<p>Kids don’t always have to ask for recs from the teachers who gave them the best grades. Sometimes a hard-earned B from a tough teacher will generate a stronger rec that says more about your kid than a “He had a 99 average in my class.”</p>
<p>Kids should also think about asking the teachers who know them best, esp. if the teacher taught your kid plus sponsors an EC in which your student participated.</p>
<p>Try to make sure the teacher is a decent writer. This is why Back-to-School night syllabi and handouts during the school year are useful. OTOH, a heartfelt rec with typos is better than a grammatically perfect boilerplate that says nothing specific about your S/D.</p>
<p>Yeah, I know, this all probably sounds dangerously close to helicopter blades whirring…but I looked at this as the beginning of Real Life 101 for learning how to write resumes, asking for references, writing to an audience with a specific goal – skills they will need when they want internships and jobs!!!</p>
<p>One of the teachers D is planning to ask is her AP teacher in the subject she wants to major in, but was worried about how good he’d be at letter writing. However, last week she found out he nominated her for Girl State, so I think she’s going to stick with him.</p>
<p>By the way, she did not make the cut for Girl State, but was very appreciative that he nominated her.</p>
<p>
This is so true. My younger son got a wonderful letter from his math teacher who talked about how well he understood the material even if he didn’t always get the best grades due to difficulties he has memorizing formulas. My son adored this teacher (we liked him too - he was by far the most engaging teacher at Meet the Teacher Night). It was really nice to see that the teacher appreciated our kid’s strengths too.</p>
<p>^^^S2 also got a math rec, because when he asked Chicago still wanted a math/science and a humanities/social sciences (which they changed in October of his senior year). I think it turned out to be a good thing, because S2 had told the teacher how he had struggled with math all along (got the concepts, missed simple things, worked hard for B-B+ grades), but that in that calc class, it finally came together and he saw his persistence pay off. He was never going to get the “best in career” box checked, but I think the teacher could tell how hard S worked and his willingness to write S2’s rec gave S some confidence in his abilities (a non-trivial issue given that older brother is a math major).</p>
<p>Thi shas been very helpful for me. Since we homeschool, I’m going to ask my son to get 3-4 LORs: 1 from physics prof, 1 from math tutor, 1 from honors English teacher, and probably his conductor (university orchestra) or worship leader at church. </p>
<p>Question: What do you do with the letters if they write them early? Each school might want them to come in at a different time. My son had to get 2 LORs for the RSI application and one LOR for the Questbridge College Prep program but they went out right away. If our kids ask for LORs now, what do they do with them since they won’t be applying to colleges until the fall?</p>
<p>My kids never actually got the LORs. Teachers sent them through Naviance or they were mailed from the school with the transcript and school profile, or the teachers mailed them using the envelopes and stamps we provided. My kids signed away their rights to see the recs, so we wanted to make sure the paper trail made that clear.</p>
<p>One of my kids had a supplemental rec from a prof, and the prof signed over the back of the sealed envelope and my S sent it with the hard copy parts of his app.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo, be aware that a lot of colleges want to see multiple SAT-II subject tests across the disciplines for homeschooled students (more than what colleges usually require). Just thought I’d mention it since it’s not too late for May or June testing.</p>
<p>My kids never saw the letters either. They gave the teachers a list of where they were applying and what the due dates were along with stamped addressed envelopes that they could use. You want to make it as easy as possible for the teachers. My older son did the same thing with the outside recommendations he had.</p>
<p>CountingDown,</p>
<p>Yeah, I think this is where we stumbled. My son took two SAT II tests in
8th grade, math and physics. He got 800 in physics and 760 in Math II. At that time, we both thought he’d be applying to local colleges 3 years early, so I never had him do anymore. With each passing year, we again both realized that it was best to keep him out of full time college until 18 so he could have more choices. So, he’s only taken 3 SAT II exams (took the Lit. exam in January and scored a 730 but I’m debating whether to have him take that again in June) He’ll retake the Math SAT II in May because he should have an 800 since math is a big strength of his and he’s taken about 7 or so college math classes. I am planning on his taking the SAT II chem and US History in October since November will be too late most likely but this means he’ll have to really study hard for both subjects this summer while doing physics research at the local state univ and he’s never US History and only a semester of chem. 
</p>
<p>He kind of followed a self-directed path of learning until mid sophomore year (which meant lots of math, physics, music, and literature) and then when we realized that because of all the math and physics courses he took, he would probably need a really strong selective college or a university (rather than a Christian college) that offers graduate level courses in these subjects, he began looking at highly selective colleges and that’s when I realized-oops-I should have done a better job with outside accountability. Oh well! We’ll just have to see what happens with his test scores. </p>
<p>His LOR should be outstanding. I did see his physics profs letter for RSI and it was amazing. This guy really believes in my son which is encouraging.</p>
<p>I don’t want to get too far OT here, but why not have him take the physics again (assuming you did not have College Board save the eighth grade scores)? Sounds like he’d nail it. 730 is an excellent score in Eng Lit – the folks who take this exam tend to be the ones with really strong SAT CR scores. I wouldn’t retake Lit – I’d go for the 800 in Physics (the exam has a generous curve and with a strong background, it is not that hard to do well).</p>
<p>Get a SAT-II USH practice book to make sure your S has covered everything. Tell him to be knowledgeable about relatively recent current events (1990s/2000s). </p>
<p>Make sure your S has strong academic writing samples. Your S should ask the colleges he’s considering what they want to see from homeschooled students.</p>
<p>730 is definitely fine in Lit. I think it’s more important that he demonstrate competence in history.</p>
<p>CountingDown,</p>
<p>Fortunately, I did have his scores saved. (Also his 7th and 8th grade SAT I scores since he got his first 800 on the SAT I on 8th grade and we thought we might use them).
