<p>@toowonderful, how do I know if my school uses Naviance, ask the counselor? The counselor won’t be the one writing her recs.</p>
<p>We found that Naviance worked pretty seamlessly for all the common app schools and academic teacher recommendations; everything was accessible to teachers, guidance counselors, students, and parents online. We needed to track and manage the artistic recommendations (voice teacher, community theater director, dance teacher) ourselves, though.</p>
<p>@evilqueen, I don’t think anyone answered your question about scheduling the audition. Most auditions were scheduled online, some were via email after being notified about passing a prescreen and Roosevelt required a phone call. For most of the schools we had control over the scheduling. Ithaca really didn’t give many options outside of the date. THey chose morning or afternoon. The D had to email a couple of schools to reschedule as a result. The other schools were very accomodating.</p>
<p>Some schools had you submit your audition preferences with the prescreen (Indiana comes to mind) and assigned you based on what you indicated on that form.</p>
<p>Thank you @GSOMTMom and @kategrizz!!</p>
<p>@evilqueen - yes, ask the counselor. Different schools use different programs- but Naviance is widespread. Guidance counselor doesn’t write a “letter of rec” per se, but they do have a section they write about the school, courses etc that each kid takes (I would call it a paragraph) Gives colleges an overview of the environment etc…and sometimes they do write about the kid specifically- I’d check with your counselor. My D’s counselor did- so I made sure she had the same sheet with info (my own school calls it a horn sheet, as in “blow your own horn”) that we gave the teachers writing Recs. BTW- if your kid’s school doesn’t do a sheet like that, make SURE you do- really helps teachers write specifics. For example, I wrote a Rec this year for a student who got his eagle scout award in 9th grade. I didn’t know him until 10th grade- so while it might have been mentioned, it wasn’t on the top of my mind. However, seeing it on the sheet, I could use that as evidence for why he is dedicated, hardworking etc etc…rather than just spitting generalities. </p>
<p>It is only May and I am already starting to feel anxious and panicky. </p>
<p>Don’t worry, @MTmom2015 – we’ve got your back! One step at a time, it will all come together.</p>
<p>MTmom2015 - I felt anxious too. I felt much better when I could finally start the process; scheduling, making reservations, etc., and when son could finally start the applications, pre-screens, etc. The waiting and anticipation was much worse than the actual process.</p>
<p>Can anyone give me some info on letters of recommendation? Most schools seem to want 2 (plus guidance counselor), and I wasn’t sure how onerous it is for the teachers to fill those out and submit. S will probably end up applying to a LOT of schools, given how the odds keep getting worse each year, which means he might be asking his teachers to be submitting between 15 and 20 recs. Is that pretty easy for the teacher once the initial writing is done, or is it a lot to ask? Would he be better off finding 4 teachers willing to help and splitting the recs among them so that no one teacher is having to submit more than 8-10?</p>
<p>Also, when we were at Syracuse, they made a big deal about how they are trying to improve their academic reputation, and that they want 2 academic teacher recs. Would this mean that even thought he wants MT, he shouldn’t be trying to use his choir teacher or someone else in the arts as one of his recommenders? When they say academic do the schools mean the core curriculum type of subjects?</p>
<p>Thanks for the help!</p>
<p>@toownderful, thank you for the help. I got the “blow your horn” forms for D and she has begun filling them out. One of them has 12 questions and it is actually helpful I think for essay writing also to think about these things :)</p>
<p>@evilqueen - happy to help 
@zebrarunner - a recommendation from an academic teacher is usually pretty generic- meaning that it can be submitted to multiple schools- I never talk about specific colleges in one I write for my students. My D applied to 11 schools- same academic letters went to all. I wrote recs for several of my seniors- one letter each kid- then copied it on letterhead/signed, and uploaded to common app- done. One kid ended up needing one more copy- printed, easy, 15-20 schools would not have been an issue- esp with common app- I upload once, and it goes to all his schools. If students are going to apply for competitive scholarships that require letters those are different- and you might want to ask other people. Can’t stress enough- GET YOUR RECOMMENDERS LINED UP NOW- save stress later. Most colleges count a music teacher as an academic- my D’s 2 “primary” letters came from AP English teacher and Choir teacher. She also had drama teachers and outside directors write letters, which were submitted when necessary. </p>
