It is totally dependent upon his high school. In general, there’s no reason the teachers who give him recommendations need to work at the school. However, some schools interface with the Common App through another program, I think maybe SCOIR? I have heard people whose schools use whatever the other program is say that getting recommendations is trickier than directly using the Common App. I don’t know if that would be a problem if the teachers are not at the school.
If he just directly uses the Common App, he lists the teacher who is giving the recommendation and their email address. The Common App emails the teacher a link, the teacher creates an account and uploads the letter. He can then “attach” that letter to any schools he wants to apply to, without the teacher having to do any additional work.
We have exactly this issue. Guidance counselor and teacher said that writing hte letter is fine. S24 is going to meet with the teacher as soon as AP tests are over and make sure she can write the letter before the end of the year.
D24’s favorite teacher is retiring at the end of this school year. She has had this teacher in classes and ec’s since freshman year. The teacher is writing her rec letter before the end of the year and uploading it to Naviance. We were very relieved that it was still possible for this teacher to write the letter, as she knows D the best out of all of her teachers. Definitely talk to the guidance office, etc. to see if getting letters from these teachers is possible. Good luck!
We have been told from multiple people in admissions that they look at individual subscores and not so much the composite, just like they care about the specific verbal and math more than the composite (ie a 740/750 v/m is better than a 700/800 because that 700 v is well below the average matriculated student at many top schools, even using more accurate pre-TO data).
That’s good to know. I thought that may be the case since you had to report individual sections and not just the overall score.
Our D got a 35 ACT composite but it was actually a 34.5. Wasnt sure how they would view her math score (business major) since it was the lowest of the individual sections (33).
She took the SAT and got a more well rounded score. Even though a 1550 is only slightly higher than her ACT equivalent, it’s more equally weighted (780 English, 770 Math). I think she needed to get that math score up just a little from the ACT which puts her in range for most of her schools.
We had a similar situation with our S24. His best class Spanish, wants to major in it. Spanish teacher left a couple weeks ago but before she left my son asked her to complete LOR. She did and emailed it to guidance counselor who will submit next year through Naviance. She was moving out of country and having baby so glad we could get her to do it.
D24 has APUSH and APmicro exams today, plus a 3+ hour dance recital dress rehearsal tonight. I may be looking forward to the end of the school year more than she is. Wishing luck to everyone taking AP exams today!
I looked up Tufts on our HS Naviance page, and it appears the threshold is lower for ED vs RD. For ED applicants with a 1400+ SAT 8 of the 11 were accepted. Below 1400 the odds were significantly lower. For RD the line was 1500+. I hope that helps.
Last year my son ended up with 3 AP’s on the same day. Brutal. And it’s weird for our school because they don’t start until after Labor Day and end up with less time to cover the material for the course before the test then end up with 6 weeks of school still after the tests. Some of the classes coast a bit after that (movies in World History) but others launch into big projects or other material.
DS has his last of two AP tests on Monday. He’s reviewing material today to prep. He took a practice test in class last week and did well so I’m hoping that conveys to the actual test day.
I’m going to try to talk him into retaking the SAT one more time early this fall (Sept) because he did well enough for most schools that he’s interested in, but I think he could do better. He missed a few questions that I know he knows how to do. I don’t want his anxiety about testing to be misread as underperformance but there’s only so much he can do about it. I’m still so proud of him for pushing through and getting more comfortable with standardized testing, even if he doesn’t compare as well to kids who took standardized tests all through elementary and middle school.
His little brother had standardized tests this week and I kept telling him how lucky he is even though it’s not fun.
I don’t know, but I would ask the teachers to upload the LORs to Naviance before they leave. I did this for several students when I finished my last year teaching and was happy to do it. It’s helpful if your DC gives them a basic resume so they have something to refer to while writing it. Otherwise, they will have to go on memory and what happens in class, which is fine but not a full picture.
S24 has his first AP test today for APUSH and has 2 next week. at our school we do have tests and projects post the AP exams so he will be bust until the last day of school as that is when the last final exam is. 6/8 is his last day so about a month to go.
This year has been a challenging year for sure and S24 has multiple up and downs (which is good in a way and will prepare him for college and beyond). Having said that eagerly waiting for the year to be done.
We have not planned any college visits yet and S24 is interested in the big cities in the easy (New York, Boston …) So we need to plan a visit there. Debating going there in August before school opens or September (he may want to ED) and would like thoughts on when would be a good time from people who are in the east coast?
So DD2024 toured a few colleges last summer, when the campuses were super quiet/dead.
Since she wants to ED one, we’re making another trip this September to 1 of the summer tour to get a better feeling for it, when there are students around.
I would not recommend touring between August 15 - Sept 5 because that’s when tons of college student are flocking back into Boston, and the highways are crazy w/ a Uhaul stuck in the Storrow bridge, students double-parking on small narrow streets moving into apartments, etc.
Thanks a lot for your input. Will keep this in mind when planning the trip.
I have been to Boston only once about 20 years ago and so not familiar with the city. Based on your experience is it possible to visit multiple schools in one day or do you think we can do only one college per day. I am hoping these colleges are relatively close and will not require much commute between them. Is that assumption right. Some Universities we would be interested or northeastern, WPI, BU