<p>I tried asking my son's GC this and I got a confused answer. So I was curious how high schools which have not transitioned to the common app system would handle teacher recs.</p>
<p>Our high school was like that! The kids put their teacher’s email addresses into the Common Application online. The teacher would get an email about the recommendation. Then, the teacher would bring the recommendation to the Guidance Office. Guidance would mail or fax the LOR. But no, they did not participate in the Common App electronically, they tended to do it the “Old-Fashioned” Way. Sometimes it was annoying, with the four children, but we managed OK. </p>
<p>If we got Snail Mail or Email saying an application was “incomplete” I would send this to the child’s guidance counselor, via fax from home. Constantly checking up on stuff!</p>
<p>ah, the vagueries of applying to college. thanks for the input.</p>
<p>My son’s school does not do electronic submittals. </p>
<p>The emails to the teachers does not replace the importance of going up and asking the teacher personally for a recommendation ASAP.</p>
<p>I gave the guidance counselor large addressed stamped envelopes and a list of what was required for each college and when the deadline was. The more that you do, the less chance there is for a mistake by the teacher or guidance counselor. If a college needs a particular form of its own to be filled out by the teacher or guidance counselor, be sure to provide it, and fill out as much of the information on it as you reasonably can (such as student’s name and address). Also, politely check in to make sure that it was sent at least a week before the deadline. </p>
<p>The Common App site did not show that the paper copies were received by each college, even though they were sent.</p>
<p>Oh, so they did them the same way as when we were in school…</p>
<p>yes, hand done, and one per school - so you are reluctant to ask do ‘the wide net approach’.</p>
<p>Our high school never asked for stamped envelopes, as Guidance always said their “Snail Mail” had to be in their own envelopes, with the high school’s return address. </p>
<p>My children always asked teachers ahead of time, before they put teacher’s email address into the Common App. Yes, you have to ignore the Common App tellling you the LOR’s were not received! You know they were done! It was just annoying to us that the high school didn’t participate electronically in the Common App!</p>
<p>Oddly, my son’s GC does their submissions electronically, however the teachers wanted to submit hard copies via snail-mail. </p>
<p>He asked if they would be willing to write him a recommendation then gave them a large envelope that contained:
1: A letter thanking them and letting them know which schools wanted which forms.
2: A hard copy of the Teacher Evaluation for the Common App. (Include a separate one for each school.)
3. Hard copies of teacher recommendation forms for each of the other schools he was applying.
4: Addressed stamped envelopes. </p>
<p>He filled out all of the personal information on each form regarding student data, school address etc., so the teachers would not be left with administrative ‘busy work’.</p>
<p>He will be following up shortly with each admissions office to make sure everything ended up where it was supposed to go.</p>
<p>blue, my son’s hs is similar, it seems. THe GC told me that the GC offcie asks the teachers to give the rec, tehn the GC office will do the clerical work of stuffing a snail mail package to X schools. But , the GC said, not all the teachers follow this , and some want to do their own way - personal letter and personally send out. The latter, a custom approach by the teacher, will probably yield a better rec, but on the other hand will be harder to do a ‘wide net’ approach - send to more schools instead of less. The GC’s idea lends itself better to sending to more schools instead of less.</p>
<p>This is a touchy subject since you are asking a favor of someone, and there is some undetermined upper limit to what you can reasonable ask someone to do. It is a lot easier to be completely plugged into a system , then a teacher could quickly customize and simply send with a few clicks.</p>
<p>My children usually did a thank you note to the teachers involved with a Starbucks gift card, and also the GC got one too! (around March of Senior Year). Even more so “touchy” as our school district was involved with contract disputes the last admission cycle! Asking teachers to do something in their own spare time during this seemed like an imposition, but all acted in a professional matter & our applicant did not encounter any difficulties.</p>
<p>This reminds me of a poor student who wrote a post in horror because his parents had popped a check for $100 made out to the teacher writing his LOR in the packet. Obviously a nice note and a Starbucks card much after the fact is NOT a check that could be misunderstood. It just brought it to mind. I guess he’d asked his parents to add the stamps or some final part of the packet before it was sealed and sent to the teacher.<br>
I doubt that student will ever have anything sent out with his name without checking everything and sealing it himself!</p>
<p>The starbucks card seems like a nice thank you , especially during tough times – our HS teachers are at a contract negotiation , too now; but the c note is hilarious; something that reminds me of a highway speeding stop or something; this whole college thang is crazzzzy. :)</p>