<p>Hello, I'm applying to several BS's for admission into the 10th grade in September 2012. I am applying to four schools (Groton, NMH, Andover, SPS) through the Gateway system.</p>
<p>I have finished the applicant profile online. I know I'm a little late in this process, which is why I'm using a common application form to get things processed and completed a little quicker. I'm about to hand my teachers recommendation forms for them to fill out, hopefully by the end of this week. </p>
<p>On Gateway, it asks for your teachers information (email and name) and says that they will send an email out to the teacher for each recommendation request. The same teachers are completing the four math, English, and personal recommendations. Will they each have to fill out four separate recommendations online, for each school? Is the recommendation process even online, or does Gateway just give teachers a link to print out the forms?</p>
<p>I was also considering printing out a hard copy of the Gateway recommendations and handing them to the appropriate teacher with 4 envelopes for each school. The teachers would fill out one recommendation, make 4 photocopies, sign all of them, and send them off to the schools. This way, it would be easier for me to track who received what since I'll be giving them in person. If I were to do this, would my online profile and checklist on Gateway be updated for recommendations or not?</p>
<p>It’s been a while since we’ve done this, but my recollection is that if you bypass the system, your online checklist would not be updated for recommendations. That’s certainly not the end of the world, though - you can always contact the schools directly to confirm their receipt of the necessary recommendations. That’s what we did. My son was applying to both Gateway and non-Gateway schools, so he just handed his teachers a single form to use for all the schools. For that reason, I cannot answer your other question about how the Gateway recommendation system operates and whether it would generate multiple separate forms.</p>
<p>Please note, though, that when I say you can “always” contact the schools directly to inquire about their receipt of forms, what I actually mean is anytime other than the two weeks immediately following the application deadline. The admissions offices are usually swamped with both telephone calls and unsorted paperwork at that time . . . so either call a bit ahead of the deadline or wait until a couple of weeks after.</p>
<p>What was the single form he used for all the schools? Was it the hard copy of the Gateway app? I thought the non-Gateway schools wouldn’t accept that, for teacher recommendations at least.</p>
<p>The forms we used were the TABS generic recommendation forms - available [url=<a href=“http://www.boardingschools.com/how-to-apply/application.aspx]here[/url”>Application Deadline - BoardingSchools.com]here[/url</a>].</p>
<p>And, to the best of my knowledge, the schools don’t generally care whose recommendation form they get . . . just so they get one!</p>
<p>I think they can be filled up online (recs, I mean).</p>
<p>We are using both Gateway and SSAT apps. Gateway recs are the easiest - teacher gets an email and completes it online. Daughter gave out SSAT forms with stamped and addressed envelopes and let them know they would also receive an email from Gateway. Her school and LA recs were completed within 24 hours. Math teacher needed it resent and the personal rec I expect to take a little longer.</p>