This is probably explained really clearly somewhere but I can’t find it. My son has asked three teachers to write recommendations: two academic and one in the arts. Some of the schools require 1 recommendation and others require 2. But does that mean they won’t accept two or three letters of recommendation? And how can I find this out? My concern is if we go on naviance and request that all three teachers submit to all the schools, and the arts teacher submits his first, if a specific school only allows one recommendation, his academic recommendation won’t be allowed/accepted. Is there any way to find this out on the common app? Thanks for your guidance!!
Yup. If you go to My Colleges on the Common App, the click on “Recommenders and FERPA” the school’s recommendation policy is listed. For example, Stanford:
So in this case, you can submit (and must submit) 2, and only 2, teacher recommendations, and 1, and no more than 1, other recommendation.
Thanks! So, from Naviance, he requested that his two academic teachers submit recommendations to all his schools, since all his school either allow at least two recommendations. However, some of his school allow 3 recommendations - for the schools that allow three recommendations, from Naviance, should we “request recommendation” from the art teacher for the specific schools that allow three recommenders? And for the schools that allow only two recommenders, not request recommenders from naviance, but just use the “other recommender” from the common app? Is my question completely unclear? Thanks
Hi Braxonj - my son goes to a huge public high school - the guidance counselors are extremely difficult to communicate with.
No, your question is not unclear, and it’s not that I don’t want to answer the nuts and bolts of your question, but I want you to take a step back.
Just because a college says you can send 3 academic teacher recommendations does not mean that in all cases you should send an extra rec. If the 3rd teacher rec adds nothing to the application that was not covered by the other 2, it’s best not to send. Sending an arts teacher rec can obviously add another dimension to the student, but I’m not sure what would be different in a 3rd academic teacher rec. In many cases, the thicker the file, the thicker the kid. AO’s will not spend more time on an app with extra recs, so the extra recs might result in the AO glossing over another aspect of the application.
I appreciate your input. He doesn’t want to include a third academic recommendation – he wants two academic recs and a third rec from his art specialty (which is his strongest subject and might be his major). So does the art teacher rec always go in the “other recommenders” common app file and not added through Naviance, or does it get added through Naviance, requesting a recommender?
Well, I’ll tell you what I did. I used the supplemental recommender as the other rec and “invited” him as the direction stated in the Common App. If the HS in question has different suggestions, you can follow its directions.