@theaterwork Like owensfolks, we were able to submit some of the references directly, in a sealed envelope that we then addressed. Also, since the school requirements vary, some did need to be submitted online directly from the recommender. However, once they’d written one letter, it was much faster for them to submit. Our experience was that several schools provided a form, but all of them also stated they would accept a letter in another format. We found that checking with schools to make sure everything was received was a key step.
@theaterwork so far we have only had to request letters of recommendation for Summer intensives-but our intent is to ask the same few teachers/counselor to write letters of recommendation this Summer-so as to get a jump on when the new school year is starting, and they are completely overwhelmed with all of the Seniors’ requests. Will probably leave it up to them whether to send it (enclose a stamped envelope), or return it (sealed and signed) to us.
D’s recommenders gave her multiple hard copies (sealed envelopes, signatures over seal) and an emailed copy, and they also kept a copy on their computers so they could upload them when needed. She had this taken care of before the end of spring, junior year. She had copies on hand for walk-ins. I don’t remember if she actually needed them then, but she felt prepared.
We also kept a notebook. Every school had its own page, with the audition requirements, login information, deadlines, contact persons, special notes. I needed something I could hold in my hands and look at; putting it on a computer wouldn’t work for me. And then I printed out calendar pages for December, January and February and wrote into the specific dates the name of the school, the time of audition and the material needed (e.g. 16 bar uptempo, 2 contemporary monologues.)
And since we were traveling all over the northeast in the winter, we prayed for no snow. And only got it while well esconced in a hotel for Unifieds. 
My daughter filled in all the information on the first application. I then filled in the basic information on all the others for her. She still needed to answer any specific questions, as well as the essays. This helped save her time as she was very busy with school, pre-screens, and performing in shows, as I’m sure all your kids are.
There were several schools D applied to that requested the LOR be uploaded. (This only applies to the separate MT application - NOT academic portion.)
I had PDF copies of three separate theatre recs that would be uploaded to the appropriate school. Off the top oft head, Western Michigan was one that req emailed/uploaded copies.
I think when it comes to theatre recs the rules are/can be different than the standard LOR rules.
Ok I think I’m going to have her start asking for recommendations before school gets out… How many and what people should we worth ask as a general rule? Like one or two academic and two theatre /artistic related? Perhaps the theatre references should be one school director/teacher & one outside director? We could get a a few hard copies and an email copy for each? Then perhaps we’d be covered?
I absolutely recommend asking before school ends. I already have 4 kids who have asked me (I teach HS) Some teachers will only write letters for a limited number of kids. I “try” to keep it under a dozen- and the ones I can do over the summer are great. (And I think often better- just b/c I am not trying to squeeze it in amongst a million other things in the school day)
And don’t forget thank you notes for the letters of recommendation!
I can tell you that we had one academic LOR and 3 theatre recs - voice teacher, director of a recent community theatre show & artistic director of a local community theatre. Except for the academic LOR, none of her other recs were affiliated with her school. (Her high school theatre director was a raging lunatic. No thanks.).
Lots of schools require 2 academic recs- and for competitive schools it is not unusual to require one from a “core” subject.
All of D’s letters of recommendation were submitted online. D never saw them. Instead she entered the recommender’s contact information online and the school then contacted them for the recommendation. She submitted up to 6, depending on the school-- counselor, two academic teachers, and one each for voice, acting, and dance. She asked them in the Spring. Love the separate email idea. D handled all apps herself, and did it very well aside from the audition fee she forgot to pay. Sigh.
^^^she forgot to pay Fordham the audition fee so she was knocked out. A parent helping could’ve helped to prevent that from happening but she wanted to handle it.
^^^ another thing kept in my notebook: every confirmation number for every fee we paid.
One more bit of advice: in March, call each school to confirm the application is complete. Just in case. A glitch happened to us this year and I’ve read here too many times that just one thing was overlooked, by the applicant or the school. Yes, most schools have a portal, but even that isn’t foolproof. It may sound like overkill, but I wish we’d done it.
D started in August and finished in October – had a list of all passwords, and a spreadsheet of the different types of essays required for each school. Created a separate file in her email account to put all correspondence. It was a crazy fall, but by getting all her apps done, she could schedule auditions and focus on preparation for unifieds.
I don’t know if this is still the case, but when S did this three years ago, there were a few schools - like Point Park - who had “rolling” applications and you could apply any time. IU was another one that opened their apps in May (I think?). S applied to those schools very early in the summer (June/July) to get a few items knocked off the list.
Great idea to contact LOR folks now. Most of S’s LOR writers were directly emailed by the school and the letters were uploaded directly w/o S ever being involved. That said, S’s voice teacher never received the email request - we think it was denied by a SPAM filter, since voice teacher used his university email address. He eventually switched to his personal email address, but by then several weeks had gone by and i was the one continuously “reminding” my S to ask his voice teacher if the LOR had been submitted yet. We did ask for a few hard copies in sealed envelopes to have on hand if needed at auditions, but they were never requested.
@mom4bwayboy when applying that early, like you said in July etc, how would you do the high school transcript thing when schools not in session… Does that just get sent later?
It can be sent later. In our school district, the school counselors work into the summer - generally only off for the month of July. S talked to the counselor in spring of junior year and gave heads up regarding his plans to be applying WAY ahead of the “muggle” seniors. She was OK with being contacted/sending transcripts over the summer. Turned out to be a good thing, b/c she was unfamiliar with the BFA Arts application needs and got really backed up as November/December approached.
We started applications in August, had them all done by end of September. Prescreens were submitted by mid October. My daughter auditioned for 20 schools - this way we got first choice of audition dates. We also had the shared mailbox. Something I did, since my daughter was in 2 productions, dance, voice lessons and all the normal senior stuff - I did all the forms. Anything that required filling in blanks, I did. If there was a writing prompt of any kind, - even if it was only a sentence, I copied it into a Word document, then saved it as : xx school, prompt 1. This way, my daughter could simply open a word doc, work on the prompt, then let me know when it was done so I could finish the application.
Elementary question: When asking for a LOR, does the teacher simply write one or one per school you’re applying to? If you’re applying to multiple schools, how does that one letter get distributed so many times if you don’t have a copy of it? I am assuming the teacher doesn’t have to submit the letter 15-20 times? One or two LOR will come from the high school, but one will be from a voice teacher. How does that work? Sorry if that is a basic question. 