<p>Hello everyone, I just asked my math teacher if he could write me recommendations for the schools I am applying by January, but he told me that because of all the college recs he has to do, the earliest he would be able to get my recs filled out by is late January/early February. I don't know what to do about this problem since I doubt most of the schools won't accept recommendations almost a month late and I can't ask my teacher to make my recs his top priority. Can anyone give me any solutions/suggestions for my problem?</p>
<p>Talk to the school. It isn’t an option for him to wait until after the deadline. Some schools will understand but it’s not clear they all will. Get a recommendation from last year’s teacher as as supplement and have the school explain (i.e. the principal) why the current math teacher is unable to do the recommendations with two or more months notice especially since the form is relatively short.</p>
<p>If that doesn’t work have our parents POLITELY make the call. My husband had to physically go to the school and told them he wasn’t leaving until he had them in his hands.</p>
<p>My D asked three months ago for a recommendation from last years english teacher. She has all of her applications sent for the December 1 deadline for merit aid. You think he got it done? Not yet according to the schools Naviance site. We were led to believe by her college guidance person that it had to be last years english or math teacher. The math teacher writes student evaluations for a quarter of the class so he wasn’t an option. D asked her Bio teacher at the same time-hers is done. D also needed a last minute art recommendation and her teacher graciously got that done in a week. I feel like we got screwed with having to ask this particular english teacher who didn’t send a recommendation in time when she was a TASP finalist. We really need the merit aid</p>
<p>I’m curious as to why you were advised to ask for rec from last year’s teacher. We used current teachers, who were able to provide more timely information about how and what the student was doing. I suggest that you check quickly, and see whether you really are supposed to be using a past teacher instead of a present one.</p>
<p>Slindner, this is the prep school admissions forum on College Confidential. I suspect your daughter is applying to college?</p>
<p>If you are having trouble getting recommendations from current teachers, do two things:</p>
<ol>
<li>get recommendations from last year’s teachers (don’t go back any farther than that)</li>
<li>go directly to the Principal’s office. If that doesn’t work, go - in person - to the school district office and demand an explanation for why your child is low priority (if anything BS recommendations take less time than college recommendations).</li>
<li>call the boarding school and explain the situation so they are aware (they’ve seen it before).</li>
</ol>
<p>The point of recommendations is to get a snapshot of your child’s personality and behavior in the classroom. Is this a student who get’s straight A’s but doesn’t participate in class? Cracks open a book before the test but doesn’t understand independent study? etc. It’s so they can see the child behind the grades. So this year’s recommendation is important - but having extra will help if current teachers aren’t complying.</p>
<p>What I have seen, over the years, is a backdoor attempt to sabotage student’s applications to prevent high performing students from leaving. Some believe they are doing the student a favor. In my D’s case, the teachers didn’t believe her departure was voluntary (even though she explained it was her choice). In some cases, she was one of the few testing advanced on state exams and they didn’t want to lose the performance data. </p>
<p>You have to be an advocate for your child at this point. It was amazing how often my D’s teachers “lost” her recommendation forms (November, December, January). The good ones turned them in early. The others dragged their feet. My husband finally went to the Counselor’s office the day before the last deadline with Fedex envelopes in hand and sat there until the remaining documents were turned in. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. </p>
<p>Stay calm - but be firm.</p>
<p>@Exie- Thanks so much for your input. Four out of eight of my schools replied back saying the latest they could accept it would be early February, which my math teacher said is much better for him. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the fifth school that replied back said that if I could submit a recommendations from my last year teacher by the deadline, then they would accept my current teacher’s recommendation later. The problem is that I didn’t technically have a “math” teacher last year. I was in an advanced class with about eight people but our original math teacher quit her job. Since then, we’ve had about 4-5 different substitute teachers who supervised us while we took lessons from an online program called Plato. Even if I were to ask for a recommendation from one of the substitutes, I doubt most of them still work at my middle school and I don’t know how I would contact them.</p>
<p>Hmm. Okay - treat this like a puzzle. Or a Sherlock Holmes mystery. There is always a solution my dear Watson.</p>
<p>Might see if the school can put you in touch with your teacher from last year. I know my daughter’s English teacher quit but they’re still in touch with each other. Don’t give up. Ask the school district - or the Principal - if they can forward a letter for you (that way they don’t have to give you the address).</p>
<p>If you’re in a small enough city, I’d try a Google search. You’d be surprised how many people are on Facebook or Linked-in. You can send them a message through those avenues without being a “friend” first.</p>
<p>And hooray for the fifth school. I do know that three of my D’s schools quietly told her not to worry when she alerted them of the problem, that they’d flag her file if it came to that. But we didn’t want to take any chances so we pushed to get them in.</p>
<p>If you’re file is otherwise strong, schools are used to glitches and recalcitrant faculty.</p>
<p>Fingers crossed for you. Good luck!</p>