When do you ask teachers for recommendations?

<p>When should I start asking/emailing teachers for recommendations?
I will be a senior this fall (2006).</p>

<p>try emailing them over summer if u can</p>

<p>just dont wait too long because soon they will be bombarded by all ur classmates and will get stressed out (and thus will end up writing very generic recomms)</p>

<p>its best if u let them know early on (like spring of junior year) so they have time to think out and plan a well-developed and thorough letter for you</p>

<p>so email them now and give them a heads up</p>

<p>i already asked during finals week... told them that i would b applying to michigan in early september so giving them a heads up that i would need a rec and they were cool with that</p>

<p>How many teacher recommendations should we have?</p>

<p>I asked my English teacher two weeks ago, and I'll probably ask my chemistry teacher as soon as I get back to school in early September. I don't know, I just prefer to do it in person.</p>

<p>Approach them ASAP. Usually colleges want one or two recommendations from teachers and one from your counselor.</p>

<p>I'd say October. You don't want to make the mistake of not asking a great senior year teacher to write your recs.</p>

<p>I have the same teacher for junior and senior year ( doing IB diploma , so I have the same classes) so I asked my teachers just before leaving for vacations.</p>

<p>megaman, me too. I had my English teacher in 9th and 11th grade, my chemistry teacher in 8th, 10th, and 11th, and will have both of them again next year. At least I don't have to worry that they don't know me well enough (or perhaps I should worry that they know me too well?). ;)</p>

<p>wait... you all ask over the summer? whoa...</p>

<p>Hm..teachers only need to write one rec, right? And then they photocopy it? Or how does this work</p>

<p>At our school, we usually do it towards end of junior year.</p>

<p>There's only one teacher that I feel comfortable asking for a rec (well.. 2... but the other one isn't writing recs for anyone UGH), so I'm probably going to ask one of my sr year teachers to write me one.<br>
Do you think if I ask after one month or so of school that they would know me well enough to write a decent rec?</p>

<p>One of the teachers whom I was going to ask isn't coming back to my school next year. Crap...</p>

<p>And I'm not sure if senior year teachers are willing or know a student well enough to write a rec.</p>

<p>^^^^^^^^^
Wait, does it matter if the teacher isn't at the school anymore? One of the teachers I was going to ask is teaching at a different school next year. Do they have to still be teaching at your school?</p>

<p>that's a good question. I would like to know too...</p>

<p>No they don't, during the last two years our school had been crumbling and none of the teachers our staying. So my math teacher for three years left after my junior year b/c he found a better job at an all-girls private school. Nonetheless, he still wrote about twenty recommendations for me and my friends and we all managed well so I don't think it's that a big a deal.</p>

<p>Also, giving good recommendation advice. It's usually best to avoid teachers who only had you freshman year, and try to get a teacher from opposites subjects, so try for one in English/History/Foreign language and the other in Math/Science. Also, if your school allows you to view your recommendations I would definitely suggest that you ask for three recommendations and pick the two you would be happiest with.</p>

<p>I will be attending two college classes. Does it matter if one of my teachers is a college professor?</p>

<p>Hmmm, I don't see why not, but I'll check on it for you unless someone else comes up with the full answer.</p>

<p>What if you're applying to a lot of schools? Do you ask those teachers to write several recommendation letters, or just a general one and photocopy it X number of times for you?
If they have to write it X number of times, that'd just be annoying, I'd think.</p>