<p>We have just discovered that the required English/Social Studies rec for my son's Chicago EA app was never posted as received on his app site because the teacher who said he would write it never bothered! He says he was "too busy" with Mock Trial. Now he says he'll do it today, but I don't know whether it's even going to be something we'll want Chicago to read if he thinks so little of the kid that he couldn't be bothered to write the thing. And will they accept it so late? </p>
<p>I would NEVER do this to a student of mine1 i can't believe this has happened. He never responded to my e-mail asking whether he had written it, and so my son just found out today when he followed up in person.</p>
<p>I think that the teacher acted in a horrible manner and it would have been easier for him to say no he can't/won't write the rec so that your son could move on. You are right that all things considered that you do not now want this teacher to write the recommendation. Perhaps there another teacher who knows your son well enough to write the rec on such short notice. If yes, have them so it can be sent overnight mail or find out if the recommendation can be faxed or e-mailed so that your son's file can be complete and he can move forward in the process.</p>
<p>Same thing happened to my D on her ED to Brown. The teacher apologized, called Brown and got it in. We actually learned from this experience that the teacher's are really, really busy at this time of the year and it ends up the student's responsibility to include a letter stating the date the rec is needed. That's the way she will aproach the RD recs.</p>
<p>My son not only included the date it was due but also an addressed, stamped envelope and a partially filled out form in a dated, fully marked folder with a note and a thank-you attached. He gave all of this to the teachers--all of them six weeks before the first rec was due. This particular teacher said, "I can't do it this weekend," to which my son replied that it wasn't due until November first.</p>
<p>Ctymom, my D who is a current applicant also wrote comprehensive personalized cover letters to each rec writer and within those letters had the due dates for the recs as well. Two or three of the rec writers "forgot" or did not realize the date or had not yet gotten to it, when she went to ask them in person if they had it ready as the due date she had given them was the next day (this was a due date she gave them to give to her GC who mails it all out as a package and so it was not like it was late to the admissions offices but still the same idea here). It goes to show that you do have to follow up (like YOU did) to check on these things. You are right, there is NOT more the child could have done. She, like your son, put a lot of care into the cover letter and filled out all the forms, etc. etc. well in advance.</p>
<p>I think your son will be ok if this teacher sends it in overnight mail. I don't think the teacher will write a poor rec but is just someone who did not pay good attention to due dates or over commited or just was not that responsible with this matter but it is not a reflection of what the person thinks of your son. </p>
<p>Another supplemental rec my D was getting.....the person agreed during the summer to write on her behalf and she told him she would send him a letter with the information and basically her "cover letter" to help him write for her and this is to someone in NYC (we live in VT) and she sent the package to him in snail mail and wrote followup emails when she never got anything back and we have NEVER heard from him at all and so this is one rec she never got. Luckily she asked more people than she needed so all was not lost. Some of this stuff does get disconcerting however.</p>
<p>ctymomteacher:
Your experience sounds almost exactly like ours - six weeks ahead and cover letter and all! I guess there is nothing else we could have done. It does have a way of working out and I am sure it will for your son. Good luck with it all!</p>
<p>My teachers are not so experienced at writing reccomendations.They have told me to write my own reccomendation,and they will edit it.how do I get them to write the recco's themelves?</p>
<p>I sympathize with ctyteachermom's child. My S gave the teachers the rec forms about 4 weeks in advance with a request that they be given to the GC so that he could send the whole package out in one mailing; two weeks before they were due, my S asked the GC whether he'd received the recs, then sought out the teachers to remind them that the rec was needed. The GC was able to mail out the package about a week before the deadline. </p>
<p>Sometimes, if a request is made too far ahead of time, busy teachers will let them fall to the bottom of their pile and forget about them unless they are reminded that the rec are due. My advice is to periodically check and don't rely on teachers to write the recs by the due date without reminders.</p>
