Importance of Letter of Reccomendations

How important are letters of recommendations to colleges?
I asked one of my teachers to write and submit one back in December but she wrote it and hasn’t submitted it. Is it worth reminding her? How do I make sure it gets to the college in time?
I applied to schools like Rice, Tufts, Boston U, Cornell U. I already have 2 recommendations from my math and English teacher, but I think the one that hasn’t submitted knows me best.

If you met the number requested by the school, then you don’t NEED another one. Some schools even prefer that you not send extras, they have so much paperwork already, they want what they asked for. If they specifically say extra recs are okay, you can ask the teacher to submit for those schools that do. It won’t hurt you if it is a good rec AND they say extras are okay.

You should have been reminding her way before we round the corner into March. Don’t bother. You have your recommendations.

To respond to your specific question, for universities of the stature you’ve cited, recommendations are quite important.

They are VERY important! Definitely remind her, because without the best recommendation letters, you will have a hard time getting into those top schools!