<p>We were told during a college visit that letters of rec are not required and would not be considered in admissions process. You could send them, but they are not used to make decisions.</p>
<p>My D is applying to several schools that do not require these. She has had two teachers offer to write her letters...they approached her. </p>
<p>Should we go ahead and submit letters anyway? She is applying to state schools and a few out-of-state (moderately selective). </p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>It is always good form to have well crafted rec letters. Even if schools don't seem that concerned about them, they could be helpful for scholarships. The only caveat would be if a school specifically said "send no extraneous material".</p>
<p>(BTW. Watch out for the over-eager teachers.)</p>
<p>Curm - am I being dense buy not understanding why we should watch out for the over-eager teachers?</p>
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<p>I guess if a teacher really wanted to screw a student, she might eagerly offer to write a rec, writing lots of very bad stuff. Or maybe overeager teachers tend to be flaky ones whose recs aren't worth a lot. So if you have some decent reason to believe either of these might be true, then consider being wary.</p>
<p>Still, I've found that usually a teacher being eager to write a rec is just as signal of liking you a lot and being able to say something positive. So don't be too wary. Certainly, the advice stops holding in college. If a professor offers to write a rec unasked (especially for grad school and the like), that is quite a blessing.</p>
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I guess if a teacher really wanted to screw a student, she might eagerly offer to write a rec, writing lots of very bad stuff.
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Ben got it right the first time. Must be that good CalTech thinking kicking in.</p>
<p>I hate to say that petty jealousies would make a professional adult act in that manner but .... it happens. Maybe not that often, maybe only once in recorded history, but it has happened. All I'm saying is that if a teacher that previously hasn't been singing your praises out of the blue offers to write a rec , I'd dig a little deeper.</p>
<p>I've always thought it prudent to have teacher-recs passed through the guidance counselor when that's feasible.</p>