<p>So my son turned in his application yesterday, and the college counselor indicated that the students need to find a teacher to complete the recommendation portion of the application. He had not previously told my son that, so this was a surprise and we're getting close to the deadline. We thought the school took care of this portion.</p>
<p>Who should write the recommendation? The form actually requests that a school official complete the recommendation, but will most students have a counselor complete it? My son has a new guidance counselor who doesn't know him at all. The college counselor said he could write it for my son, however, he would have to sit down and interview him first since he doesn't know him. Who would be better, the counselor or a teacher? This has really thrown us for a loop. Please help guide us!</p>
<p>My D's GC wrote it. He showed it to us for comment, and also asked for a copy of her resume to remind him of all the activities she is involved in.</p>
<p>My son's GC wrote his, but he had been his GC since freshman year. Even if the GC is new, he or she should have information from the previous GC. I would have your child meet with the GC and get it done. The GC can give an overview of a student which is all that is needed for the NMF application. Most kids move to finalist status unless they don't bother to hand in the app, bomb the SAT or have really poor grades. Congrats!</p>
<p>The gc plans to write it; my daughter turned her portion in this week and the gc read over her personal essay and mentioned that reading the student's essay helps him understand how the student views himself and know what to emphasize in his gc rec.</p>
<p>Thanks mom2and. That makes me feel better. I just don't want this to get screwed up. Our GC is too new at all of this as a career, and the College Counselor doesn't seem to be too on top of it. Argh. I think we may just be better off with a teacher, since the school allows it.</p>
<p>S was a homeschooler who attended school part-time his senior year. Having moved twice during high school, he really had no one to write for him--parents not allowed. He'd been at the school less than two months. The counselor contacted him and offered to write the recommendation--which she was able to do after reading S's essay/resume and briefly interviewing S and a couple of his teachers. I really think it is the counselor's "job" to do this. He/she should know how to put together something with the information available. However, if your S has a teacher that knows him well, likes him, and is a good writer, I would ask that teacher to do it. You still have a couple weeks, right?</p>
<p>S's college counselor did his. She was already writing his college letters, so I don't think it was really any significant additional work. I thought college counselors did it at most schools.</p>
<p>Atomom - are you sure parents can't fill out the counselor forms for homeschoolers? I just commented on another thread that they could! I have no personal experience with this, however. I was reporting based on postings in a homeschool forum I'm in. It certainly sounds as if the parents on that forum are filling out the forms for their kids, from all the posts asking for advice from others who have BTDT recently.</p>
<p>My D didn't know either her own counselor or the college counselor, and they didn't know her. But the school uses various forms submitted by the student and the student's teachers to compile a recommendation. They use the information from these forms to write the counselors report for the common app, too. If the counselor needs to, s/he asks for an appointment with the student to go over the forms; the student could also seek out such a meeting, or submit any thing that was helpful. It's not ideal, since the counselors aren't really speaking from any long time or in depth knowledge of the student, but it seems to work well at our school.</p>
<p>It says on the application that this part should be filled out by the principal or a school official. Usually it is done by the GC. The school should have taken care of it.</p>
<p>That said, it is in your son's best interest to have a good rec written for him. If the counselor told him to ask a teacher, I think it will be better for your son to find a teacher who is willing to do this. He will need teachers' recs for colleges anyway. The "official" NM deadline is a couple of weeks away, so the teacher would have plenty of time to do this...</p>
<p>GC does it at our school. What you have to realize is that this rec is not a do-or-die recommendation. Almost everyone who is NMSF will go on to the NMF stage (it is usually grades that will throw a spanner in the works). So an interview and a quick write up will do the trick.</p>
<p>eg1- I can't say for sure about the homeschool issue--my S is a junior in college now, so this was a couple years ago. (I would have written for my son if I thought I could have because of his situation--I think it asked for a "non-parent educator" then, but this may have changed). They send the instructions/paperwork to the student's home, so homeschooling parents should just follow the instructions they received.</p>
<p>At our school, the college counselor or guidance counselor completes this form (can't remember which any more). In any case, don't fret since the school REALLY wants as many NMFs attributed to it as possible and will work hard to help your child become a NMF. Also, nearly all students who submit the correct paperwork do become NMFs (15,000 of the 16,000 NMSFs become NMFs). Mostly, folks are don't become NMFs if they don't return their paper, have their grades tank, or have some disciplinary action taken against them by their HS.</p>
<p>My son is a homeschooler and a semifinalist. The instructions from the NMSC stated clearly and unambigously that the school recommendation parts, Sections H and I, "must be completed by a non-relative."</p>
<p>We just finished up our parts yesterday. I made a transcript and wrote up a short description of our homeschooling, and my son of course wrote the essay. Today, my son is giving the application to a college instructor at the community college where he takes classes, who will provide the endorsement and write the recommendation.</p>
<p>When my D was NMSF, the notification got "lost" on the principal's desk until the day before it was due. She had to fill out everything and write the essay with one day's notice. I guess the school did their part with the same timeline. She made Finalist, so I do think it's hard not to. Her "essay" was dashed off in about an hour, if that.</p>
<p>Yea, I don't think my S put much effort into his essay & he never let me see it. He was made a NMF as well. I think for him, keeping his grades up & having some ECs were more important to him getting to NMF instead of remaining a NMSF.
The two folks I know who didn't make NMF--one got a C in a major course for 1st semester of senior year & one didn't turn in the paperwork at all.</p>
<p>I did call National Merit Corp today and they indicated that it is up to the school if they want to control who writes the recommendations. Some do limit it to only counselors. Since my son's school does not care, it is up to us if we want to use a counselor or a teacher. National Merit Corp has no preference; we should use whoever we think will write the best recommendation.</p>
<p>Today my son asked a past teacher to write his recommendation and I anticipate that she will do a great job. I'm surprised and somewhat disappointed by my son's college counselor at this point. I'm surprised that he didn't explain to us earlier how the recommendation worked. I do feel bad to spring this on the teacher so late in the process, but she didn't seem to mind.</p>
<p>Other than a thank you note to teachers who write recommendations, is it appropriate to do more? A restaurant gift card or something? Or would that not be appropriate?</p>