Teacher Recommendations Online

<p>I am extremely confused about how to send in teacher recommendations online through the Common Application. Since I haven't done this process before and the real application isn't up until August 1st, I have a hard time visualizing it. Can someone tell me, in detail, how to get teachers to fill out the recommendations online and send it to multiple universities? Can I apply online but submit the recommendations by paper? Thank you for any help you can provide.</p>

<p>I am going to try and remember how my son did it. It really is not difficult. </p>

<p>You go to the tab on the left side that is something like school forms. Then you click on something like Request Official (this is because you use the same screen to ask for teacher recs and counselor recs)</p>

<p>Then you select the 1st “official” and type in your teacher’s name and the email address you want the rec request sent to. I can’t remember if you have space to type a note or not. My son emailed the teachers himself after doing the common app request to alert them to look for it.</p>

<p>Then you click on the ask official which sends the teacher an email but of course we don’t know how it is worded. The teacher is sent a link so they can click and link to your common app and fill out the rec. I believe the rec looks just like the one you can print in the download forms section.</p>

<p>The date of your request to the teacher then is on the page you made the request. That date stays there until the teacher does the rec then it disappears after they have done it so you know it was filled in. If you note that after a couple of weeks have gone by and the date is still there, you can resend the request through the common app. There is a button to resend.</p>

<p>After the teacher fills them out then then they must click something that indicates they are done. The rec then is permanently inside the common app and will automatically be sent to the schools you had selected for that teacher’s rec to go. You fill out school by school which teacher recs you want to go to that school.</p>

<p>When the school uploads it you will see an upload date next to the teacher rec when you are inside that schools common app. after the school has done it. </p>

<p>Things to be aware of

  1. Each schools common app is similar but sometimes a bit different from the others. Read double check everything.<br>
  2. Some schools only let you send 2 recs some will let you add more, each school will state in that section their policy.
  3. Do not, I repeat, do not have a teacher write a rec aimed at a specific school. The rec cannot be modified. You would need to use another teacher then for the rest of your recs. </p>

<p>Recs can be sent by paper but it is so much easier to do it in the common app. At our school, though, the teacher had to print out the rec and give a copy to the counselor so the counselor could mail them to non common app schools. </p>

<p>Hope this helps. Don’t know if this will change for next year’s version.</p>

<p>If recommendations are to be sent electronically (where the college does not use the common ap), how do you indicate/request this from teachers? Such a busy time of year for them as well, do not want to be a bother!</p>

<p>At our HS, the guidance counselor had all teachers give them a printed out version of the rec they were going to email. The counselor keeps the copies in a folder I guess and makes copies to send to non common ap schools. Our counselors would send the rec along with their paperwork. This way the teachers only do one rec regardless of where it went or how many needed to be sent.</p>

<p>Thanks for the tips Lakemom! </p>

<p>I have one question:</p>

<p>You mentioned that it is the student’s job to match up which letter of recommendation to which colleges they want to send them to, and you said to not write a specific school.</p>

<p>So would the teachers actually see and know exactly what colleges we are applying to & the deadlines for each application- even though we have to attach their letters?</p>

<p>The teachers cannot see which schools you apply to or the deadlines. They are uploading their rec via the link that was sent to them by the common ap when you “invite” them. Their recs just sit in a folder in the common ap waiting for you to assign them to each school. </p>

<p>The reason you do not have them mention a school is that you are going to use their rec for all the schools you apply to. So you don’t want a letter saying “Johnny will be a great asset at Harvard” when you are also sending that same rec to Yale. :)</p>

<p>If you want a teacher to write a specific school rec, you might have to have them mail that one to the school separately. Do not then assign that same teacher when you are entering the teacher’s names on that page or the school will get the generic one as well.</p>

<p>And would this go for Counselor Evaluation as well (reusing recs)?</p>

<p>Basically, I would ask my guidance counselor to fill out the evaluation form through the link that I send her, and then she would only need to complete the form ONCE so that I can submit it to multiple schools? </p>

<p>Please let me know! I’m still learning this application process. Thanks.</p>

<p>Your counselor is responsible to send all the paperwork: transcripts, midyear and end of year report as well as their own rec. They are the one who controls the submissions to all the schools so it is their job to make sure everything including their own rec gets to the schools. </p>

<p>So you just need to check with your counselor to make sure they have sent everything, not worry about whether they make copies. </p>

<p>If they send everything electronically via the common ap, you will see the dates that they were sent/uploaded. If they plan to send them snail mail then after they have sent them, you need to check with the school to make sure they have got them.</p>

<p>Some schools will give you an ID and access to your application submissions so you can see the dates and arrivals yourself by logging in. Usually schools update those records every so many days. Each school is different so you need to find out how they each do it.</p>

<p>Not sure how my answer appears above your question here but read that first. </p>

<p>You are not submitting the counselor rec, transcript or mid year reports. Your counselor is automatically attached to your application so when they upload things it goes to all the schools you have applied to. </p>

<p>So the paperwork the counselor uploads goes to every school, including their rec. You do not have to worry about the counselor rec, only the teacher ones. </p>

<p>You assign teacher recs to your separate schools. Then only the recs of the teachers you have assigned go to that school. So in essence you can ask more than 2 teachers and assign different ones if you want for each school or if it is a school that lets you assign more that 2 send more if you want.</p>

<p>Hello. I have a question about the common app. Do my recommenders had to be in by the due date of each application? I’m having a lot of trouble getting my recommendations in because one of my recommenders chose to do her recommendations on paper.</p>

<p>Depends on the college. You will have to call them and see. Some colleges want everything in by the due date. Others just want your application and scores in but the recommendations can come in later. If your recommender already sent them in then they will be postmarked the date they mailed it which might help.</p>