Our kids asked in the spring, but I don’t think either teacher finished them until shortly before the EA deadlines. The history teacher had a whole list of information he wanted from the kids before he’d write the letter. It was actually quite an interesting list. He wanted to know what score the kid got on the AP (which of course isn’t available until late in the summer), an idea of the prospective major and why, what schools they were considering and why, a copy of the paper they were proudest of writing for the course, and finally a short paragraph about what had been their favorite text in the course. I think it both cut down on the number of kids he had to write letters for, but also ensured he could write a good letter.
@TheGFG No, we are a public school.
Teachers at our school are not required to write letters. They do it in their spare time because they like the kid. Giving them time to do it in the summer is preferable to during the school year, but I guess it depends on the individual teacher what they prefer. Ours seem to prefer time to write it when they are not in the rush of the school year. I guess some could be irritated being asked to work in the summer.
Transcripts can be ordered electronically or by mail and they are sent out once a week, but certified copies can also be picked up once a week all summer.
Essay topics are available in the spring so they can be written in June and July before the applications open.
RE the FERPA waiver
Why should you consider waiving your right of access? Waiving your right lets colleges know that you will never try to read your recommendations. That in turn reassures colleges that your recommenders have provided support that is candid and truthful. While you are free to respond as you wish, if you choose not to waive your right, some recommenders may decline your request, and some colleges may disregard letters submitted on your behalf. Remember, even if you retain your right of access, you still won’t be able to view any recommendations until after you have been admitted to and enrolled in a college. In other words, FERPA does not give you the right to inspect recommendations before they are sent to your colleges.
Some teachers may allow you to see what they wrote on their own initiative, but you aren’t technically allowed to request from the school to see your letter until after you have been accepted …
Also Don’t most colleges apps go live Aug 1st? So how would you complete the app the past spring or earlier in the summer?
In much of the country, school starts in August. Kids request their recs the spring before, complete the CA then when school starts, GCs add transcript and rec.
But I think what a lot of these kids are doing is their part of the CA in August, then the teacher/GC stuff as soon as that’s possible. But the kids have already hit submit.
@runswimyoga You don’t have to wait for the app to open to do the work. When the app opens, you put everything in. It takes an hour or so if you have everything ready to go.
The language you quoted is common app. There are many, many non-common app schools.
@OHMomof2 I made a thread about that.
I had assumed what the Penn State adcom said would generally be the case in college admissions. I was shot down.
@runswimyoga That’s not a very bright system. Puts unnecessary pressure on the teachers. We all submitted rec requests in the spring of junior year.
My D15 got mono in September/October of her senior year which really set her back on apps and essays. I’m going to remind D18 of that and try to have her prepare more materials over the summer going into senior year.
Yes, the first reads can seem more original and as you go through, it can seem every other kid fits a same old pattern. But for those past first cut, adcoms can reread their initial remarks, plus those of other readers, and revise a first opinion, based on a fuller perspective. Plus, by the end, they’re now aware of the whole regional pool.
Don’t forget hs vary in size. At my kids’ hs, no problem writing in Oct-Nov. The only teacher they worried about was one who was very popular and wrote great letters. But she was one of at least 4 in her dept and hadn’t taught every senior.
@CaliCash Son is at a public hs - he had no choice in the “system”. They seem to like it that way.
Personally, I was apprehensive about not seeing the letters of recommendation and having his GC choose which ones to submit on his behalf. (Although I knew they would all give him great recs…) His GC was adamant about him signing the FERPA in order to comply with the wishes of most colleges… and from what I have read that is standard.
I wasn’t sure how the dates and app links worked (my son did the entire app process by himself- I didn’t even see the common app) but I know he had trouble with outside recommenders or emails or something about getting it sent out in the right order… i.e. he had to submit app before they could send rec… I think not sure…
Having the GC choose from recs is interesting to me (and also pretty time consuming, I imagine). D only saw one teacher rec (of 3) and her GC rec, because both shared them with her. But she certainly signed away her right to see them, everyone does as far as I know.
GC choosing the recs may help in the case that some teachers write better recs than others, which the GC may know better than the students.
But it can also increase GC control of the student’s college apps beyond the GC report.
