<p>Is it rude to ask a teacher to send several recommendations to different colleges?</p>
<p>that is what the Common App is for. They write the recommendation once, and send the same one to multiple colleges. A few colleges have their own form (like MIT), but many of those schools will accept the Common App form for the recommendation itself. They have a few more questions that are not that much more work to answer (is the student a good fit for that school).</p>
<p>It is only rude if you do not give them a stamped addressed envelope to mail the recommendation.</p>
<p>And if you want to get a really good rec, one way to help make that happen is to make it easy for the teacher by providing, in writing, the answers to questions like:</p>
<p>1) what are my strengths as a student and as a person’
2) what are my goals educationally and professionally
3) what, if any, challenges have I faced during high school? How did I overcome them or how am I coping with them?
4) what it is about these schools that caused me to choose them (certain program? part of the country? etc…)
5) how have I contributed to the school and the community?</p>
<p>This little writing exercise is actually required of all the college bound students who want recs by the local public high schools in our county. That’s because often the guidance counselors don’t know the kids and it helps everyone write more insightful recs. It is not unusual for a teacher, who are busy and often have to write dozens of recs, to quote word for word what someone describes as their strengths, so spend some time on this.</p>