When should I start approaching my teachers for recommendation letters?

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm only applying Early Action for 1 college (Georgetown University), and regular decision for all of the others (deadlines are in December and January). So when should I start asking my teachers for recommendation letters? I believe Georetown's Early Action deadline is November 1st.</p>

2

<p>As soon as possible.</p>

3

<p>Yes, do it now.</p>

4

<p>Do it now. Delay, and the teachers you want recommendations from may not be willing to write recommendations for more students. Writing a recc takes about an hour. The best recommendation writers and most popular teachers often limit the number of students they’ll write recommendations for.</p>

5

<p>I would suggest tomorrow</p>

6

<p>Should we tell them an earlier deadline if the actual college deadline is December 30th?</p>

<p>i.e, please finish the letter by December 15th. This gives us time to proofread and submit early I think…? Or would this be rude?</p>

7

<p>They tell you to give them an earlier deadline, usually.</p>

8

<p>“please finish the letter by December 15th. This gives us time to proofread and submit early I think…?”</p>

<p>In most cases, teachers don’t show students their letter nor do students mail the teachers’ letters. The teacher either gives their letter to the GC to submit with the rest of the app or the student gives the teacher a stamped envelope addressed to the college, and the teacher mails the letter directly.</p>

9

<p>^thanks for the response.</p>

10

<p>And most teachers will write one “To whom it may concern” recc letter per student, and students can use that for all college and scholarship apps. Colleges know that teachers lack unlimited time, so this is what colleges expect.</p>

11

<p>You need ask immediately! You definitely don’t want your teacher to feel rushed by an impending deadline when you ask.</p>

12

<p>So how does it work if you want to send the one rec letter than the teacher writes to multiple colleges? Do I just tell them how many copies to make, and bring them a different envelope for each college?</p>

13

<p>Are doing all paper applications or the common app or what? If its the common app, then your teacher just writes one rec and you can use it over and over again.</p>