Summer: The Recommendations Ordeal

Pre-College Issues Summer Programs
1

<p>If you are parent to a teen who recently tried applying to a summer program, you might have gotten a taste of the following delightful phenomenon: the Recs. Every summer program these days seems to require them. So what’s the problem? Typically a good student should have at least a couple of teachers willing to support his/her effort to enrich their academic experience, right? Easier said than done.</p>

<p>Early in the year, s identified several summer programs he was interested in, that did not overlap in timing and were relatively affordable. None were known to be too selective, and their admission criteria amounted to a high school GPA of 3.0 and a mild interest in the subject area of the program. </p>

<p>S set to work on the applications. Fill out a form – easy. Essay, or a statement of interests – no problem. High school transcript and standardized test results – piece of cake; the counseling office did it the same day (thank you counseling office!). Almost done. But then - the Hurdle: All programs wanted teacher recommendations, and not one but two or three. And they didn’t want some old-fashioned letter of the “to whom it may concern” type, a letter that can be written once and sent to several addressees with the recommender’s consent. No, nothing so simple. Each program on our list has its own unique two-page Formal Evaluation Form with its own Logo, multiple checkboxes and essay sections that the recommender is asked to fill out, sign, and upload online or send via snail mail. </p>

<p>S approached a few teachers with a thick wad of forms and pre-stamped envelopes. Conversation went something like this:
S: Hi Mrs. X, I’m applying to Summer Programs a,b,c,d,e because I’m really interested in xxx subject matter (a specialty of the teacher being approached), and it is a very enriching program where I can learn blah-blah-blah. Would you be willing to recommend me to this program?<br>
Ms X (enthusiastically): oh, sure, I’d be delighted to, you are a great student. Where should I send the letter?
S: I really appreciate that, thank you so much! (Proceeds to describe in detail each program’s requirement. Shows the forms.)
Ms X (with markedly lower enthusiasm): … ahem... so all of them have separate forms? Oh…I see… well, when did you say you needed them by?
S: I’d really like to mail them within the next n weeks, to maximize my chances of getting in, because the programs have rolling admission and tend to fill up quickly...
Ms X (enthusiasm completely gone now): well, I’ll do my best, but I don’t know… I’m really so busy this time of year, you must realize it’s the <whatever excuse="" for="" being="" busy=""> marking period and I have barely any time for anything… so I’ll let you know when I can do it...</whatever></p>

<p>It's totally understandable that filling out five or so distinct pen-and-paper forms is a cruel enough demand on a teacher’s schedule. Surprisingly though, the worst offenders turned out to be the online/uploadable forms. Apparently, none of d’s veteran, 30-plus-years-experience teachers, are tech-savvy - they might as well be members of some secret ‘Luddites-Are-Us’ society. Imagine asking your rather grandmotherly language arts teacher to fill out/scan/PDF/upload a form to some mysterious URL that drops cryptic warnings (eg, “Are you SURE you want to display the non-secure content?!”). Yes, you guessed it: it ain’t happening. Rather than admitting technological defeat though, the clever lady uses an age-old military tactic: drag her feet and stall (maybe hoping the application deadline will pass). </p>

<p>So, several weeks, countless emails and personal reminders later –still no recs. Not a single one. And this from teachers who endlessly sing s’s praise in person and on report cards. </p>

<p>Panicking at this point, we contact the programs to explain our predicament. We offer instead to mail a generic rec letter and/or report cards with comments from the teachers. In response, we either got no response at all (a hint to the likely answer), or a flat-out No: Their Own Form has to be used, because It Alone Will Give Them A Clear Understanding of Who The Applicant Is. </p>

<p>Now, mind you: copies of report cards contain detailed comments and evaluation of the student. S could mail them in. The school, for that matter, could mail them in, just to make it official. (Assuming these programs attempt to weed out potential behavior issues, wouldn’t any misconduct be noted on the report cards?!) But no. These programs required a unique, specially developed, logo-carrying form to be filled out by hand, thus adding a good several hours (per student) to the recommender’s busy schedule, and testing his or her technical ability. And what about the preposterous idea that summer program coordinators are not ever likely to actually know any of the recommenders? How much value is there in these forms?</p>

<p>Oh Noble Summer Program Coordinator, if you read this – please have a heart! Do not turn what should be a nice and enriching summer experience into a coordination ordeal and an exercise in chasing busy, overworked, and under-computer-skilled teachers! Won’t you please simplify/generify the application process? If colleges can do it with the Common App, why not summer programs?</p>

2

<p>I hear ya! The recs are always the hardest part of any app, I am finding. You can expedite everything else, but you can’t make the teachers go any faster than they are capable of. I told DS to get the recs in the hands of the teachers as soon as possible. The two page check off forms aren’t bad, it’s the letter they want with about 10 bullet items that’s the killer. Ugh. Not sure why they have to make summer program apps so difficult.</p>

3

<p>essay questions in teacher recs? What programs did he apply to?
The (not rolling admission) summer programs I am applying to only require online recs that are in a simple checklist format.</p>

4

<p>One thing that my DD did for her summer programs was just to ask for two recommendations from each teacher and sort of spread out the requests. (e.g. those due in Feb. she just gave those forms and then held off for March ones until March so that way it would not be so much all at once. She wrote each teacher a detailed letter of what she needed for each program and when she needed it and why the program was important to her. She also put gift cards with the request as a thank you.</p>

<p>i will say this much; I think a lot depends on what school the student attends. My DS attended a small catholic all boys school and many teachers were not "good’ at doing the recommendations and it took a lot of nagging and follow-up. My DD transferred from her Catholic high school to a very nice private high school. We were shocked at how good the teachers were at getting her recommendations done and in fact the teachers and registered fed ex all the paperwork to the summer program. We basically stood there “stunned with our mouths open” since it was a completely different experience from DS. </p>

<p>My DD is in a science organization and the teacher in that organization is very familiar with my DD so she is writing some of the letters. Does your child have anyone like that who could possibly fill the role?</p>

<p>Good luck. It is a tough situation with no easy solution.</p>