<p>When are kids supposed to ask teachers for recommendations? Has anyone's kid had the experience of being refused because the teacher already has too many to write--especially for ED?</p>
<p>We asked for rec letters in the fall of senior year.</p>
<p>some say to ask now, in the spring. I’ve heard that a popular teacher at my daughter’s school only writes 20, but doesn’t take requests until the first day of school in the fall. Kids line up at 6am.</p>
<p>My daughter’s college advisor wants the recs asked for now and completed in the folder by the end of June. Daughter asked today for them and all her teachers agreed.</p>
<p>Many juniors as for reccs now so teachers can write them over the summer while they have time and still remember the students’ performance well.</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve heard of teachers who turned down students because the teachers said they already had lots of reccs to write. Writing a recc can take an hour to do.</p>
<p>I guess it depend if we are talking private or public high schools, and where. At my D’s public high school, the Guidance Office make it clear that recommendation letters from teachers are a privilege. They also recommend to waive the right to read the letter, as it make it more serious. Most of the teachers at her approach the students (as oppose to the student approaching them) to let them know that they will be happy to write a recommendation for them. My D got 2 that way, and they were handed out to her in a sealed envelope within 3 days. For some other students, it is a matter of asking and seriously following up.</p>
<p>I would have your child ask the teachers she wants to ask when she should contact them. I would definitely do this before the end of term. Math and English teachers, particularly, get lots of requests. If your kid makes contact with the teacher & expresses desire for a Letter of Rec and intent to ask, the teacher is #1 given a head’s up that the child wants one and #2 has the opportunity to tell the kid when & how to formally ask. </p>
<p>It’s much better to ask a teacher the child likes & that knows the student at least fairly well. If the child doesn’t feel this, now is a good time to spend a few minutes talking to an intended Letter of Rec writer.</p>
<p>At our HS, they had a senior parent meeting at the beginning of the year and gave us the guiidelines as to how & when to do it. You might check with your school and see if they have a process in place as most do.</p>
<p>Do people ask more teachers than they will need? How does that work? Since most colleges ask for just 2 teacher LOR’s, how do you justify asking more than 2 teachers? In a small school, where most of the teachers know most of the students, wouldn’t it get a bit awkward if the teachers found out that the same student had asked 3 (or 4) of them to write letters? Do you tell them “My main letters are being written by teachers A and B, but you are my first alternate”.</p>
<p>It’s rare that students get to read their letters of recommendation, so most have no reason to ask for back-up letters since they can’t compare the letters and then pick the best.</p>
<p>At some schools – such as the ones that my sons went to-- the teachers give the letters of recommendation to the GCs to copy and send with the applications. The students never get the letters at all, not even in sealed envelopes. </p>
<p>In virtually all cases, teachers will write just one recc per student and that will be a “To Whom it May Concern” letter that can be sent to all colleges/scholarship programs the student applies to. Teachers don’t have time to write individual letters to each college a student applies to, and colleges are aware of that.</p>
<p>My D asked 3 teachers for LOR. It is best to do it as early as possible. It is a good idea to do a “resume” of your activiites, work and volunteer experiences to give the teachers as well as an envelope to put everything in. This was requested by all of the teachers that she asked. Having the resume in hand was the best thing to do because it made filling out applications, scholarship applications so much easier and we also enclosed it with the other required things needed to send in to the colleges. i cannot express to you, how valuable the resume became.</p>
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<p>But the actual applications for most schools don’t come out to the end of summer. How can the recommendation forms be filled out by June?</p>
<p>At our school, kids ask in the fall of senior year.</p>
<p>S and I just had a meeting on Friday withhis academic advisor who is also S’s 10th grade and hopefully 12th grade history teacher. I asked the teacher which history teacher should write the rec., the 10,12 teacher or his 11th grade teacher who S also has for Theory of Knowledge. The teacher, who has the reputation of being the best in the school and I am sure does a lot of recs., said that he has NEVER been asked at the end of junior year for a recommendation. I guess the kids at our school do not read CC.</p>
<p>You need at least 3 to 4 teachers if you’re going to apply to admission, scholarships and honors program. One cannot possibly send the same recommendation to admission, scholarship and honors within the same school. Will it look like you have no one to ask?</p>
<p>“One cannot possibly send the same recommendation to admission, scholarship and honors within the same school.”</p>
<p>Yes, you can send the same recommendation to scholarship, honors and admission at the same school. Typically, also, different committees choose the scholarship and admissions students. Honors is often chosen by admissions personnel as part of the admissions process.</p>
<p>“But the actual applications for most schools don’t come out to the end of summer. How can the recommendation forms be filled out by June?”</p>
<p>All of the schools and scholarship programs that I’ve seen would accept a recommendation written on their form or a recommendation letter. The letter could have been written at the end of junior year.</p>
<p>“. It is a good idea to do a “resume” of your activiites, work and volunteer experiences to give the teachers as well as an envelope to put everything in.”</p>
<p>What the schools and scholarship committees want, however, isn’t for the teachers to list info like ECs, work, volunteer activities that the student already has provided on the app. What the schools and scholarship committees want is info about what the teacher has personally experienced with the student in class and in activities that the teacher advises. Consequently, students can help teachers with this by providing teachers with copies of excellent papers and tests the students took in the teachers’ classes, and by reminding teachers of the students’ contributions in ECs that the teacher advised.</p>
<p>NSM,
The teachers requested this information because it gives them insight into the student’s interests and personality beyond their particular class, giving them a more holistic view of the student.
I am aware that activities and ECs are put on the applications and these teachers are smart enough to know not to repeat a laundry list of activities. The teachers actually use the information to correlate any personality and aptitudes and bring light to a students well roundedness.</p>
<p>It did work well for us.</p>
<p>Glad it worked well for you, milkandsugar. I’ve had to read recommendations for scholarship programs, and unfortunately, many teachers only regurgitate resume info and call that a recommendation.</p>
<p>What about supplemental rec letter from non-academic teachers? To which or what kind of college are they effective?</p>