<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>I'm applying to colleges and I was wondering how many recommendations I should provide on the common app. I see that you are allowed up to 5 teacher recommendations but only 2 are required. Additionally, you can provide up to 3 other recommendations but 0 are required. What is the best number of recommendations to provide? I have two teachers who would provide very strong recommendations but I could get more if I really needed to. For other recommendations, I have just one really good one I can think of off the top of my head. Can anyone give me advice about what number of recommendations would be optimal? Thanks.</p>
<p>In addition the main common app requirements (which is what you have seen so far), you will have to look at each school’s requirements to see what is allowed/required. You can choose from among your group of common app recommenders which ones to assign to each school where you apply. Some schools require only one recommendation, others two and some allow you to submit more. If this information isn’t clear to you on the common app web site (and it might not be until after you actually invite your recommenders), go to the admissions website on a school by school basis to see what they require. </p>
<p>When you add a recommender to the common app site, he/she will immediately get an email inviting him/her to submit a rec for you. But, until you actually assign the recommender to a particular school and submit your whole app to that school, the recommendation will not be visible to the school. It is possible, for example, to invite 3 recommenders and ultimately end up using only two for your actual applications.</p>