<p>On the second day of school, Son asked his favorite teacher if she would write college rec letters for him and she agreed. He did not get the forms, addresses, etc. to her until yesterday. She said, "I'll have them out by Thankgiving."</p>
<p>YIKES! I had **no idea **that a teacher - even a popular one - would take in excess of seven weeks to get the letters out. We need three on the Common App form (which, of course, is just one) and two letters. The early action deadline for the three Common App schools is December 1st, which is the day she would mail them if she does them over Thanksgiving break. One of the schools for which a letter is needed has an EA date of November 1st.</p>
<p>What should we do? Give up on EA? Beg? Offer to bring dinner to her house for a week? It's rather late for Son to switch teachers, plus, due to massive teacher attrition last year, he doesn't have a lot of options.</p>
<p>this probably is not as bad as it seems ... the comment about writing the recs over Thanksgiving was probably a generic response targeting the typical due date of applications around January 1st. I'd suggest you son goes back to the teacher and explain the specific due date of each of the recs, ask if the earlier dates are OK, and explain that he certainly understands if the teacher can not write them on this tighter time frame. I'd be very surprised if the teacher does not adjust to the rec deadlines.</p>
<p>It really isn't a big deal. The deadline dates are enforced only for the student-controlled part of the applications: the application itself, any supplements, and any payments. Schools give much more leeway to those parts of the application over which the student has no control: teacher recommendations, transcripts, school reports.</p>
<p>In fact, a college will often contact students a month or so after the deadlines and say, Your application is missing these pieces of information. Please send them ASAP. And then once received they consider the application.</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice, which is a lot more constructive and caring than the flip response I just received from the guidance counselor: "You should have realized that she would have zillions of letters to write...." Zillions...thanks, lady, that makes me feel so much better.</p>
<p>She also suggested (not as a joke) that we send a thank you gift (she mentioned a Starbucks gift card) now, and maybe that would put us in the front of the line.</p>
<p>I am *so glad *I have CC to come to for legitimate advice.</p>
<p>Our school has an official form that must be filled out by student requesting a recommendation that gets turned in to GC. Then it goes to teacher who looks at forms and puts the requests in order based on when letter is needed/deadlines. Students start filling out the forms for popular teachers at the end of junior year! Who would know!!! We found this out from friends who had older kids. We did give gift certificates to teachers who wrote letters for taking time away from families/school. I'm sure if you talked with the teacher and let her know about deadlines she would juggle her schedule.</p>
<p>Our HS GCs tell the kids you MUST give them or a recommending at least two weeks notice, and that is 10 school days, not counting holidays. And encourages students to request these sooner. We almost goofed on Jan 10 or 15 date deadlines last year; those requests had to be in before winter break.</p>
<p>Our GC has the same rule...two weeks notice...that is what threw me...I wrongfully assumed that the teacher would give something near the same turnaround. Even with four weeks turnaround, we'd be in great shape. Seven weeks was truly surprising.</p>
<p>D submitted her requests the first week of school. Luckily, she is only one of a small handful of kids who were even thinking of college applications a month ago. All recs for her have been done and the transcripts are going out.</p>
<p>But I'd like to thank the person who "suggested" a gift card as a thank you gift. I was trying to think of something to do for them, the GC really went out of her way to get all 10 transcripts out for D, but then again, D doesn't go to a competitive high school and the past month was rather slow for the GC, paperwork-wise.</p>
<p>I think the GC actually wants a Starbucks gift card for herself! </p>
<p>I was thinking of making a donation to Komen in the recommending teacher's honor, since she is passionate about that cause (she's doing the three day walk.) It's kind of sticky, because younger daughter has the same teacher for two classes. I guess we'll ignore that part and she will, too!</p>
<p>Does the teacher KNOW that your son is applying EA? If not, make sure she knows it! I would cave and buy the Starbucks gift card as a way of thanking her for hurrying up the letters. It wouldn't hurt at all to have all material in by Nov 1.</p>
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She also suggested (not as a joke) that we send a thank you gift (she mentioned a Starbucks gift card) now, and maybe that would put us in the front of the line.
