Sorry if wrong place, didn’t seem to fit in Hindsights. Please move if necessary.
Few questions about ApplyTexas and the Recommendation process. If anyone who knows could answer, I would really appreciate it.
- How do colleges know if someone is going to send a recommendation letter since ApplyTexas doesn't have a section for it (for example, I apply on August 1st, I wait until school year begins for teacher to write rec, then they "grade" my application before that).
- How do teachers submit online? Since most colleges tell me to upload to their upload system, do I have to give my teacher a link to get there and they would create their own account, or they send it to me and I upload it, or what?
Thanks in advance.
- They don't really know but remember that none of the schools give a lot of weight to LOR for admissions. I can only speak to UT and A&M but the letters are most important for scholarships and honors programs. For UT, very few files get reviewed before mid October. The vast majority of applicants hear in February. The main benefit in applying early is twofold- early notification on honors programs and to get your place in line for housing.
At A&M admissions to majors is first come first serve (although engineering is changing.) The first wave of auto admits went out around September 15 last year. Sometime around then, UT notified auto admits they qualified for auto admit but “we aren’t sure about your major yet”
For competitive (which is most) majors at UT, they appear to basically wait until after the deadlines to grade files. I imagine that is how A&M engineering will work this year.
- Within the UT system you could send a link to the teacher (I think) but you could also upload a pdf file through the system. So you could scan the letter from the teacher and upload it yourself. Or the teacher could mail it. You can also do that with transcripts by the way. I only remember an upload or mail option at A&M. Mail has to be manually input so it is least desirable.
Thanks alot for the helpful info. Just one quick clarification about the 2nd answer. If the teacher doesn’t want to let me see the letter (old school) and wants to send it themselves, is it possible they could do it onto my account without using mail because as you said, UT doesn’t prefer that.
I cannot remember for sure. There may be a way to send them a link but otherwise I think they have to mail it. I am sorry I can’t remember. Asking in the UT forum might help. Another parent might remember.