One of the kids I coach asked me to write him a letter of recommendation for his application to my alma mater.
Writing it just for the one school obviously I tailored it to said school and included in the letter that I am an alumnus.
I go to submit the letter in common app (I see this kids name and the name of my alma mater, no other schools listed):
You can submit this form only one time for this applicant. Your responses and all accompanying documents will be shared with all of the colleges to which the applicant applies. For that reason, you should not tailor this form for any particular institution.
Ask the kid about this and he says he talked to his guidance counselor and said it will just go to my alma matter as long as he makes the right selections in CommonApp. Fine, so I hit next. Then get this:
By signing and submitting this form, I affirm that the form and all accompanying documents are not customized for a particular institution. I understand that after I submit, I cannot edit or revoke my submission. I understand that these forms are available to every college that this student applied to using Common App.
Kind of bugged me out, Common App seems really adamant about this. Kid and guidance counselor said its fine but I don’t want to be the guy who sent a tailored letter of rec (for my alma mater) to every single school this kid applies to.
For additional recommenders on the CommonApp, the student has to individually assign them to each school. So, your letter won’t be sent to any school unless he actively assigns it there. You’re fine.
I am not sure why Common App has decided this is the thing they are going to control. It sounds like the student and school counselor understand the workaround, so it should be fine. Common App states it is about equity and access, but honestly for my students with the most barriers we tend to make very unique “pitches” on why this kid for this college. They may not be top tier schools but they are a reach for that student and there may be a unique connection that makes sense.
Common App has now applied pressure to their partners to make it more difficult to differentiate letters. Naviance agreed to only allow one letter per teacher. So if you have multiple teachers that is great, but if you really only have a couple you know, especially due to covid, you are limited to very generic letters.
And the school counselor letter is one and done as well which does not allow for differentiation between very different schools.
What ends up happening (you can see it on some threads on CC) is savvy kids using common app, coalition App, and direct apply apps. All with different letters, etc…negating any leveling of the playing field.
A few years ago, when I wanted to send a school-specific letter, I reached out to the admissions office, explained that I am an alum and wanted to share how I thought this student was a particularly good fit for the school. The admissions person I talked to didn’t seem to think it was at all unusual. He gave me his email address and told me he’d make sure it got in the right folder, and confirmed later on that he had put it in. I was able to forward his email to my student to let them know the letter had been submitted, since there wasn’t a confirmation through the Common App.