College Recommendation Letters: Email Teachers now or talk to them in September?

Applying to College
1

<p>I am panicking about college applications (again...) and I was wondering, should I give teachers this extra month to, I don't know, prepare for writing my recommendation or tell me what they need from me? Or should I wait to approach them in person in September? How early is too early (Like, can I approach them on the first day of school...)?</p>

<p>Does it make a difference whether the teacher has to write a lot of recommendations? (Like, I'll probably ask a math teacher to write one for all six colleges I'm applying to, a science teacher to write five, and a french teacher to write one...) </p>

<p>On a related note, although no one has to answer this because this isn't what the thread is about, one math/science teacher and one humanities teacher: does that matter? MIT is the only one who specifically stated that, but would it be stupid to ask a humanities teacher for just ONE recommendation?</p>

<p>Please help! I have no idea what I'm doing...</p>

2

<p>Depends when the applications are due. I would give at least two weeks to a month’s notice ahead of time.</p>

<p>Usually teachers will just write one letter and tweak it for other colleges. That’s what my counselor did and I didn’t have a problem with that. Be sure to thank them afterwards.</p>

<p>For MIT, teachers are only allowed to submit one recommendation each (along with a short form indicating how long the teacher has known the student, what the teacher has taught, etc). Note that the counselor also has to submit a recommendation.</p>