<p>When asking for letters of recommendation, do you have to get a different letter of recommendation for each school you are applying too? Or can you get your teachers to write your letters of recommendation for multiple schools? (ex: I get my history teacher to write letters of recommendation for both College A and University B).</p>
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<p>Nope. Just give your teacher the list of colleges you want him to write recommendations for, their application due dates, and any necessary forms or information, and he should do the rest. Your teacher can then use his single recommendation for all the schools you’re applying to.</p>
<p>A teacher can write letters to multiple schools. If they really are helpful they can tailor letters to known attributes schools look for, but you’re only going to get this if you’re going to a HS where they know (or think they know) what different colleges care about. Other than that, a letter that says “Dear School, I am happy to recommend Johnny because…” is fine anywhere. Schools, especially the selective ones that care about letters of rec, know that everyone applies to multiple schools.</p>
<p>It is very important to ask a prospective evaluator whether they can write a positive letter for you. This is always appropriate, phrased politely of course. EVERY student should do this when asking for letters of rec. For example, “Am I a student you would write a strong letter of reccomendation for, or do you suggest I ask someone else?” Don’t argue or question why if the answer is ask someone else, simply to thank the teacher for their honest answer.</p>
<p>If you could ask every teacher you ever had for their opinion, for most students the result would be mixed bag. And sometimes a teacher you assume would you (due to a high grade, for example) sees things differently, for example because you caught their mistakes or they thought you tried to answer too many questions. There is no shame or dishonor in deliberately selecting those who hold a favorable opinion to write a rec.</p>
<p>While it can be uncomfortable for a student to ask a direct question like this to a teacher, it HAS to be done. I know someone who was on the alumin scholarship committee for a well-known U and they regularly received letters of “rec” for the full-tuition scholarship that raked the kid over the coals. In the book “The Gatekeepers” in which a reporter for the NY Times followed the admissions committee at Wesleyan (a top LAC) for a year is a real-world example of a bad rec.
This could have been avoided if the teacher had been asked if they would write a strong rec. The student did not get in.</p>