone in the class, but they had to provide by early September the following:
A list of colleges they were applying to and why they had chosen them
What they were thinking about majoring in and why
A copy of a graded essay from the class
A short essay on what their favorite text in the class had been and why
A reminder of what grade they’d gotten in class and a what they got on the AP test
There may have been a couple more questions - those are the ones I remember. I’m assuming his recommendations were probably pretty throrough.
Again, not unique. In fact, if the teacher did not ask for a cheat sheet, one should be provided. Although, as a student, my spidey sense might tingle for any teacher that did not ask for one, unless that teacher worked very closely with the student on projects/ECs outside of classas well.
@OneMoreKid are you being sarcastic? Firing them seems like a bit much…
I think schools should have some system in place and there should be a deadline as well…
Is it common to request recommendations at the end of the school year?
Anecdotal evidence for why teachers are reluctant to do end-of-year LORs: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/22194328/#Comment_22194328
Sorry to hear that, OP. A similar situation is happening at D19’s HS school with the only 11th grade AP science teacher refusing to write any letters. The juniors are panicking. D19 had to be strategic about getting letters last year as many teachers had strict cut-offs, usually no later than one month prior to application due date, and requirements (e.g. only the first ten students who could successfully argue why they deserved a LOR). Many kids were disappointed when their requests were denied and it absolutely sucks for students who are left scrambling to get a solid LOR. I would advise your D to ask other teachers and/or sponsors of her ECs,
It’s not uncommon, but it really depends upon the teacher. Some prefer to work at their own pace over the summer as opposed to feeling under the gun. Others prefer to as late as possible to include all up-yo-date info. Particularly for popular ec writers, it’s good to find out what the teacher prefers.
Randi Weingarten would have an issue.
We had a college visit over spring break at the U of Mich and they mentioned you only need one teacher recommendation. Out of curiosity I asked my D20 who she would ask and in my mind she did have 4 choices. Immediately she gave an answer. I was a little surprised she gave in my opinion her fourth choice. I asked why. She said the teacher, who is part time, teaches an Algebra 1 class and to AP stats classes. She teaches only a handful of juniors. It did make sense. One of her other favorite teachers teaches an APUSH class and only teaches juniors (125 or so). She probably get a 100 requests. Probably one she wouldn’t ask.
DD’s HS suggested asking teacher in the spring of junior year for recommendations. They also had a cheat sheet for students to give to teacher and some had their own specific questions they wanted answered. I assumed asking in the spring allowed them to space out writing all the recs over the the summer and not having to turn students down at the last minute.
@mathmom That’s not really rationing as much as making sure that the LoRs are actually personalized and can make a difference. I understand the teacher. I’ve written LoR for students, and “Joe took my class and got an A” is a waste of time and effort. If the LoR cannot speak to the student’s skills, personality, and to why they would be a great fit for the college, they are not really effective.
Which is why if teachers want to ration recommendations, they should have students apply for them by a deadline, so that the teacher can choose which students s/he will write personalized recommendations for, rather than going by an unannounced first-come-first-served system that is not apparent until the announcement that s/he is “full”.
The teachers at our local pubic district and nearby districts have hours set aside in their contracts for miscellaneous work. They do not grade homework, answer emails, conduct meetings, or write recommendations on their own time. We have some of the most highly compensated teachers in the state. Probably in the nation.
The AP lit teacher at the school where my Ds went was pretty savvy about how he went about letters of rec: he said he’d write one for anyone who asked but that he always included something that may not be viewed as a positive. I have no idea if he actually did that but neither D asked him to write one for them. It was a bummer because I know he really really liked them (pulled me aside one day while I was at the school) but neither was willing to risk it.
Apologies. I’m a rookie and don’t yet know how to quote/respond.
For the two responses to my post about firing teachers with this mentality and banning them from the profession - My school district went on strike for 51 days during my Senior year. Without boring anyone with details it was devastating to many kids; and in many ways.
My own kids endured a 30 day strike and the behavior I witnessed at meetings, on the picket line, etc. was the epitome of poor behavior.
Not writing recommendations is of the same/similar mindset. It’s so sad and disgusting on so many levels that to go into it wouldn’t be productive.
And sometimes the kids and families that they criticize the most are the ones most in need of a stable environment that they’re entrusted to provide.
It’s destructive to everything; especially their own profession.