<p>I mean for Early Decision....should I have an appointment with him maybe next week or so?? or I just wait a bit longer maybe until Oct to give him forms and letters stuff??????>></p>
<p>Cfso, If you are thinking about applying Early Decision or Early Action, it is not too early to be lining up recommendations and talking with your counselor. The rule of thumb is to give teachers at least six weeks to complete and send recommendations. If those recommendations have to be sent from another country, you need to allow time for them to arrive - so let's say you need to allow SEVEN weeks for the recommendations to be done and to arrive at the school. </p>
<p>The deadline at many schools for ED and EA is between November 15 and December 1. If you're looking at schools where the deadline is November 15, it will be EIGHT weeks this coming thursday before the application file must be complete.</p>
<p>Reading,
The math teacher might be a very effective person to write your recommendation. If he/she knows you well, and can talk honestly about your strengths and weaknesses both in and out of the classroom, that is a plus, even if he is not the world's best writer.</p>
<p>What many people don't think about is that sometimes it can be better to use a teacher that may not be asked to write lots of recommendations. The "popular" teachers are usually deluged with requests for recommendations and it is fair to assume that the more recommendations you have to write, the less time and attention you are going to be able to give to each one. So, in some cases, it may be better to ask someone like your math teacher who can write a great, very personal recommendation for you. </p>
<p>And, I think giving him a cover letter talking about his class, and reminding hism of some examples of how you've excelled or faced challenges in it, is a good idea.</p>
<p>Just wanted to add that I think many people forget to tell the teachers writing their recommendations about the outside of school stuff that teachers might not know about. For example, you may build model rockets on the weekends but your English teacher doesn't know that, or even understand what it involves. You may read non-fiction books about astrophysics in your spare time, but your chemistry teacher doesn't know that. But those types of things might be just the kind of data point that captures an admissions committee's eye and makes you seem like a real person. Give your teachers a list of "interesting things about me" that they may not know but could use effectively in their recommendations. </p>
<p>Bottomline: you want to help the teacher write a recommendation that could only be about YOU, not hundreds of other students.</p>
<p>I don't know, Carolyn. The GC at our kids' school says the adcoms (he's a former adcom himself) really want a perspective of the kid in CLASS from the teachers. The GC can provide the perspective about ECs, as well as the student essay. I guess it comes down to what you believe.</p>
<p>One of my teachers who I asked for a recommendation said that he doesn't want the forms because a system like that is not as effective. He said his recommendation for me will be about me in his classroom, and he's not going to check boxes to display that. </p>
<p>I don't know whether that's a good or a bad thing, but it sounds like he wants it to be meaningful?</p>
<p>I have a question: What about recs from teachers from easier classes? I mean, like AP Psych, which obviously is neither here nor there in terms of difficulty. Because I think my Psych teacher could write me a good rec, but if my other rec is from a humanities teacher, would my Psych teacher's rec be looked down on b/c he only knows me through an "easy" class?</p>
<p>Well a lot of the forms have the check boxes AND a space for the teacher to write whatever she/he wants...</p>
<p>This is incredible... I set out with one question and so many replies...I dont even have to bump ;)</p>
<p>So I asked my favourite teacher today to write me a recommendation. He's been my math teacher 3 out of my 4 HS years, Student Council advisor since freshmen year, homeroom teacher this year, and IB Coordinator this year.
I just went up to him and said, "Mr. M, I know you're really busy this year but I was wondering if you could please write me a recommendation letter?" and he said yes right away.</p>
<p>OK, let's make this way more difficult....How does one ask a professor from a 4 year university to write a recommendation for a transfer? Dream school approach? Thanks.</p>
<p>Himom - Obviously, the teacher recommendation needs to talk about classroom academics. But, check out the teacher recommendation forms of several schools - you'll see they ask teachers to rate the student on non-academic areas as well (caring for others, creativity, leadership, etc.). College admissions committees are looking to build a class of interesting and real people, both in and out of the classroom. Any tidbits that the teacher can tie in that help to develop a picture of you as a real person is a good thing.</p>
<p>Consider this: If you were an admissions person, which recommendation would catch your eye:</p>
<p>"Johnny is a excellent student. He participates in classroom discussions frequently and wrote an excellent paper for my class on the history of toilets in ancient Greek society."</p>
<p>OR</p>
<p>"Johnny is an excellent student. He participates in classroom discussions frequently and has strong research and writing skills. His intellectual curiousity carries over outside of the classroom. He has, for example, long been interested in the role of toilets in ancient Greek society. He has researched this area of interest on his own for several years by reading archeology journals, attending lectures at our local museum, and even on a family vacation to Greece. I was very impressed with a paper he wrote on societal issues for my advanced placement history class because effectively combined his independent research and long time interest with our in-class readings and discussions to develop a new and creative approach to the subject of the effect toilets had on ancient Greek society. Few students see such connections betwen their learning inside the classroom and their outside interests."</p>
<p>Now, if Johnny had never mentioned that he's had a hobby of studying ancient toilet systems, the teacher would have probably just written the first recommendation. The other is much more interesting and unique --- and makes Johnny much more real to an admissions committee.</p>
<p>Tawny, the rule of thumb is that shorter is better. You don't want to kill them with information: pick the most important things. In general, the resume should be no more than two pages, but one page would be better.</p>
<p>too bad engineering students dont have much of a choice when it comes down to who write your rec letter. my math teacher's great and all but I dont know if she even like me.</p>
<p>The first teacher who I asked to do a recommendation for me, is an alumni of the school I want to attend. :)</p>
<p>Since I'll either do CIS/Business or Computer/Electrical Engineering.. I'm probably gonna have to get a recommendation from my (maniacal ex-nasa employee) Physics teacher. My math teacher moved away to Texas. :(</p>
<p>What is the College I want to apply to does not Have a Specific Question for the Teacher to reccomend whatever. Like what if It just says "It is a good idea to have 2 letters of Reccomendation " and then No explanation after that.</p>