<p>How important do people think these recommendations are? I ask because D has a very big name she could ask on the artistic side who knows her very well but I don’t see this person being willing to do more than write the letter. I would worry that having to upload to the common app would not happen. She has many other people to ask where I have a comfort level that it would get done promptly. Does she go for the biggest name or a smaller name but less stress?</p>
<p>We had 2 artistic recommendations. Each of them wrote a letter then D took them envelopes which they put the letters in and then signed over the seal. We then took the envelopes and mailed them to the colleges. There were a few that needed them either e-mailed or through an on-line system, but most took them via the mail. </p>
<p>Perfect! Thank you @LoveMyMTGirl!!</p>
<p>zebrarunner - we had the same question about one of the schools (I think it may have been Syracuse) - what did they mean when they said “academic letters of rec”? - so I called the school. They would only take a letter from a teacher of English, Science, Math or Social Studies (History). They wouldn’t even take Spanish as an academic letter of rec! However, don’t go by what I tell you; when in doubt, CALL THE SCHOOL. My daughter didn’t make a single phone call - I called all the schools when necessary. I said I was calling on behalf of my daughter and the admissions people at all the schools were happy to answer all my questions. Sometimes the websites are not clear as to what they mean by “academic” subject area, sometimes they are clear. Rather than mess it up, I called, and then felt so much better that I received the answer directly from a person who knew the requirement at their particular school.</p>
<p>evilqueen - I’m sure others will chime in disagreeing with me, as some did when I voiced this opinion in a different thread, but we found the letters of rec didn’t help at all. My D had a big name write one - it didn’t help. Now, if the big name had a personal relationship with the person who decides whether your child gets in or not, it may be a different story.</p>
<p>It’s all about the talent in the room during the audition. We visited many colleges and this question sometimes came up in the parent Q&A at the Open House. The head of MT at a prestigious conservatory told us parents over lunch that he doesn’t even read the letters of recommendation. He said, “who is going to give a bad recommendation?” SEVERAL other schools said that they don’t ask for artistic letters of recommendation (they only ask for academic as part if the normal admissions process). They all said that they did not care what someone else thought of the student’s talent. They all said that THEY wanted to assess the student’s talent at the audition. After all, what director is going to take someone else’s word for the student’s talent. THEY want to be the one to decide on the level of talent.</p>
<p>That being said, ask the big name anyway - it couldn’t hurt. He or she can print out several letters, you give them the addressed and stamped envelopes, and they can just sign a bunch of letters, sign their name over the back flap of the envelope to show the envelope has not been tampered with, and drop it in the mail. We even had the recommenders sign 5 letters that they addressed to “To Whom It May Concern” - we used a few for late schools we applied to at the last minute, and also brought copies to the auditions in case the regular recommendations hadn’t arrived to the school.</p>
<p>The 5 blank envelopes with the letters were all needed and used. Sometimes admissions had not forwarded the packet to the auditors in time for the audition. Also bring extra headshots, resumes, the transcript and anything else the school required. Always have extra of everything at the auditions, including extra clothes.</p>
<p>I don’t think an artistic recommender would not be able to load into the common app- you have to have a school code to be official. So in that case you would need envelopes etc- which is what we did for my D’s artistics, and sent to schools. However, asking to print a bunch of copies is not an extraordinary request. </p>
<p>We needed academic letters for most schools. I just assumed academic meant English, social studies, science or math. Even Julliard said academic.
We had an artistic letter the teacher emailed me as a PDF and I printed and mailed to a few schools.
One of the auditors from UNCSA did notice my D’s artistic Ietter. He is a movement teacher and the letter was from another movement teacher. He had read it before the audition and commented on it to my D. He said something like it was a very favorable, strong letter.
So, letters do sometimes get noticed.
Of course my D ultimately got rejected from UNCSA so I don’t think the letter helped but it was noticed. </p>
<p>Re: LORs. I think it’s always best to confirm with each school what they mean by an academic letter. Usually, it will be from a teacher of a core subject but not always. As for a letter from a big name, it is unlikely to make a difference if the audition isn’t up to the school’s standards. Unless you’re like Shoshana Bean and entering an audition with a letter from Stephen Sondheim, it’s not going to be of much help.</p>