<p>Okay, so as the title of the thread says, if you are applying to a buttload of places (okay, so maybe not as many as 25, but theoretically speaking), how do you ask teachers and counselors for recs? </p>
<p>Should I do it gradually (like ten at a time), or warn them initially what I plan to do? Are rec letters generic and the same for every college or do teachers change them up?</p>
<p>Also, I asked some teachers if they would be willing to write rec letters for me, and 4 agreed to do it. Maybe I should split up my colleges and ask them to write letters for only like half of them?</p>
<p>You should certainly warn your teachers up front that you are planning to apply to 25 schools. Some of them may not want to recommend you for all of them and you may have to find more than 3 teachers to write you letters, which is why it is important to find out early.</p>
<p>Not all teachers write one generic recommendation letter and copy them. I had different teachers write different recommendations for different colleges. Some of my teachers did copy one recommendation letter. Most made alterations based on the college to which I was applying. One wrote directly on the application form (with a lot of spelling and grammar errors -- I love this teacher!) However, either way that a teacher is writing your recommendations, it still takes a lot of time and effort and asking them to write for 25 schools is unfair, so definitely talk to them ahead of time, find out which ones are willing to write you recommendations for that many schools, and find back-ups or whatever for the ones that have a limit.</p>
<p>Now I see why some private schools are limiting the number of applications students can make. I mean, 10 is sometimes a good number for borderline students applying to very competitive schools, but 25 IMO is a waste of time and money.</p>
<p>^I'm an incredibly indecisive person. The colleges I have chosen to apply to, I love almost equally (okay the ones i like best are ones i probably won't get into), and i can genuinely see myself at each of them. Each one has something that attracts me to it.</p>
<p>I wish I could narrow the list down further, but honestly it's a mircale that I've already narrowed it down to this point. I don't want to rush or cut corners on one of the the most important decisions of my life.</p>
<p>And no, I'm not ridiculously rich. But I've been saving up money from work this summer and some of my apps are free ones, so that will help. My parents are also encouraging me (I sometimes wish they wouldn't, and that they'd force me to keep it under 10, but no, they're the ones who are like "go for 30 if that's what you want, keep your options open").</p>
<p>So, since you're indecisive, love all of the 25 colleges almost equally, what do you plan to do if you get into, for instance, 15 colleges? You will still have to make a decision.</p>
<p>Aww come on, let her be indecisive. If she'll pay for it, let her wait until April 31st to make her decision. Even if she has to "ika-bika-boo" it, she can. If she gets into all 25 of them, so be it.</p>
<p>I've been on CC long enough to see the concerns of students who applied to tons of colleges, got into tons of colleges, then in April can't make up their minds, and consequently want ridiculous things like colleges allowing them to accept more than one college (Colleges don't allow that. If one is caught doing this, all of the colleges one accepted will rescind one's admission) or colleges giving them extra time to make up their mind (Colleges don't do this unless there's something like a potentially solveable financial aid problem. Otherwise, colleges don't allow extensions because the colleges need to know whether to use their waiting lists).</p>
<p>Even though I don't personally agree with that many colleges as I have 5-6, it seems like people have stopped answering her question and did exactly what she asked NOT to happen. But I understand your advice, and believe me, of any CCer's advice to follow, it would be Northstarmom's.</p>
<p>OP: Just for fun, could you post your list?</p>
<p>One of the best ways I rounded mine down was attempting to rank them in terms of difficulty and how much I liked them, and removing ones that didn't make sense. e.x. I liked Wesleyan more than Bowdoin, and Wesleyan is a little easier to get in. Why would I apply to Bowdoin (which I still liked a lot) if I would attend Wesleyan anyway if I were accepted to both?</p>
<p>Her question about recommendations have been answered. In virtually all situations, teachers and GCs write one per student, and then make copies. An example of a rare exception would be a teacher who is an alum of a college, who mentions that info in the recc written specifically for that college. Otherwise, however, teachers don't have the time to literally write thousands of recommendations per year.</p>
<p>The only reason to apply to more than 5 colleges is when your applying to a lot of reaches/'crapshoot' schools. Though one person I know applied to only three colleges - 1 safety, 1 match (georgetown), and 1 reach (harvard), and got into all three and just went to harvard. He was a god though.</p>
<p>With you applying to so many schools you are taking away someone else's chance who might really want to go to any one of the schools. This is very selfish to apply to so many schools, it's not just about the money, think about the people you are impacting.</p>
<p>Yea, a lot of schools accepted sometimes upwards of 80% of their waitlists (and I'm not just talking about like 4th tiers either). There's a mechanism built against people who don't go to their safety schools. Don't worry about it.</p>
<p>Just be sure you're mentally and physically prepared for applying to so many, think strategically, make sure those who will be affected by the decision will accept it (counseler, teachers, parents), and then - do it.</p>
<p>im also applying to a lot of schools (about 18ish)</p>
<p>so its for certain that most teachers just write one rec and send it out to all of em?? (or should I and the OP ask our teachers their method etc etc)</p>
<p>At my kids school they pick 2 teachers to write recs and the teachers give them to the counselor who writes one also and the whole packet gets sent along with the school profile and your transcript. There is a limit of 10 schools.
I thought this was pretty standard?</p>