My son has every paper for the past two years of honors literature and all his papers from 10th grade honors world history (unless our computer crashes, then he’ll only have his lit papers) so he should be good to go. He is a strong writer and he continues to get better.</p>
<p>Mathmom, I was concerned about the 730 in Lit because he also got a 730 on the writing portion of the SAT I (he got a 78 on the PSAT in writing-drat.) but yes, I agree about showing strength in history. We are investigating a summer history course at the local univ. right now. Our CC will not be offering summer courses due to the budget cut here in Ca. I am investing in several SAT II study guides soon!</p>
<p>Do you think the 3 LORs will be adequate (physics, math, lit) or should he ask for a 4th?</p>
<p>If you have papers/essays/research that you may want to send to colleges, recommenders, scholarship applications – save them somewhere besides your computer! Throw them on gmail, an external hard drive, etc. – but don’t let there be just one copy.</p>
<p>Ditto once your student starts working on drafts of the essays. </p>
<p>Three LORs should be OK. Both my kids did very well on the writing portion of the SAT, but frankly, a lot of schools tend to discount its validity. Is your S taking an AP English exam by chance?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, he didn’t sign up for it this year. I asked his lit teacher about it but she felt it was best to wait until he’d had a year of British Lit (he’s taken world lit and american lit) so I took her advice and didn’t sign him up. I regret it now but it’s too late and he won’t take it until senior year-too late for admissions. </p>
<p>If you have any other ideas how to show strength in lit and writing besides his 730s and LOR from Lit teacher, I am all ears. He could take a university class this summer or in the fall rather than the honors British Lit class but he really enjoys the kids and teacher; it’s a big social outlet for him. </p>
<p>He even said he’d take the SAT again since he really doesn’t mind it but his other scores were so good, I’m not sure it’s worth it. Maybe he could take the ACT??</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think your child needs to make the effort to meet with the GC and get to know him/her. Despite how your may feel about the GC, unless your school has a dedicated college advisor, the GC is going to be the gatekeeper on your child’s end in the college process. </p>
<p>If the college needs clarification on something, they are contacting the counselor not the principal. If there are some extenuating circumstances that the college needs to take into consideration concerning your child, it will be the counselor who picks up the phone and advocates to the regional representative for your child It is your counselor who is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships college admissions personnel. If your child is waitlisted, it is the counselor who will be advocating on your child’s behalf.</p>
<p>Re GCs: Colleges realize that although you may have your pick of teachers to ask to write a recommendation, you might be stuck with a GC that doesn’t really know you or doesn’t write well or is just hanging around waiting to retire or has a case load of 700 kids. </p>
<p>As Sybbie suggests, I’d set up a meet with the GC–to see what the procedure is about getting the GC to fill out the Secondary School Report including recommendation come fall and to smooze.</p>
<p>That is exactly the problem. We (and others) have had bad experiences when dealing with this GC. We have met with her more than the usual two times per year and always to either fix a mistake she made on Ds schedule or to repeatedly request info…and given wrong info which negatively affected Ds schedule. I don’t know if they are overworked, have a faulty computer system or what. Just not an ideal situation. Did I mention she never remembers my D each time we meet? She acts surprised each time she tells us Ds rank. She did submit her name for “scholars scholarship” at private LAC in our state so that is promising, but H thinks that was just the product of a computer generated list and I shoudn’t put too much stock into that.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo, 730 is a fine score on the writing portion of the SAT 1. Really. Many schools still disregard the writing score or count it less. My younger son (with a B+ academic average) got into schools like Tufts, Vassar and U of Chicago with “only” a 690. He wrote great essays and his teachers could attest to that, and so could his AP scores. He just can’t write that well in 25 minutes.</p>
<p>I hear you on the PSAT writing vs SAT writing. My older son got an 800 on the PSAT writing and got a 690 twice on the SAT. It was the first year Writing was on the SAT and I don’t any schools considered it too seriously - he got into Harvard and was rejected by MIT in any event. Again, in his case, he had a 5 on the APUSH so he could demonstrate that he could succeed on an exam where academic writing counts.</p>
<p>I think the question of how many letters really depends. My younger son just had two teachers because he didn’t feel that outside recommendations added anything to his application. My older son was selling himself as a computer nerd and since he had exhausted his high school’s offerings as a freshman, he had a professor for who he had done some volunteer programming (that was acknowledged in a paper) and the president of a computer software company (for whom he had done freelance work for several years) provide recommendations in addition to the two teacher recommendations that most of the colleges my son applied to asked for. I think it was one of the things that hurt him at Stanford - they refuse to look at anything beyond the two teacher recommendations.</p>