How do letters of recommendation work?

Applying to College
1

<p>I was wondering how letters of recommendation for colleges worked. As in, do teachers write one for all colleges, or must they write separate ones for each, and how does this factor in with the common app? Are those letters separate, or is it a "one size fits all" kind of thing? Sorry that this is an extremely uninformed question, I just have no idea how the process goes.</p>

2

<p>One used for all. In my day, they were photocopied and physically sent to the schools or scholarship programs requiring them.</p>

3

<p>In most cases, teachers will write a single letter for a student and send it to multiple colleges, because in most cases, colleges and universities are interested in the same things in a letter of recommendation.</p>

<p>Occasionally a teacher will edit the general letter in order to tailor it to a specific college if the teacher has some special knowledge that makes the college and the student seem really good for each other.</p>

<p>And, no, it should not be cause for you to worry if your teachers send the same letter to a bunch of different colleges and universities. Colleges know that applicants are probably applying to multiple institutions, and they don’t expect applicants’ teachers to write a separate letter for each one.</p>

<p>(X-post with T26E4. And, honestly, T26, I’m not trying to stalk you or anything. We just seem to gravitate to the same threads a lot.)</p>

4

<p>Is it possible to choose which letters get sent to which schools?</p>

<p>Specifically, if I hope to send my art teacher’s rec to a school where I’m applying for their art program and I want to send my physics teacher’s rec to an engineering school - can I specify which recs go where?</p>

5

<p>^Yes.</p>

<p>When you get into the CA, you will designate which teachers you want to upload LORs. You will give contact information for them and they will receive emails about how to get onto the CA to submit their LORs. You will see on the CA when they have submitted.</p>

<p>When you apply to a school, you check off which teacher LORs you want sent with the application.</p>