<p>I will most likely be moving to a different school, entering my senior year. </p>
<p>I have a question regarding recommendation letters. Suppose I move to a different high school the coming senior year. Obviously, all teachers will be new to me. Which means that if I want my recommendation letters by November 1st, they will have maybe 2 months at the most to learn about me and write recommendation letters for me, which they won't have too much to write about.</p>
<p>But, I want to know whether I can get recommendation letters from my previous school, where I studied 9th to 11th grade, from teachers who know me well.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>The expectation is that you will submit recommendations from teachers who have taught you in an academic subject, and who know you well. There is sometimes a requirement that those teachers have taught you after the tenth grade. There is neither a requirement nor an expectation that those teachers will be teachers in your current school.</p>
<p>In other words, yes, it’s perfectly fine to seek recommendations from teachers in your former school. But please remember, they’ll be doing you a favor to write you these references. Odds are, they’ll do it gladly, but you should be sure to thank them warmly.</p>
<p>@Sikorsky - Yes, thank you very much. I surely will thank them, it will be a huge favor after all like you said.</p>
<p>I would even ask your previous school’s GC to fill out your GC form.</p>
<p>@oldfort - OK, sounds good! Btw, when you say GC form, what exactly are you talking about? Is there a separate form guidance counselors have to fill out?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>It is the guidance counselor’s form. Your GC will check off if you took the most rigorous course in school, and if you were top 1%, 2%…20% 50% of your class for GPA, leadership…Just look at the common app. Your previous school’s GC would know you better. In my view, it is a very important form, especially if your school does not rank. It is the only place where you are ranked relative to your peers. We had a meeting with my kid’s GC about how she was going to fill out the form.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that’s an option, oldfort. The instructions for the School Report Form (<a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013SchoolReport_download.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2013/2013SchoolReport_download.pdf</a>) seem to assume that the applicant is giving the form to a guidance counselor or other official in his or her current school. </p>
<p>The applicant is directed to “give this form to your secondary school counselor or another school official who knows you better.” </p>
<p>Instructions for the counselor say, “Attach the applicant’s official transcript, including courses in progress, a school profile and a transcript legend.” If elitepwnage gave this form to his or her former guidance counselor, the counselor would be attaching an old transcript, lacking courses in progress, and a profile of the wrong school.</p>
<p>The School Report Form wants info from the student’s current school. However, a student who is starting a new HS senior year might include the previous school’s info, perhaps in the form of a second School Report (if the previous school is cooperative), in the Additional Information section of the application.</p>