How to ask for recommendations?

i just went to my teacher and asked him if he would write my letter for next year. he won’t start writing it probably until the fall, but its just polite and a good idea to give your teachers time to think about what they will say. i plan on giving them the actual forms in the fall.

Hello everyone,

First post here at CC but a long time lurker.

I have a few questions about recs. I am honestly clueless about the teacher recommendation process, and I’ve tried to gather as much as I can by reading this thread without any specifics. If it’s possible, can someone outline a step-by-step process of the recommendation cycle? I have 2-3 teachers in mind that I would like to approach before the school year is over (marketing teacher, tennis coach, possibly a math teacher I have had for three years), and am very comfortable in asking them. The problem is, I have no idea how or what to approach them with (envelopes? resumes? do I just ask them and they know what to do?).

I’m sure this won’t be my last of questions about the recommendation process, but any help is greatly appreciated.

Most privates require 2 teacher apps. However, I don’t really know/interact with my math or science teachers that much. Any tips in getting them to write me a letter?

Just go up to them and ask if they’d be willing to write you a strong letter of recommendation for the colleges you’re going to apply to. They should know you well enough that it doesn’t have to be awkward-sounding. Most likely they’ll be happy to write one for you. You should have a list of the colleges to which you’re applying and the due dates, and a stamped and addressed envelope for each of the colleges. Prepare a list of activities that you do, and a short explanation of each of the activities, and a short list of awards, that you think would help your teacher understand your high school life better. And it would be nice if they were all in a folder with your name on it. Also, be willing to stay during lunch or something to talk to them, because they might want to ask questions about anything special you want to get across in the recommendation, or they might ask about why you’re applying to these colleges. And give them plenty of time.

For our class our office have rec forms that have some questions/formats that may help the teacher to write your letter.

But I still don’t understand if teachers know how to follow the common app’s format, and alot of schools like NYU and Umich have their own format. Do I need to give them that too? Some aren’t even released yet.

I got my English teacher to write one because she knows me better than my other teachers through my writing. Im considering getting my Physics teacher to write me one. He knows I dont fool around in class and I work diliglently even though my grade doesnt reflect it (B)

nvilla: Congrats! I’m glad it worked out for you.

RMspeed: I would ask the teachers and if they say yes then ask them if they want forms and information now or would prefer to wait until fall. Hopefully they have done recommendations before and know what to do. Depending on the colleges you apply to the coach and marketing teacher may not work. Some colleges require specific teachers such as math/science or humanities. But you can check the websites of the colleges you are interested to see. Some colleges are vague about the requirements and some are very specific.

Silverzc413: We just noticed that my D’s school counseling office has a pretty long form to fill out to give to the teachers. What I have gathered from the college advice books is that you should prepare a cover letter for each teacher listing the colleges you are applying to and the forms needed for each school and the deadlines. Then for each college you can give the teacher a copy of the form that is needed. You can just make a note on the cover letter as to when the form will be released. If the teacher really does get started over the summer they can work on a general letter or write-up they can use for all the schools.

Good luck everybody!

so, I have a couple teachers in mind and want to ask them now, before they’re inundated with requests. Here’s what I think…can anyone affirm it’s a good plan?

<ol>
<li>get a form (what form???) and ask them if they would be comfortable with filling it out? I think that my school has some policies about recs (ask my gc, huh?) </li>
<li>give my “resume” (with a list of activities,and the colleges I wish to apply to…?) the classes I’ve taken with that teacher, and one or two examples of my best work in that class.</li>
<li>Should I keep them over the summer? Can I read them?? I really don’t know, but I guess a pre-addressed/stamped envelope is out of the question given the fact I don’t know OoA’s addresses yet.</li>
</ol>

Suggestions for myself and others likewise confused? :]

I would suggest asking them first (verbally, in person) and then if they say yes you can ask if they would like the forms now to work on over the summer. They may want to wait until fall and take break over the summer. But at least they are committed to you.

For the forms you have to check on each college’s website or on the Common Application website to see what forms they use. Not all of them are available right now.

You can check on your school’s website under the counseling department to see if they have a form they want you to use. That is where we found one for my D’s school.

Also, before asking teachers you might check on the website of the colleges you are applying to and see if they stipulate which teachers you need to ask. Some require one from a math or science teacher and one from a humanities teacher.

Good luck!

Somewhat like dsultemeier, I’d recommend giving them a ‘heads up’ now, but waiting to take action until fall. You can offer to give them a resume or something over the summer in case they think they’ll want to begin early, but otherwise, there’s no reason to rush (and IMO, numerous reasons to wait). Wait until you have each schools’ specific rec form, some/most of which may not be available yet. Even if you have the forms, there are still a lot of months for the rec to get lost or forgotten about. Plus, it’s still likely that your list of schools will change. And who knows, you might even wind up with a senior year teacher with whom you really click, and want him/her to write you a rec.

