<p>I know most colleges want two, but I assume I shouldn't send the same two to every college. How many teachers should I ask?</p>
<p>Also, I'm going to ask one tomorrow. I only got a 80% in her class, and she knew I read Sparknotes from time to time (haha), but I have a feeling she likes me. Should I just be straight and say "Will you write a letter of rec for me?".</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I can't answer the questions, but I'll add on to them...
Do we need different recs for each school, or can we use the same letters for several schools?
And how well should the teachers know you?</p>
<p>The two teachers should be the ones you feel comfortable with and whom you think will give a good recommendation. There are some colleges that are specific - they want one form the Math/Science and one from Humanities, so you better make sure that you ask the appropriate teachers. In my son's case there was a Teacher who laid the ground rules that no more than 3 recommendations will be given. So he had to request 3 teachers to give recommendations.
You do not use the letters. You may not even see the letters. The teachers write a letter in a way that is useful to be sent to several schools. They just copy it and attach it to the recommdendation form that you give them.</p>
<p>Why shouldn't you send the same two to every college??</p>
<p>If the teacher knows you well and likes you, it's a good idea to have them write the recommendation. Even if a school doesn't request math and english, it's a good idea to have that combination anyway because it shows two very different ways of thinking, and being able to do both well is a huge plus.</p>
<p>At my school (where the graduating classes are only around 65-70), our college counselor reads all the teacher recommendations and can tell the student if they need to find another teacher to write one, or will ask the teacher to change/remove a certain line. I have no idea if that only works because we're so small, but it's not a bad idea to ask if your counselor sees the letters. That way you can have a backup teacher ready if the first one isn't as flattering as you expected.</p>
<p>Well, right now, I have potentially three people in mind to ask. My English teacher, my Latin teacher, and my Math teacher. All taught me this year.</p>
<p>Should I only ask the math and one of the languages? Or both?</p>
<p>You can use the same teachers over and over again if they don't mind filling out like 5 recs each. I'm not sure, but Common Apps might allow the same recs for all the colleges.</p>