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<p>that is simply outrageous (even if it was a joke). And to tell you that it's late to ask, one month into the school year, is, also. You might want to bring this up with the higher ups (after apps are in, of course.)</p>
<p>I do know (from experience) that the colleges do not penalize the student if the teacher recs don't make it by the EA deadline. Admission reps know that the student has little control over this aspect of the app and also know that teachers are busy.</p>
<p>(My son requested a rec - early - for a scholarship app. The teacher decided a couple of days before it was due that she was swamped with work and wouldn't do it. She contacted the gc by email with that brief message - never contacted my son at all. Gc told my son who came home upset; I talked to the wonderful gc the next day who was not at all happy with the teacher either, but explained that little could be done from that angle. Gc worked with my son and together they decided on and then contacted a teacher who had not returned that year. The teacher wrote the rec and it was submitted after the deadline, but it was probably an outstanding rec with a lot of thought put into it. Sometimes things work out for the best :) BTW - the counselor said that teacher recs were often late and the colleges gave leeway there.)</p>
<p>This is interesting--I didn't realize the schools were so lenient with recs, etc. So if the deadline for early decisions is approaching, is it appropriate for our kids to gently remind/ask the teachers that he provided the materials to a month ago that this deadline is approaching, or given the lenient stance of schools, should the kids just let the teachers file the recs when they get to it?</p>
<p>I think the gentle reminder (i.e. a note with the date due and a thanks in advance) is probably the best route. The schools may not penalize, but without doubt a complete application is a good thing.</p>
<p>missypie--that's frustrating! Could son pull out the <em>one</em> school he wants EA in and ask her to just do that one first, then give her stamped, addressed envelope? I know that's not much of difference (she has to write a complete letter) but maybe that would get her to see the need for speed on the single EA school? Just a thought.</p>
<p>Missy, if your son's interactions are a bit awkward and tend to get misinterpreted, you might want to go over to the school and thank the teacher for accepting the rec requests and then ask if there is any possible way they can get out well in time for EA. I did this with my son who does not interact very well when asking favors. He had actually told his teachers that he was not applying EA, then changed his mind when we looked at some of the EA vs RD accept rates.</p>
<p>Ummmm..... I don't wanna be a wet blanket here, but I'm detecting an air of "entitlement" on the part of some students and parents (not necessarily the OP). Teachers do not get paid for doing recs. My d's English teacher just told the class she has 74 kids who have asked her for recs. Yes, 74. If she does one per night it will take her 2 1/2 months. My son's science teacher told the kids first day of senior year that he only does 20 recs - first come, first served. He doesn't feel he can do a decent job on more than that.</p>
<p>If you need a rec by a certain date, give it to the teacher as early as possible, and GIVE THEM THE DATE YOU NEED IT. If you don't tell the teacher you're applying EA, they don't know. Most schools have deadlines of 1/1, in the case of state schools even later than that.</p>
<p>Teachers have a job to do. They also have a life. If you want a good rec - and the teacher is doing you a favor by writing your rec - then give it to them EARLY, let them know when you need it, and THANK them in advance.</p>
<p>BTW, if you are a junior and you have a teacher with whom you have a good relationship, it's fine to ask them if they will write your rec around the end of junior year. They may have a chance to write it over the summer - or before the end of the junior school year (when they're not writing dozens of other letters) and it can be put into your file in Guidance until it's needed.</p>
<p>Hmm, I have to concur with Lafalum. Both D1 & D2 approached their teachers before the end of junior yr for letters of rec. And, the templates are given to the instructors no later than the 3rd week of September with a cover letter noting any early action/early decision applications. Perhaps the teacher was not aware and needs to be brought to her attention.</p>
<p>Don't despair, missypie! I second cptofthehouse's advice -- try to see the teacher(s) yourself with a thank you gift in hand. At that point, I'd mention the deadlines. If everything else is in by the EA date and the letter is on the way, I think you'll be OK. They don't read all the applications the day after the deadline. Some places won't read an application until everything is in, but I haven't heard of anyone not being considered for EA because one piece of an application is missing. </p>
<p>My daughter lined up her letter writers her junior year. Early on senior year, she put post-its with deadlines on her addressed/stamped envelopes that she gave to her letter writers, with a thank you note, all in a zip-loc bag. One teacher lost his entire bag. Of course no one realized this until the EA college was missing his letter. The teacher felt just awful. There was a bit of panic, but the letter eventually got written and sent. </p>
<p>Hang in there!! I hope you will let us know what you do and how it turns out.</p>
<p>At D's school, all letters of recommendation are forwarded to Guidance by the teacher(s). The GC then submits the rec, resume, and official transcript together to the schools she is applying to. D applied to 5 schools last week, so the packages went out then.</p>
<p>I don't know if they do this with ALL kids, right now it's slow in the GC's office kids as most kids in D's class are still trying to figure out where to apply.</p>