My S gave boxes of personalized notecards to the female writers and restaurant gift cards to the male writers all accompanied with a handwritten thank you.
Any thoughts on when it is most appropriate to give thank you notes/gifts to recommenders? I didn’t apply to a college that required recommendations, so all of my recs have been for scholarships. Should I give thank you notes after they submit the rec? Most of these scholarships are due in January, but some are due a few months from now. Should I give thank you notes after all of them are complete, or most of them? Right after they are submitted, or after I find out if I received the scholarship or not?
I recommend giving the thank-you notes or gifts shortly after the rec letters have been submitted. Then, once you find out the results, tell the teachers how you fared (and this can be done via a handwritten note, an email, or even just an in-person conversation with an additional thanks).
We sent each teacher who wrote a rec a thank you card with a gift card from our family. Then when my son got into his ED school he sent each teacher an email with the news and a thank you. He’s also a hugger so the college counselor got a huge bear hug, maybe appreciated maybe not! We also gave a very generous gift card from our family to the college counselor who was instrumental in helping son take a hard second look at the school where he ultimately applied ED and was accepted.
After the letters were sent, I verbally thanked both of the teachers that recommended me. I see both of them every day, and I am very close to them, so I didn’t feel the need to do anything more because they are both very involved in my college application process. I like the idea of getting mugs as gifts for those who really helped. Would it be appropriate to give them a mug from my chosen college with a mix of tea and cocoa packs? Is it okay to give it to them right before or after I graduate, or is that too delayed?
@NotSteveBuscemi -The mug idea is probably a good one. But given that you know these teachers very well, you may already have a sense of whether they are the “mug” types. For instance, do these teachers often have a cup of something steaming on their desks? If so, do they seem to enjoy using a variety of mugs? Whatever you decide, I’m sure that both teachers will appreciate your efforts to say thanks with a gift, and waiting until you’ve made your college choice is fine. But there are definitely some folks --especially teachers–who would welcome more mugs while others have far too many already. So perhaps you can figure this out from your daily interactions.
I’ve always told my kids that the best way to thank a teacher is to handwrite a heart-felt and detailed thank you note. My son gave identical gift bags to two teachers who wrote his recommendations, a 3rd teacher who was generally helpful and supportive, a summer mentor, and his guidance counselor. The bag contained a gift card to a local coffee place, a hardcover semi-academic/humorous best seller, a small package of gourmet cookies, and a small amount of candy with the logo of his ED college choice (where he was accepted). Most importantly, each bag contained a very heartfelt note.
I gave them chocolate truffles.
When all of the recommendations were done and sent off my daughter gave them each a thank you note and a gift card to the popular coffee shop in our area.
I got all my teachers small gifts + heartfelt “thank you” notes for the holidays. I plan on thanking my recommender when I get decisions (March? April?) with (1) a handwritten note (2) a mug from the school at which I’ll matriculate full of homemade cookies (of a type you can’t find in the US) that I know he loves (I know, I know - mugs - but it fits too perfectly with the cookies & school paraphernalia criterion) and (3) a book I picked out.
Hopefully will be able to send him a note/e-mail once a year or so to keep up too. (That’s normal, right? not weird?)
It’s unusual but not “weird.” It’s very gracious yet but maybe a tad unrealistic. My bet is that the notes vaporize after your freshman year, but it would certainly be lovely if you were to continue.