<p>If a college asks for a personal statement, can I write about any topic I want? Even tell a story or write something uncommon?</p>
<p>also if the colleges I'm applying to use their own app., how do I handle recommendations? Does my teacher have to fill out each app? If my teacher sends copies, how does it work if the schools all have its own space for recommendations on their app?</p>
<p>Yes; check to see any limits the colleges impose first.
You give the teacher the form, the teacher fills it out, and uses the same letter of rec for each college.</p>
<p>than does my teacher still have to fill out each app separately. For example, if X college asks to write a recommendation on a specific form with that school name all over it, does my techer have to repeat the process for each school? I'm so confused</p>
<p>I believe that the teacher will type up the letter (usually) and make copies of it to be sent out to different schools. I don't think they write it on the form because the form says to write in the space below or attach a letter (usually my school teachers attach letters). Colleges set up a file for each applicant to gather all his/her materials. For example, Carnegie Mellon uses the common app as well as the supplement. A student submits these online, and the adcoms print them out (I believe in most schools). The teacher recommendations will be sent by the school, and this will be included in a file with the application the student filled out.<br>
Anyone please correct me if I am wrong.</p>
<p>There's an entire thread devoted to teacher recommendations.</p>
<p>I'll explain everything to the best of my ability.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The Common Application is used by many colleges and universities.</p></li>
<li><p>There is a form on the Common App for teacher recommendations.</p></li>
<li><p>For the Common App, you need 2 teacher recommendations from teachers of core academic subjects (history, math, science, English...) and not stuff like art, P.E., basketball coach, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Some colleges have their own applications, and hence they have their own forms for teacher recommendations. These teacher recommendation forms tend to be the same as the ones on the Common App.</p></li>
<li><p>Let's say you're only using the Common App. You give one teacher recommendation form to the teacher you're asking for a recommendation. You ask them to fill out the form and write a recommendation letter. That recommendation letter is saved on a computer. Now, let's say that you're applying to 5 schools, all of which use the Common App. The teacher fills out the ratings form you give him/her. Then the teacher goes to the copy machine and makes 5 copies. The teacher also makes 5 copies of the letter that he/she typed. The teacher takes one copy of the completed form and one copy of the typed recommendation letter and sticks it in an envelope, which is sent to one college. The teacher does the same with the rest of the letters and forms. You should then have 5 envelopes, stamped and addressed to each of the colleges. You go to the mailbox and drop them off. Then they go to the colleges.</p></li>
<li><p>Repeat this step with the other teacher. In this manner, all the schools you're applying to will have the required teacher recommendations. Again, you only ask two teachers. The recommendations should be the same for each of the schools you're applying to.</p></li>
<li><p>Now, let's say that a school you're applying to has its own form for recommendations. You can still use the same teachers. For example, let's say Hoolalard University has its own recommendation form, and it requires 2 teacher recs. Well, you can ask the same teachers that you would use for the CommonApp to complete the Hoolalard University form as well. If Hoolalard University requires a completed ratings form and a letter of recommendation, then the teachers will do the exact same thing as before, except the teachers will also fill out the Hoolalard ratings form. The letter that Hoolalard U. requires would be the same as the letter your teacher already wrote up for the Common App.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Does that make sense?</p>
<p>thanks for the help
but when you say "The teacher takes one copy of the completed form and one copy of the typed recommendation letter and sticks it in an envelope, which is sent to one college. The teacher does the same with the rest of the letters and forms. You should then have 5 envelopes, stamped and addressed to each of the colleges. You go to the mailbox and drop them off. Then they go to the colleges" i don't get because why would I have 5 envelops when the teachers themselves send the recommendations?</p>
<p>Wait, can you have 3 teacher recs? Since 3 of my teachers were amazing and I had them for multiple years!</p>
<p>Oh, and about personal statement. If it's just an essay on anything, why call it a personal statement. To me, that sounds more like an explanation of why you want to go to college or something, lol.</p>
<p>petlee1: Either you or your teacher goes to the mailbox. Arrange it between you and the teacher. One of my teachers trusted that I wouldn't tamper with the sealed envelope so I submitted them, because he didn't want to walk to the post office. Another teacher was cautious and preferred to mail them herself.</p>
<p>Zester: You can, but I don't see the extra teacher evaluation form on the CommonApp website for some reason. It's called a personal statement because it's a statement about you. Kind of obvious when you think about it.</p>
<p>Well, I don't know.
When I hear 'Personal Statement', to me it sounds like something off a resume when you apply somewhere, so you talk about yourself and what you want to do, etc, and why you want to go somewhere.
But since the Common App goes to all schools, you can't really talk about one school, so thats why I'm confused.
I can only guess that it's simply another essay about a passion.</p>
<p>Bump for goodness.</p>
<p>Well, if it makes you feel any better, on the application itself it's called the "Personal Essay." I think you're thinking too much about the name. Gosh. Some people call it the essay, some people prefer to call it a personal statement. It's really not that big a deal. No, the personal essay isn't the same thing as a personal statement for a job ("I am an enthusiastic and hard worker and will contribute to this company in my strong potential."). If you want to show how you're a great student and all, that's reflected in the rest of your application. Colleges sometimes make you write a separate essay explaining why you want to go to a certain college. An explanation of why you want to go somewhere does not belong in the personal essay.</p>
<p>If you're confused about what a personal essay is supposed to look like, read a book about the college essay. They have plenty of examples. And it doesn't have to be about a passion either, and it's not just an essay. It's a way to communicate yourself to the admissions committee. </p>
<p>I don't get why you're so confused, quite frankly. Is it because some people call it a personal statement rather than a personal essay? If it is, I suggest that you get over it, read about college essays, and then write one. Honestly, it's not that complicated and you don't need to bump this.</p>
<p>Now I get it, thanks~
I was confused because one of my friends used the personal statement area to write his resume, so I was like ***?</p>
<p>First of all, thank you dchow for giving an excellent synopsis of how you get LORs. I agree that posters should read one of the many good books out there about college essays, and visit the Essay forum on CC.</p>
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<p>You can actually customize essays in the CA for different schools. To do this you save a copy of your CA, send it to a school(s), edit and save changes, send it to other school(s). Since colleges vary in whether they have a supplemental essay, what the essay topic is (some are wide open and others are very specific), if they have a Why school X? essay, etc., you may very well want to modify your essays from one school to the next.</p>
<p>Gotcha.
Didn't know that either.
Thanks a lot!</p>