<p>on the commonapp teacher recs page, a small space (half a page) is given for the actual rec letter. my question is,</p>
<p>can the entire rec letter be printed out and attached?</p>
<p>how long usually is the letter? 500 words? 1000?</p>
<p>I asked for hand written recs becuase i think it shows the adcom that the teacher who wrote it cares a little more and put more effort into the letter for good reason. But i dont expect to get any back hand written.</p>
<p>Colleges don't care whether the reccs are handwritten or typed. What they care about is the content of the recommendations. That -- not whether the reccs are handwritten or not -- is what is important to the schools: the specific information they get about a students' character, academic performance and academic skills, not whether the recc is typed or handwritten.</p>
<p>College adcoms also know that teachers may have to write reccs for 100 students a year, so the colleges also don't expect the recommendations to be individualized for each college that a particular student is applying to.</p>
<p>I used to write student reccs when I was a professor. If a student had asked me to handwrite mine, I would have politely told the student to go elsewhere or to accept my typed recommendation. People who write recommendations are doing students a favor, and it's best to make it easy on them by providing them with information about where you're applying, how you decided to apply to those schools, what your career/college objectives are and what achievements you've made in the teacher's classes (such as excellent term papers or exams) and in any clubs the teachers advise. Don't ask for things that aren't necessary and simply will add to the teacher's load or give them cramped hands.</p>