<p>Basically, I am home-schooled and my teachers do not have school e-mails.So their emails are gmail, hotmail etc.. How can colleges determine these recommendations are valid? Also, what can I tell my teachers to do to prove it's validity? Do I tell them to put their phone numbers?</p>
<p>Thank you :)</p>
<p>Bump10char</p>
<p>You’re asking CC participants, however, I suggest that only the individual universities can provide definitive answers.</p>
<p>@TopTier Alright thank you. I just thought that there are obviously many people who have gone through the same thing and would help me. </p>
<p>@Nariman, I am an international student and struggling with the same thing. My teachers here have never written a recommendation letter in their life and with the exception of actual English teachers none of them speak English. With the risk of seeming too entitled, I can say that even those teachers aren’t really good English speakers. </p>
<p>That aside, nobody here has school emails. Not even the principal. People here don’t communicate much through emails and the “official” school email is not even on gmail or yahoo, but some obsolete platform that people here used in the early 00’s. I have no idea how they are going to verify the validity of my transcripts, recommendation letters etc.
I don’t know how CommonApp works exactly, but I guess I can just make them sign the letter and put on them the official school stamp and then scan it and send it. Also, I could write email them some school phone numbers, but I don’t see much use in that since if they are going to call nobody will understand them! 
</p>
<p>This might be a little off topic but I think they should not require recommendation letters from international students since most of them fake them anyway.</p>
<p>Maybe search here?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/home-schooling-college/”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/home-schooling-college/</a></p>
<p>@collegedreams11 If its fake I bet colleges would easily notice, but yes I agree it’s harder for internationals.
@T26E4 Already checked, nothing of that sort mentioned there though.</p>
<p>@Nariman, no they don’t easily notice. I know students from my country that wrote their own recommendation letters and they are now at universities like U of Chicago, NYU, even a couple of ivies. Sad truth…</p>
<p>@collegedreams11 What the…? That is disgusting and horrible. I really do hope they get caught or punished, especially if they took the place of someone. But anyhow, ill just tell my teachers to send them and that is honestly all I can do. I wish there were clear guidlines on such things though. </p>
<p>@Nariman, Although I doubt that their recommendation letters is what got them in, I still think that this is an issue that needs to be addressed more clearly by colleges. It is extremely unfair to other applicants. </p>
<p>@collegedreams11: Recommendations are a CRUCIAL element of the application, because – in general – they allow an on-scene official to substantiate other application information, to provide a portrait of the applicant that goes beyond the straightforward quantitative data, and to document any unusual situation(s) that might, in part, mitigate the applicant’s academic statistics. Were a candidate to utilize bogus recommendations, he would: (a) cheat himself of these potential advantages; (b) risk having his application discredited; © dishonor himself (and possibly his school, his community, and his family) through unquestionable admissions fraud; and (d) create further skepticism, within the university admissions community, regarding the “even playing field” accuracy of many international applications.</p>
<p>Further, what is entirely unfair is this sort of cheating. How do you think the vast majority of applicants – American youngsters (and their families, for that matter) – would react if some/all international applicants received what they might easily perceive as an unfair admissions advantage (no essays required from foreign candidates)? US universities could also address such fraudulent application issues simply by disallowing candidates from certain nations (that won’t happen, of course, but it is a theoretical possibility).</p>
<p>In case anyone has the same issue as me, here is what I got to help you:
"Hello,</p>
<p>Thank you for contacting our office. Your recommenders should include
phone numbers and mailing addresses.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Records Room Staff
Harvard College Admissions Office"</p>
<p>@TopTier, I agreed with almost everything you said until you mentioned that “US universities could also address such fraudulent application issues simply by disallowing candidates from certain nations” . Are you kidding? Do you really think this is a solution? You know, not all people within a certain country act the same way.</p>
<p>"How do you think the vast majority of applicants – American youngsters (and their families, for that matter) – would react if some/all international applicants received what they might easily perceive as an unfair admissions advantage (no essays required from foreign candidates)? " </p>
<p>In case you are referring to what I said earlier about not requiring recommendation letters from internationals, it’s just my opinion and the only solution that I could think of at the moment. I didn’t say anything about not requiring essays, only recommendation letters. Also, this could be perceived both as an advantage or not. As you said earlier, recommendations are an important element of the application and not having the opportunity to submit one may decrease an applicant’s chances actually. </p>
<p>I am international myself and trust me, I don’t feel good either knowing that some people have an unfair advantage.</p>