<p>Do teacher recs have to be sent sealed to schools, or can you have ten teachers write recs for you, you view them, and send the three you think are best to your college without altering them????</p>
<p>The letters go directly to the schools to keep you from altering them.</p>
<p>If you are concerned about the quality of your recommendations you are allowed to ask your references these two questions:</p>
<p>"Do you feel that you can write a positive letter of recommendation for me for college/university X?</p>
<p>"Would it be possible for you to share the contents of your letter of recommendation with me?"</p>
<p>Sometimes, especially with a school counselor who doesn't know you very well, that second question can be even more important than the first. Overworked counselors have been known to confuse good students with weaker ones, and to neglect to include important information about honors and extra-curriculars.</p>
<p>Not to hijack this thread, but when teachers/counselors write recs, do they make copies of them to send to various schools? Or do they have to write a different recommendation for each school you're applying too?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Not to hijack this thread, but when teachers/counselors write recs, do they make copies of them to send to various schools? Or do they have to write a different recommendation for each school you're applying too?
[/quote]
Teachers/counselors will typically photocopy one rec to send to multiple schools; they just don't have the time to write a rec for each and every school.</p>
<p>Usually good teachers give you the courtesy of viewing the letter and allowing your input. As for counselors, colleges will understand if the letter is generic since they know a counselor is usually accountable for a hundred students and can't possibly get to know them all.</p>
<p>D's teacher gave her the rec so she could read it (and we gave it back to her to fix some typos) and WE mailed them off to most schools, one school required it to be sealed with a signature over the seal, but the rest we sent.</p>
<p>No one at my school is allowed to see teacher recs. I think that this contributes to the good reputation that we have with colleges. Most teachers will tell you if they don't think that they can write you a good rec, but adcoms know if every kid from a given school gets a "best I've ever had" score, so that they become meaningless.</p>
<p>D did not see her recs, nor did any others we are aware of at her school. One note, here GC said he would write a slightly different one for Yale since he said he knew the kind of thing they wanted, which was different from the others. But we don't know the that was.</p>
<p>OP-- ask your GC how your school handles recs.Teachers will also know your school's routine. Our GCs generally collects them from teachers, some in sealed envelopes, some not, and the GC mails them with the transcript. The advantage being that are are fewer pieces of mail to be lost in transit and when you look to see what the college received, you know that one document showing up means all arrived.
Some teachers do write recs for individual colleges, most write one version for all.</p>
<p>thanks guys</p>
<p>"Usually good teachers give you the courtesy of viewing the letter and allowing your input"</p>
<p>This is not true at all. Only rarely do teachers do this. They don't want students comparing recommendations nor do they want students to view a recommendation as a document that they should be negotiating with a teacher about.</p>
<p>The best thing to do is to ask the questions in post #2, and if you decide to proceed with asking the teacher to write the recommendation, provide the teacher with info in writing about what you want out of your college experience, and how you did in the teacher's class. This includes copies of excellent tests and papers you did in the class.</p>
<p>The more that the teacher can be specific in the recommendation, the more useful the recc would be to colleges. No matter how much a teacher likes you, unless you provide some documentation, s/he isn't likely to remember specifics such as the amazing essay answer you provided on last semester's midterm.</p>
<p>After teachers write recommendations, it's considerate and polite to provide the teacher with a hand written thank-you note. Don't wait until you get college acceptances to do this. Do this after all of your applications are in.</p>
<p>Also, take the time to let teachers and counselors who wrote recommendations for you know what colleges accepted you and where you decide to attend.</p>