Unfortunately I’m moving for my final year of HS to another state. I am trying to get letters of recommendation from the teachers I knew in my old HS, but since I’m unfamilliar with the process I would appreciate some help. I want to apply to Harvard, Yale, MIT, Caltech, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UCLA, Princeton, Cornell, Stanford. I believe only a few of these accept the common ap. How should I ask my teachers for letters of recommendation? I know I should ask them all to fill out the common ap form. But what about the universities which don’t accept the common ap? I probably want to apply online, so how do I get the proper forms that the teachers mail in? The 2006 aps aren’t available yet. Any suggestions or clarity anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. I am completely unfamilliar with the application process.
<p>UCB UCLA UCI won't need recommendation letters, but the other schools will. Try to get letters from one science/math teacher and another from an english/social science teacher make sure you know them well and they are AP or honors teachers</p>
<p>But what about the forms?</p>
<p>This is what I would do.
Ask the teacher(s) you are considering getting recs from if they would be willing to write you a letter of recommendation for schools you will be applying to next year. If you get a positive offer, thank them, explain that you will be moving, and that you will send them the forms this summer or next fall, when they become available.
Once you've decided on your colleges and have received their application (or downloaded them, as is possible for the most part) send them,(with stamped envelopes addressed to each school) to your teachers with a cover letter thanking them again, and giving them instructions about what to mail where, with due dates, etc. Provide them with your email addresses and phone numbers so they can ask you any questions that you may not have answered in your cover letter.
Give them a call a few weeks later (with plenty of time before deadlines) to see if they have any questions, and to thank them again. They probably will have several letters to write for other students, so they may have their own timetable and way of doing things, but the call will serve as a reminder. You can track if the colleges have received them, and when in doubt, follow up with another phone call if necessary.
You may not know who to ask yet, as you may find teachers at your new school you'll want to ask, but at least if you know you can ask a couple at your old school before you go, you'll be covered.</p>
<p>And don't forget to follow up with a thank-you note after the process is all over, and tell them of your plans!</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice!</p>
<p>You could actually benefit greatly from your situation... of the schools that you mentioned, the UC's DO NOT accept letters of recommendation (their forms come out October); Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Cornell all accept the Common Application; while MIT, Stanford, and CalTech each have their own application. But see, the teacher you'd be asking to write your recommendation would have to tailor his/her responses to each of the four different application types and it would take them FOREVER to fill out each form and write you a decent evaluation for each and every one. What you might do is just ask each teacher to write you a standard essay, and have them note on the application that they were your teacher from a previous school and that for the sake of convenience, they have opted to write a standard recommendation rather than following the specifics of the particular form. This way, you can have one teacher complete all four different recommendation forms much easier considering the distance issue... Otherwise, if you asked your teachers to write you four different forms, then it might be asking a little too much... but then again, others have done it before. <em>shrug</em> best of luck,</p>
<p>TTG</p>