<p>I need my last recommender on the common app to finish really soon (dec 1 is my deadline) and she hasn't even started. How do I tell her to HURRY without being annoying?? I don't want to make her mad and have her write me a bad rec!</p>
<p>Is that the credential deadline? Bc you can send your app in and she can send her rec letter even after you’ve submitted it. But if everything is need by Dec. 1. Just say “hey just a reminder my deadline is dec. 1, so when you can get a chance” or something like that. Sometimes teachers forget , it shouldn’t make her write you a bad rec for reminding her. </p>
<p>Colleges are usually pretty lenient about recommender deadlines, but it’s always a good plan to get everything done before the due date.
I had a couple of these doing EA a couple weeks ago. First of all - did you ask her beforehand? Just checking. I know some kid that just put a recommender on the app without asking her and she pretty much wouldn’t start the rec until the kid talked to her.
As for deadlines, mostly I just came into the class and said something along the lines of "Hi, I just wanted to check in with you and see how your recommendation was going and if you had any troubles with /The Common App/ApplyWithUs/Whatever system you are using/ (coming from a small school, my teachers usually did. Not too many people applying with the common app here, could very well be different for you).
If they say yes then try to help with their problem, and try to subtly slip the due date into the conversation.
If they say that it’s fine, I usually just said “Awesome. Well, the deadline is coming up (Whatever day) so I just wanted to check with /you/my recommenders/ to make sure everything was going fine.”</p>
<p>Or just go to her and say that you are panicking so hurry up :)</p>
<p>I’m sure my way wasn’t exactly the best way to go about it (if your teachers know the common app they could end up feeling patronized. Luckily that wasn’t my case, thank goodness) but I feel like the teachers knew I was starting to panic… ~X(
My advice is to just be nice and respectful and make sure they know that you are applying early. </p>
<p>Edit 2:Better yet, don’t do what I did above unless you are pretty sure your teacher is struggling with the needed forms. It could end pretty badly… :-?? </p>
<p>Edit: or just ^^^^^ 
</p>
<p>Thank you guys so much! I think I’ll try those! I didn’t know her due date was the same as mine!!! I’ll still try to get her do them by the due date but I can breathe a little I think.</p>
<p>Try sending her an email thanking her for offering to write you a recommendation. In this note also politely ask her if she received the link from the common application and that the deadline is xx/xx. </p>
<p>Her due date may in reality be LATER than yours. Colleges are quite lenient on this most of the time. As long as YOUR stuff is in and any application fee paid, the recommendations and transcripts sometimes come in late (even a couple of weeks late). I wouldn’t ignore this issue, but don’t be a pain about it, either. I suppose there might be a few colleges that don’t work this way, but every one my kids applied to did. Remember that many colleges get thousands of applications by their deadline date. Don’t imagine that they are scooping yours up the very instant it hits their mailbox to read it. </p>
<p>She will be more likely to get the letter written if it is easy to do. You can speed that up by supplying her with a resume, a list of your achievements in her class, and a memo outlining what you are hoping she might emphasize.</p>
<p>Hit the little round arrow in the common app, next to her name. She’ll get a reminder from the commonapp. :)</p>