Recommendation Letters for Common App, USNA and USCGA

Applying to College
1

Hi Everyone,

I am thinking of applying to both the United States Naval Academy and United States Coast Guard Academy as well as a few traditional colleges but I was wondering how I should go about asking my teachers for letters of recommendation. I know that I am going to ask my two recommenders to submit the same letter for the schools I apply to through the common app but for the Naval Academy and Coast Guard Academy it’s a little different. Should I ask for three different letters of recommendation from these teachers? I was thinking I could ask for one letter of rec for the common app, one for the senator/representative who requires them for a nomination for the Naval Academy, and one that goes directly to the Coast Guard Academy since they do not require nominations but do require recommendation letters. Is there a better way to go about this? My teachers are already inundated with requests for letters of recommendation I am not sure if I should ask for three but I want to stay consistent with my recommendations because these two teachers are the ones who know me the best. Can someone who has been through the process of applying to both colleges and US Service Academies please give me some advice?

Thanks!

2

For the Academy, you are required to submit letters from your English and math teacher. Not sure who you were planning on asking for your Common App letters, but I would ask your math and English teacher to submit their recs to the Academies, then ask different teachers to submit letters for Common App and nomination. If an English and math teacher were one or both of the teachers you were already planning on asking, then I would just ask if they can do all. They wouldn’t have to write completely different letters, much of it would be the same.

Also, I know every Senator/Rep does it differently, but I know at least for my district, the nomination app wanted 3 letters of rec, so it’s not just one necessarily. And for that you can ask for recs aside from school (they like letters from people who know you in the community, too.)

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Thanks!