<p>As for the immediate issue, if the teacher write the rec today, I think it will still be in time. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks to all of you for your replies! I have been so enraged and frustrated about this that I have actually been in tears for the last hour! He doesn't deserve this kind of treatment, and no student--whether when I taught at university or since then--has ever received anything like it from me. I know life isn't fair, but this is too much. He wants to be accepted at Chicago so badly and he fits their profie so well that to think that this negligent "professional" could undermine what he's hoped for just makes me want to slap somebody silly!</p>
<p>Okay, now that you have gotten your vent off, take a deep breath, and have your soon work on getting the recommendation out ASAP. I don't think it will hut him because it was something outside of his control. So the sooner he gets it in, the better.</p>
<p>I just has a call from my son, who spoke to his AP English teacher, whose opinion of him is very much like mine (!) and who has agreed with enthusiasm to write this rec immediately! I'm going to send her flowers.</p>
<p>Oh, that's good news, ctymomteacher! I really feel for you (S also applied EA to Chicago). We got an email from his admissions rep last week that they received his application, but they have not told him how to log on to see if all the pieces arrived (he did his app by snail mail not online so maybe the directions will be sent snail mail, as well). He put postcards in the teacher rec envelopes to be mailed to him once Chicago got them, and he received one back from the science/math teacher but not yet from the English teacher, who says that he did send it by the Nov. 1 deadline. I'm anxious about it, wondering if it arrived. But your story takes the cake -- how aggravating. I'm so glad that your S's other teacher will do it on short notice. And I'm sure that this will not influence the Chicago admissions team in a negative way.</p>
<p>You're right momof2--I've also now received an e-mail back from an admissions person at Chicago saying that they are willing to consider his app with only one rec but will continue to search for the other. They apparently believe THEY'VE lost it. But with the enthuiasm of this lovely woman who's going to these lengths to help him, I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to add her voice to his file!</p>
<p>Ctymom,
I'm so glad it worked out OK. By sharing your experience, others will learn to remind teachers the week before a rec. is due. English teachers seem to be asked by everyone. The flowers sound lovely</p>
<p>You know, this may turn out better for you in the long run. There is nothing like a letter from a fired-up English teacher who feels they can help rescue a situation! I bet her letter will turn out great -- full of energy and enthusiasm for your S.</p>
<p>I'm so happy this has all worked out! And I bet the AP English teacher writes a rec that's off the charts! And if you do want to slap the other teacher silly, I'm sure one of the lawyer parents here would defend you.</p>
<p>My son had occasion at the beginning of this year to apply to a national program, which requested one teacher recommendation and one community acquaintance recommendation, along with a lot of other paperwork. On the application form that I filled out, I indicated the names of the two recommenders we had asked to help out, and how to contact them by email. Sure enough, after the rest of our file was complete, the program sent an email to the teacher, a WONDERFUL but very busy man, and he emailed me apologizing for not getting the rec out in time. (We had given him somewhat more than a month of lead time, but over the semester break at the turn of the year.) As soon as he turned in his rec, we were notified that my son was in the program. Apparently, based on what I know about the program's schedule for reviewing files, my son had already been conditionally accepted to the program and the program staff just wanted that one more recommendation to make sure that its late arrival didn't reflect the teacher having a bad opinion of my son or something. All's well that ends well. </p>
<p>I'm sure that there are various reasons why an incomplete file may nonetheless be reviewed, and why that file may result in a successful application even though incomplete. It's great to hear you have help now from another teacher in your son's school, and great too to hear that when you are the recommender you get right on writing the recommendation letter. Not all people have the same level of organizational skills, and I wouldn't hold a late, or even a forgotten, letter of recommendation against someone whom I know to be busy with other tasks. </p>
<p>Best wishes for a soon end to your suspense about college applications. We are CTY parents here too.</p>
<p>That's exactly what my son told him. He didn't seem the least bit unhappy about it. Not a big surprise there. I just don't understand his not saying no at the appropriate time.</p>