Asking early next fall will be plenty of notice, particularly if you’ve already asked your teachers if it would be alright for you to contact them for recs. When the time comes, you can do it right, with stamped + addressed envelopes, the correct paperwork, etc.

How can you really tell which teachers to ask?

I honestly don’t really have a close relationship with any of my teachers, although I get good grades. I don’t know who to ask and it’s stressing me out. I’m a junior now, can I make a really good impression next September and October and ask one of my new teachers to write me one?

I had one teacher in mind, but I want on a trip in which he was a supervisor for a week and kind of had a mental breakdown the whole trip and ruined the trip for the supervisors. Now he doesn’t like me at all anymore and gives me poor grades for no reason (I got a C+ last quarter, asked him to go over my grades and it turns out I should have gotten an A). So I am kind of screwed because of that, and all my teachers have been treating me different since that.

So it would be very awkward for me to ask one of my current teachers because none of them know me. I don’t know what to do!

if you have to provide your teachers with a resume, you are not asking the right people.

I understand your point, but I disagree. My high school advised us to supply a simple (keyword!) resume to the teachers we asked.

For one thing, not everyone has the luxury of knowing any teachers (let alone a few of them) on a personal level. In such cases, its probably easier for all parties if the teacher (who, let’s assume, does like the student, just doesn’t know him/her very well) has more info at hand than “Is never tardy; is good at math.”

For another thing, sometimes it’s easier to contextualize a student’s in-class achievements when one is also familiar with their out-of-class commitments. My teachers all knew that I regularly had a lot of absences for sports competitions. They knew the sport. I made up the work. End of issue in most cases. Giving rec writers a resume let them know the depth of my involvement and the extent of my accomplishment. It was not a local or a school sport, so the info wasn’t easily available, but knowing the details put my absences (and chronically drooping eyelids) into a new and more positive context. Comments from teachers definitely let me know that the info was appreciated, although it wasn’t explicitly discussed in their recs (nor did it need to be).

I’ve also heard of students sharing admissions essays or requesting meetings to talk about personal interests, college goals, motivation, etc. Might accomplish the same goal as a resume–contextualizing in-class achievements. Might also let students talk about personal issues that can’t be included in a resume. Knowing that a student gets great grades is good; knowing that the student was abandoned at birth, raised by chimpanzees, and gets great grades is something else altogether, though it may not come out in casual before/after class chit-chat.

What makes a teacher feel prepared to write a rec depends on the teacher as well as on his/her relationship with the student. Some will want to be sure that they have lots of contextualizing info, others will limit themselves to what they see in the classroom. Some will know a student well enough that they can speak entirely personally, but others will feel that they need more info in order to do a student justice. Of course, some teachers will turn down offers for resume, essay, or lunch meeting, and hopefully that’s fine, too.

At best, “If you have to provide your teachers with a resume, you are not asking the right people” might work as a guiding principle, but not a rule of thumb.

mishtophoid:

Asking a teacher who has known you for 2mos but thinks positively of you is preferable to asking one who has known you for 3yrs but thinks negatively.

If you really end up feeling stuck, you could consider going back to your current teacher and asking, specifically, if he would be able and willing to write a positive rec for you (some schools will require him to tell you if the answer is “no”). You might also bring up the trip and let him know that you’d like to talk about it with him. Think a verbal version of an application addendum: “This happened, but I’ve grown from it and I’ve moved on.” The appropriateness and potential effectiveness are, IMO, for you to judge.

Good luck.

Exactly, my guidance counselors make the resume with us and make sure we give it to teachers, and the teachers themselves ask for a resume. That is just my school, but I think it helps the teachers to know what you are interested in and what they should write about.

Thanks for your reply Student615. I think it was just my nerves talking before, because I asked two of my teachers and they were happy to write the recs.

How many recommendations do we have to send to colleges… or does it depend on the college itself? And when I ask my, do I have to give them a copy of a resume? (It can just be a simple one right?) And lastly, when should I start asking teachers?

Sorry for so many questions lol. I just need to start planning everything this summer.

It depends on the college, but the common application asks for two recommendations. It is a good idea to start asking your teachers now, so they will have the whole summer to write it. Instead of cramming it in with the other 20 recommendations they have to write in December, they have a while to do it.

The whole resume thing is disputed. Personally, I think it’s nice to give your teacher a list of your extracurricular activities and intended majors. It is helpful to them and they might be able to include something in their letter about your ECs. At my school it is pushed very hard that we give the teachers resumes. If you want an example I can send you mine.

Do you mind sending me yours? I’d like to look at an example. Thank you =)

Oh and you know on Common Application, it says you have to ask an academic teacher to do it? Can I ask my elective teachers? Like my accounting or graphics communication teacher?

i asked my precalc teacher for a rec last week, and she handed it to me today (the last day of school). i was planning on waiving my right to see it on the common app, but it seems like she wants to wrap the whole process up as soon as possible. do you think it will really make that big of a deal if i send in the recs instead of the teacher?