Oftentimes you will need teacher recommendations. The types of recommendations you are referring to are what are known as “supplemental recommendations” and can be submitted in addition to teacher recs.
Be aware that some schools (i.e. Yale) strongly discourage the submission of such recommendations.
dr4656, you should look through the pages. It’s honestly not as much as it seems.
@dr4656: No everything comes for free my friend, please burn a little fat and flip though the pages! The good thing is, you will end up not asking stupid questions!
Oh and btw since you are the “greatest president he has ever seen in his 17 years” are you running for elections this time round?
It also helps to read the instructions:
“Give this form to a teacher who has taught you an academic subject (for example, English, foreign language, math, science, or social studies). Please also give that teacher stamped envelopes addressed to each institution that requires a Teacher Evaluation.”
^How’s Swarthmore? You are a math major aren’t you??
But aren’t the recs going to be sent online (f.e. common application)?
No … you invite the teachers online. Then, they take out a print and write and make copies, sign on them and send them to the colleges concerned!
Got it! Thanks!
QUESTION: I’m a little confused about the USC portion of the recommendations/report. The website says to submit a counselor/teacher report along with a letter of recommendation.
Does that mean the letter of recommendation will just be in a regular letter format? Would I have to provide my teachers with special paper that has the school’s logo and appropriate header, etc.?
The school should have the header.
My D (who was accepted to Caltech, IVYs and top LACs) personalized the recommedation letters and made it as easy as possible for the letter writers. This is especially important if the schools have a very different focus. She met with each person, explained why she was applying to specific schools, what she wanted to major in, and what each school was looking for in the letters (the schools are pretty clear in that). Each recommendation form could be filled out and copied for all schools, but the letters were occasionally tailored for serveral schools. Thanks to word processing, it didn’t take much time for the letter writer, and she followed up with a thank you note, and a small present after the deadlines had passed. Many teachers are bombarded with requests, and because of the extra time my D took, her recommendations were specific and very good. She was accepted to every school and is will be attending an LAC.
Thanks! Very nice advice!
I need some help. I have not completed any apps yet and I plan to submit 3 apps by Nov 1. I want a recommendation from my teacher for the 3 schools Im applying to. However, I’m going to apply to 6 more schools in December and January and I need the recommendation from the same techer for these schools. My question is, how would I handle the recommendation? Do I give the teacher the forms for the first 3 schools and then come back to her later with more forms or do I talk to her and ask her to send the letters to all the colleges at once in like Sep-Oct. Isn’t it bad if I send the recommendations before the applications? My other question is do most schools have college-specific recommendations? If they do, does my teacher fill them out separately or what? And if there is no college specifc recommendation forms, what do I give the teacher? And where do I get a cover letter?
Give her all the forms at once, stamped envelopes, and addresses in a folder of some sort. On the outside of the folder, write the deadlines for each college, and the latest possible “post-by” date.
For common app schools, print out the common app forms for each school and include that in the folder. For school-specific forms, print those out, too. Make you you clearly write at the top of each form which college it corresponds to.
MODERATOR NOTE to “Major Q about recommendations” thread:
I’ll merge this thread with: asking for recommendations sticky thread.
Hi all, im new here and i need help on admission procedures. How do i get a recommndation letter and school transcipt? Does it include the GPA or what?
Hello! Welcome! My advice would be that before asking specific questions … read all the major threads here. Read the stuff the Dean has to say. Do a little background study. Then, once you get the picture, you can ask specific questions! I guess that will help!
for counselor recommendations, do I give all of my schools’ forms all at once even though I’m applying to 3 schools first and then applying to 6 more schools a couple of monhs later?
Give her all the forms together, along with the respective deadlines. And then explain your sending time-line. That will do!
If you have someone outside of school writing a rec (coach, employer, etc.) they don’t need to follow a certain form, like on the common app? Is there some sort of prompt they should follow? Thanks!