<p>I'm a NM Semifinalist. Do I need a teacher recommendation to complete my application for NM Finalist? Thank you!</p>
<p>No, but you do need a counselor/principal endorsement from your high school. See point 4 here: <a href=“http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nationalmerit.org/Merit_R&I_Leaflet.pdf</a></p>
<p>I saw that…and then my counselor called the National Merit office and asked about it. Apparently we DO need a teacher recommendation. There is a part on the application that the counselor fills out (I think this is the counselor/principal endorsement?) that requires a letter of recommendation. Essentially, my counselor will get the rec from my teacher and copy-paste it into that part of the application. Does this still sound right? Apparently my counselor called National Merit and this is what she was told…</p>
<p>No, that doesn’t sound exactly right–there is no requirement that a teacher write a letter or recommendation. Although I have never seen the school-side forms for the NMF qualifying process, as far as I know the principal or principal-designee submits a letter of recommendation. However, if your school wants to submit a teacher’s recommendation to meet this requirement, there isn’t anything to stop them, so far as I know, and to me that’s what it sounds like they are doing. You might even get a better recommendation if the teacher-writer knows you better than your counselor or principal.</p>
<p>Since your counselor has been in contact with NMSC about this I would trust that it is OK. If you still have concerns you could call them directly.</p>
<p>That’s what I’ve been thinking. Maybe I’ll get a good rec, and anyway, the teacher who is writing the NM rec is also writing one of my college recs, so he knows me very well and can probably write a good NM rec. At my school, we have little contact with the principal or with our counselor (except in situations such as this one).
Thank you so much for your help! :)</p>
<p>violette…As usual, Descartesz is correct on just about anything NM related 
. It’s up to the individual school how they’d like to handle the “school recommendation” section, and I’m guessing a fair number of them delegate it to a student’s teacher. In our D1’s case that’s exactly what they did, and I think it’s a great idea. As you and Descartesz both mentioned, a teacher is more than likely going to know you better than a principal or counselor would and you’ll tend to get a better overall recommendation. Congratulations on being a NMSF, and Good Luck on your college search!!</p>
<p>Yes, I definitely agree with Descartesz. I think I was a bit worried since no one on CC mentioned teacher recs and no where are they mentioned on the official rules. It’s a great idea to get a teacher rec. </p>
<p>Thank you, Descartesz and Wolverine86, for helping assuage my worries on this matter!</p>