<p>I'll be applying to college this coming fall and I was wondering about whether to use mail-in recommendations or digital recommendations. My application will be processed digitally, but is it okay to have the recommendations sent in by mail? It's my preferred method, personally. Mostly because I'm not sure how to do digital recommendations.</p>
<p>Colleges would rather get a digital file, but it really doesn’t matter what you send. First thing they do will be to scan the paper recommendation they receive so that it will be…a digital file.</p>
<p>That’s not the part I don’t understand. It’s the whole issue of submitting the digital recommendation to the college.</p>
<p>It’s pretty straightforward once you get on the CA. </p>
<p>You will designate the teachers you want to submit LORs and provide email and other information for them. They in turn will receive an email from the CA about how to sign on and download their LOR. Your CA will show when they have done so. Then, when you send your application to a school, you will check boxes for which LORs you want sent (there may be variation between schools due to the number of LORs required, sending different LORs to different schools, etc.).</p>
<p>Personally, I like the electronic LORs, as you don’t have to wonder whether a teacher sent it, or if a college received it.</p>
<p>It’s really not your decision. You should do whichever your teachers would prefer. Ask each person writing a letter for you whether he/she would prefer to submit it by mail or online, and honor each person’s request.</p>
<p>As entomom noted, the online option is quite simple once you look at how it works. I was confused as to how it was supposed to work until I got access to the Common App in August, but after that I found the system easy to understand and quite convenient.</p>