Nice article. A few quotes stand out to me:
I don’t really agree with this. I know one school that is slow to release their supplemental app questions and requirements – both of my kids applied there, and the info wasn’t even available until after Labor Day. And they HAD changed the supplemental app from the previous year in one case. Plus, if you have accomplishments in the fall semester, then they aren’t in the app. Sure, you can send an update, but better to have an app that reflects all of your qualifications. I think students should finish testing and visiting before the start of senior year, and have their common app essay drafted for sure. But all apps before Labor Day doesn’t make much sense to me.
I love these two quotes, and think they are really true.
I wanted to mention something else here for the college app process with regards to the essay and the importance of it being the students voice…
My son wrote his college essay, (I thought it was brilliant, told a compelling story and flowed well- but I am an airline pilot not an English major). I suggested he take it to his AP English teacher and have her look over it.
She tore it apart and suggested he change xyz… there weren’t any glaring grammatical mistakes rather she didn’t like the antecedents?, contractions, or his phrasing, she wanted to cut some superfulous lines … he rewrote it as she suggested. He looked sad and told me he absolutely hated it, as now it had lost his voice. I read the reworked essay and hated it too. It sounded generic.
I told him to trust his voice and keep his original essay the way he wanted it. If the ivy that he wanted to get in to didn’t like it then maybe he didn’t fit there. He kept his original essay. He was accepted to the ivy. He gained confidence in his writing and his voice.
I have asked him what his thoughts are of the college application process and he resoundingly says the essay is what he is most proud of. The fact that he crafted a story about himself the way he wanted to, as opposed to telling it the way his teacher wanted, or someone else’s view of him, or what he thought they would like to hear… He said it allowed him to believe in himself more… this was priceless to me.
You should really, really try to get all your testing done junior year. It makes it hard to finalize your college list because you can’t realistically identify safeties, matches, and reaches without your scores. Which puts you behind in terms of preparing applications. I think it adds a lot of stress to senior year to still be testing in the fall.
I agree that getting an EA acceptance is great. But we saw SO MANY students (and parents) this year who realized after putting in the ED app that they either didn’t want to attend that school after all and/or couldn’t afford it (even though the NPC had shown that pretty clearly prior to applying). I don’t think anyone in the article was promoting applying ED. Most students shouldn’t use ED.
Most admissions professionals will tell you NOT to get advice from your HS English teacher. A college admissions essay is a different animal altogether from the type of essay a HS English teacher is used to grading. Only someone who is expert is college admissions should be giving advice on the essay.
And, as someone who makes her living by writing, I will add that HS English teachers are far from the best judges of writing. Their methods are formulaic.
Agree about the essays. I work part time as a college consultant, and I do help edit essays. I have had two students who were very clear they didn’t want or need much or any help with their essays. They both had very strong voices, and I left them alone. Both were admitted to a HYPS school. Some kids’ essays need more shaping/fine tuning, but for those that feel strongly about what they wrote, let 'em fly!
My son got advice from his AP Euro teacher. He liked his main Common Application essay, but didn’t think it was good enough for the tippy-top schools. My son wrote a second essay which he used at Georgetown (rejected) and U of Chicago (got in). Since both schools were super reaches, but especially Georgetown, I have no reason to think the teacher’s advice was either good or bad. He was an interesting guy - he had them write a number of different types of papers in that class - not just the standard 15-20 page research paper. They even did one analyzing a painting.
My kids’ high school actually required them to write their common app essays in the spring of their junior year. It was a graded essay. They didn’t have to use it, of course, but they did have to take the assignment seriously, as it was part of their grade, no matter what level English class they were taking. I liked this approach, because they went into the summer knowing that they had one essay they could actually use.
I used two of the questions on my current 8th grader… the ones about whether you’d rather be the smartest in the class or surrounded by other smart kids, and the one about competitive vs collaborative. He at this point wants lots of smart kids and a collaborative atmosphere, which actually sounds like he knows himself pretty well. He’s got a ways to go clearly until he’s at the point of deciding where to apply, but based on what I know of him now he’ll have good but not perfect grades, high test scores, ap classes in stem subjects but maybe not so much in non-stem subjects, and be looking to major in something like physics or another stem field but not engineering. I was mulling over what sort of school fits that profile. So far I came up with Reed and maybe Swarthmore, plus something like the College of Creative Studies program at UCSB (we are in-state for CA). Any other really obvious places jump out? Like I said, I know we are a long ways off at this point and much could change… just starting to think ahead. (Mostly wondering about the collaborative piece… there’s so much competition to get in to so many places and then you wonder if the kids ever stop competing once they get in…)