<p>I've read (virtual) tomes on the whole Common App LOR process but am still confused on a couple points...</p>
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<li><p>Will the teacher have to fill out multiple forms for Common App schools? On my Common App account, each school has an "assign recommender" tab, and I know that assigning the recommender will send my teacher an email. Will my teacher then receive several emails, one for every school? Or will they just receive one email and fill out one form which will be submitted to all the schools?</p></li>
<li><p>Is there a way to differentiate between teacher and supplemental recommendations on the Common App form?</p></li>
<li><p>I've seen many posters recommend that I give a "resume" to the teachers writing my LORs... however, both my recommenders know me very well and I'm concerned that giving them a resume will lead them to list off my credentials instead of evaluating me on a deeper level. What would you advise?</p></li>
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<li> You assign the teacher for your LOR in the same screen you fill in your counselor info. Then the teacher gets one email only to log in and do your LOR. I believe the date that you assigned the teacher then is posted and when they fill it in 2 years ago, the date would disappear. I think now it may put in the date it was done in. You can resend the form if the teacher does not seem to be doing so in a timely way.</li>
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<p>Then when you assign your teacher recs in each school’s screen it automatically goes and gets the one they did and sends it to that school. The teacher will not see new requests. They only get the original request to do the LOR.</p>
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<li><p>I don’t know, my son only did teacher recs 2 years ago.</p></li>
<li><p>If your teachers know you really well, I would let them do their own thing. If there are particular things you want that teacher to comment on, you could ask them to include that e.g. something special you did in their class. </p></li>
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<p>YOu could also ask the teachers if they want a “cheat” sheet with some of the highlights about you that you think are important.</p>
<p>First, your teacher is the one sending the LOR not you. So your teacher can opt out of doing them online if they want and then mail them. There is someway they can do that when they respond to the email the common app. You supply the stamped addressed envelopes.</p>
<p>You then print out the form and make sure your info is filled in so your LOR is matched up with your info for that school when it arrives. I believe there is a common app # generated when you set up your account you can also print on the top.</p>
<p>At our school, our counselors made copies of all the teacher recs to keep in their folder in case they needed them (like a last minute school you apply to) and the counselor would then mail them in with their info. So check with your school.</p>
<p>If a teacher elects to opt out of sending through the common app electronically and instead wants to mail the recs in, that election will apply to all common app recommendations the teacher provides for all students for this application year. There is not a way through the common app for a teacher to pick and choose to submit some by snail mail and others electronically. </p>
<p>Each school has its own requirements for recommendations. Some require one rec and others two. Some will allow you to submit supplemental recs and some won’t. When you assign recommendations to each school, you’ll select which recommendations to send on a school by school basis. If they submit electronically, they upload once and the process is done from their perspective. But, if the teachers aren’t submitting electronically, you’ll need to tell them which schools you are applying to and provide stamped addressed envelopes.</p>
<p>Thanks for the very thorough answers, Lakemom! So am I correct in assuming that a recommender could fill out his/her rec before the student applies to any schools?</p>
<p>I ask this because my final list is still a bit fluid and probably will be until we complete one more set of college visits in October. However, both my teachers would prefer to finish the rec process ASAP. So (I assume) they could finish my rec and have it saved and waiting for my applications to go out?</p>
<p>Yep, just get them in there and then they just sit waiting for you to assign that teacher’s rec to the schools you apply to. </p>
<p>The opposite is also true that if they put their rec in after you had already sent off the app and supplement then when it did get finally get finished and in the common app it would be sent to schools you had already assigned them to go to. You don’t however want a teacher to be later than the cut off dates for applications.</p>
<p>My son is having an internship supervisor provide a supplemental LOR. As far as I know, his school uses Naviance for submitting normal LORs, but could the supervisor be designated an “additional” LOR provider and be emailed via the Common App process? </p>
<p>I apologize if the answer is obvious; he’s just getting started applying.</p>
<p>^^^ I don’t think so. I believe the common app LOR process is for those inside the education system. I think if you have the supervisor include your son’s Common app # on the top of the rec it will help get to your son’s file.</p>
<p>Thanks Lakemom. The supervisor is inside the education system, but not the high school (it was a college lab). In re-thinking my post, I remembered that one of the schools being applied to doesn’t use the Common App and strongly suggests a cover page, so I guess we’re back to snail mail.</p>
<p>I read on Yale’s web site that they recommend writing the student’s full name (as it will appear on applications); the student’s HS, town,state; and birth date. With that, it shouldn’t wind up in someone else’s folder :-)</p>
<p>Is there a reason that on the actual forms, our names are listed as “First name, Last Name” up top in the header and below on the footer of each page instead of “Last name, First name?” </p>