How to ask for recommendations?

Applying to College Admission Stories
281

I concur. What about all those applicants that apply to more 10+ colleges?

282

I actually have heard about this too. My school recommends asking English teachers for recommendations.

283

when i ask for reccommendations, i normally create a folder of my personal statement and a list of awards, community services, and school activities as well as my transcript. then i type out things that i would liek them to emphasis or like just the prompt. then i give my contact info and offer to come in a few days if there are any questions. remember to emphasis the due date and give at least 2 weeks in advanced
 also what i did was collect all of the info for the teacher of all the scholarships i was applying to at that moment (i applied to 35) and asked them to just copy it.

teachers will be more willing to do it if it is well organized. remember to pick a teacher that you actally had contact with
 lol i knwo ppl who just ask random teachers
 u can imagine how those reccs turned out
 good luck =)

284

does anyone know how Harvard feels?

285

i had a similar question.

286

MODERATOR NOTE to “Non-junior year recommendations” thread:

I’ll merge this thread with: asking for recommendations sticky thread.

287

MODERATOR NOTE to “Requesting a Letter of Recommendation” thread:

I’ll merge this thread with: asking for recommendations sticky thread.

288

MODERATOR NOTE to “Recommendations: Science/Math and Humanities?” thread:

I’ll merge this thread with: asking for recommendations sticky thread.

289

Ok. I am considering e-mailing my teachers to ask for some recs. Here are my two scenerios

  1. I had a teacher who(last year) already said he would write me a couple of letters, but I wanted to confirm.

  2. I have a teacher who I haven’t asked, but who is very popular and will be getting a lot of letters to do, and she likes me a lot.

290

^ In the first scenario, why would one teacher write you two letters? Also, for the second scenario, make sure you ask the popular teacher early, for rather obvious reasons.

291

One for each private I’m applying to.

292

Oh, okay. So, what’s the problem?

293

I was wondering if it was appropriate to email a teacher for a rec, or should I wait until the school year to ask them? Especially the 2nd scenario.

294

I’m still confused about the process. I fear I may be completely in left-field with this.

1.) Unless I’m mistaken, the commonapp is set up so that the recommenders submit everything online, which contradicts what I had previously thought. So do I simply ask my counselors/teachers if they’re willing to write a rec, get back online, and click the invite button? If that’s the case, I’d definitely give them each a letter with a little bit of background information, as some here have suggested.

But do I need to print out anything else for them? Agh, confused.

2.) However, I also plan on applying to Columbia, which doesn’t use the commonapp. Their application isn’t available until september 1.

If it’s all done online, then I’d just send the common and uncommon application material to my recommenders at the same time, right? I really don’t know. How does that work? Also, my school starts on August 11
 Is 3 weeks into the year not soon enough to ask for recs, or am I being ridiculous?

3.) Is asking a 12th grade teacher for a rec too big a risk? I’m planning on doing ED, so I don’t think there’d be enough time for anyone to get to know me.

Stupid question, perhaps, but does a teacher you’re going to have 2nd semester of senior year, for an academic class, count as an “academic teacher recommendation”? I have one who knows me really well from an EC, but yeah, 2nd semester, and thus will not know me on a directly academic level until then. Blah, scheduling


Thanks everybody! I hope this post is at least somewhat coherent. :slight_smile:

295

If your sending recs to more than one school how does that work? Can you make copies or do you have to get your teacher to hand write say 3 or 4 recs.

296

Regarding Multiple reccs to different colleges: I have included below
steps I followed last year ('07-'08) below.

You print out the reccs from your common app online. It will usually print
your common app id at the bottom of the recc (this is sometimes important
in certain colleges that use it to pull your app material together).

So for example if you are apply to H,P and S
(i.e. via common app)

  1. You would print out 3 sets of reccs for H,P,S.
    Make sure your common app id appears at the
    bottom of the recc.

  2. Organize the reccs by college by teacher and
    include a background information sheet for your
    recommending teachers to use. A cover letter
    reminding your recommenders about deadlines and
    thanking them would be also nice. Make sure to
    include your home phone/personal e-mail in case
    your recommender has a question for you.

  3. Include a stamped envelope for each recommendation.
    Check with the post office that postage increases are not
    being planned in the sep-dec timeframe.

  4. Include a post card addresed back to yourself or your
    school’s guidance office with the name of the recommender
    and the name of the college/program.

Regarding Post #290:
If you are asking someone to be your recommender make sure it is face-to
-face not via e-mail/phone. Phrase your request in such a way that it is very
easy for them to to say no. you do not want a half hearted recommender
holding the key to your undergraduate admittance. Also, the more popular a
recommender the less likely they are going to have enough time to do a quality
job on your recommendation. Both my recommenders are considered tough
people that you generally avoid for recommendations. They were actually fair
people who say things like they are. I do believe their brutal honesty may have
helped my admittance to HPMS.

297

Here’s another overview of teacher recs if you’re absolutely clueless.

<ol>
<li>The Common Application is used by many colleges and universities.</li>
<li>There is a form on the Common App for teacher recommendations.</li>
<li>For the Common App, you need 2 teacher recommendations from teachers of core academic subjects (history, math, science, English
) and not stuff like art, P.E., basketball coach, etc.</li>
<li>Some colleges have their own applications, and hence they have their own forms for teacher recommendations. These teacher recommendation forms tend to be the same as the ones on the Common App.</li>
<li>Let’s say you’re only using the Common App. You give one teacher recommendation form to the teacher you’re asking for a recommendation. You ask them to fill out the form and write a recommendation letter. That recommendation letter is saved on a computer. Now, let’s say that you’re applying to 5 schools, all of which use the Common App. The teacher fills out the ratings form you give him/her. Then the teacher goes to the copy machine and makes 5 copies. The teacher also makes 5 copies of the letter that he/she typed. The teacher takes one copy of the completed form and one copy of the typed recommendation letter and sticks it in an envelope, which is sent to one college. The teacher does the same with the rest of the letters and forms. You should then have 5 envelopes, stamped and addressed to each of the colleges. You go to the mailbox and drop them off. Then they go to the colleges.</li>
<li>Repeat this step with the other teacher. In this manner, all the schools you’re applying to will have the required teacher recommendations. Again, you only ask two teachers. The recommendations should be the same for each of the schools you’re applying to.</li>
<li>Now, let’s say that a school you’re applying to has its own form for recommendations. You can still use the same teachers. For example, let’s say Hoolalard University has its own recommendation form, and it requires 2 teacher recs. Well, you can ask the same teachers that you would use for the CommonApp to complete the Hoolalard University form as well. If Hoolalard University requires a completed ratings form and a letter of recommendation, then the teachers will do the exact same thing as before, except the teachers will also fill out the Hoolalard ratings form. The letter that Hoolalard U. requires would be the same as the letter your teacher already wrote up for the Common App.</li>
</ol>

298

That makes a lot more sense now. Thanks, MIT 012 and dchow08!

299

My soon-to-be senior D is in the last week of a 6-week pre-college art program at RISD. If she thinks she’s made a good impression on one of the teachers there, should she ask him for a letter of rec? She’s still not sure if she’ll apply to an art school like RISD, MICA or SCAD or a LAC/University with a strong art program (probably both).

At her high school, she has two good possibilities for academic teachers to ask, but nothing in the way of art teachers: both of her art teachers have left, and she doesn’t have a whole lot of time to get to know the one she’ll have this year.

300

Regarding Post#296:

WOW! RISD!

Definitely a supplementary recc would be very impressive whether
applying to traditional art or LACS or National colleges.