The current plan is a thank you note in advance of the holidays, and then a separate note with a gift card once the final decision is made in (late?) April.
The current plan is so very much subject to revision(s), however. 
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What do you think is an appropriate amount?
With my oldest, she did $25 gift cards to the regular recommenders, and with one special recommender a $50 gift card plus a token gift (a special Hamilton mug for the theatre teacher). She gave her school counselor a $75 gift card to a local favorite restaurant. (It was a long road for my D.)
Weāll probably do something similar for S22. Itās been a long road for my S. Not sure how we can adequately thank the school counselor. Itās not like we can buy her a vacation house. 
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We are in the exact same boat. Not sure if we will actually make any of his EA deadlines as he is so far behind. Most are safeties/matches so if he could just write SOMETHING heād probably get into most of them. His sister in college is a great writer and is willing to edit but he has to write them first. I just want them done because if he waits for RD itās just going to be 2 more months of me nagging and him waiting till the last minute again. My head is literally ready to explode at this point. His recs and transcripts have all been sent. I also worry about how this will translate into him doing work in college. He gets great grades with little effort as he seems to be naturally smart, but he has no clue how much effort college can require.
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Same with my D22! Whatās the matter with these people?!?!?
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I know! Itās fine. Itās a good essay. Coulda been a smidge better if someone listened to their mom, but whateverā¦
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My kid is still figuring out where heād like to go. He is only applying to Umass Amherst EA at the urging of his (excellent) GC. It is a safety for him (all kids with his gpa/rigor are typically admitted from our HS) but, if nothing else, it has forced him to do the common application early instead of at the last second. Boys . . . .
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Heās applying to Umass as well. But since itās not due until 11/5, heās got āplenty of time for that oneā. Ughhhh!
Almost every school we visited said they give more merit $$ EA. So that is why I am pushing him so much. We have a budget and will get no FA, so I just want him to have choices.
My kid gave each of her recommenders a fun, inexpensive T-shirt that fit their personalities and/or subject they taught.
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This is my third child going through the college application process, and I can honestly say it never occurred to any of us to give gifts to recommenders. But we are bad about that kind of thing.
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He got the November 1 apps in last night. Whew. Glad those are finished. I read the essays and made some suggestions too. He takes some and ignores some. They are nothing like the creative writing essays we read online, so who knows how they will go. But they are very much how he writes/talks/thinks.
He has a few honors college and scholarship essays left to write in the next couple of weeks. Then maybe a little breather until December. I hope he starts narrowing things down a bit so he can drop some of the honors colleges or scholarship essays.
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So glad that Iām not the only one who didnāt think to give a gift to the letter-writers and counselor. Now that itās been mentioned, I will ask my son what he wants to do.
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I was very nervous about my Dās letters of recommendation for the Nov. 1 deadline. Our teachers union is having a job action and some teachers have refused to write them. My D didnāt seem to know if her teachers submitted them so I checked with her guidance counselor and they did. Big relief!
She applied EA to UNC-CH but has cooled on the school after some student suicides. They accept very few students from my state, so was not expecting an acceptance anyway.
Just looked at the Yale and Michigan websites to see if the all material must be submitted by the deadline line was there . Did not say, I am nervous that the two teacher LOR will not be done on time. One teacher he asked is now an administrator, he contacted her a few times and she said yes (she gave him the Math award last year so he figured he would ask her) but she could be hard to reach; the other one he sees regularly so he could check with her. In a pinch, he could ask the person who wrote him a letter for a fellowship last year (who is super nice and would do it at the last minute). But I am stressed about it .
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I am sure all of your students did not need special assistance. The gift cards from my D (and soon to be for my S) are akin to hazardous duty pay.
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I read this as everything needs to be in by Nov 1 for Michigan.
Lame question, but when a school says Nov. 1 deadline, do they mean Oct. 31 by midnight? Or Nov. 1 by midnight? For those of us who might need that extra 24 hoursā¦
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My kid gave LOR teacher a box of Seeās chocolates and Starbuckās gift card. Havenāt given GC anything yet.
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I have developed an eerie Zen calm amid the essay churning. Next month will bring the UC application and two big reach apps, then an additional 6 or so very big apps and then scholarship stuff. For all my project management skills I canāt quite see how itās going to happen. She is taking it week by week and I just keep thinking she will end up where she is supposed to go.
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Depends on the school and it should say on the website. It may even be 5 pm EST on Nov 1 so make sure to check each collegeās website.