<p>I'm an international student, and in our country it is very rare for school to have a website, so teachers don't have school emails, just their own for private use. Will colleges think that I created email accounts and made up my recs?
I'm really worried about that!</p>
<p>A college with a concern about this will contact the school directly and confirm the validity.</p>
<p>BTW, my counselor will send SSR and a transcript by snail mail, if it makes any difference.</p>
<p>So it’s possible that college would want to contact my school?</p>
<p>bumpppppppp</p>
<p>Always assume that a college will contact your school and check up on your references. Also assume that they will check out your facebook page and any other information that they can find publicly. (Assume the same thing whenever you apply for a job, btw).</p>
<p>Most of the time, a college will not do so (let’s face it they have thousands of applications, and just don’t have the time to do so), but from time to time, or if things look unusual (i.e., personal, rather than school email address) they might.</p>
<p>Here’s the good news – if they do check up on you, they’re probably seriously considering accepting you (it would be a waste of time otherwise).</p>
<p>OP- provide your counselor with a paid envelope (by you) to send your recommendation by Fedex International/or whatever is the most reliable delivery service from your country and can be tracked online until received by the college’s admissions office.</p>
<p>Many schools have reps who are familiar with a certain region, they are usually very aware of how those schools operate and what’s normal for those students. They travel around the world to meet with many school’s GCs and students. My daughter’s international school hosts college fairs, which are open to everyone, and most top tier school reps do come even though where we live is not the safest part of the world. Most of those reps have been traveling to where we are for years. They know how difficult it is for some of those students to get their SAT, LORs in on time, or travel to the US to visit. But I think they would be very good at spotting anything out of ordinary too. D’s GC said she gets calls from adcoms often to get additional information or clarify information. As someone said, it is good if they check up on you.</p>
<p>How often do colleges contact schools? My counselor doesn’t speak English, what’s gonna happen…
zephyr15, out of curiosity, what kind of personal thing might they find unusual?</p>
<p>At the risk for speaking for zephyr, I believe zephyr meant that using a personal email address (such as gmail or AOL) instead of an email address obviously based at your school (such as <a href=“mailto:advisor@name_of_your_school.org”>advisor@name_of_your_school.org</a>) would be unusual.</p>
<p>Would it still look unusual if in School Report it is stated that our school doesn’t have a website? (Not considering the unusual fact that our school doesn’t have a website)</p>
<p>Really, you’re worrying too hard about this. If an American university finds part of your application unusual, it will investigate. It wouldn’t be hard to find out that your recommendations are legit.</p>
<p>I don’t know much else about your applications. You might get in; you might not. Whatever the outcome, this isn’t going to be the reason for it.</p>
<p>It’s very different from what we have in Russia and I’m kinda freaking out. Well yeah, I should calm down.</p>
<p>My kid had to get an art supplement recommendation letter from one of her dance instructors. He is a freelancer, not an employee of a studio. He used his gmail acct to send the recommendation letter. He has written few recs for my daughter over the years for various dance programs. He writes in detail of the kind of training my daughter has received from him, by reading the letter you would know he is a legitemate instructor, and he also includes his contact information to let people contact him if they have any additional question.</p>
<p>I would suggest for your teacher to do the same. He should describe the curriculum, be specific of your contribution in class, how you stand out relative to other students. Have him include contact information.</p>
<p>Have you considered sending the teacher recommendations by snail mail? It might be expensive, but it will eliminate the e-mail address issue.</p>
<p>prostozina</p>
<p>I didn’t have anything specific in mind by ‘unusual’ – though Sikorsky’s list is good for examples. Pretty much, I’m saying that if an admissions officer is suspicious (for any reason) they can check up on things. Or, perhaps they check up on a few randomly as part of the process.</p>
<p>Just saying that they can check if they want. I reall don’t know how common this is.</p>
<p>It’s more convenient for me and for my teachers to have these evaluations sent via commonapp. I’m applying to many colleges (>20), so, imagine, how expensive and inconvenient it would be.</p>
<p>I’ve got another question, if anyone willing to answer. My mom is going to the USA soon, so she can send all my documents while there. Again, will it be strange for colleges to see US stamp on the envelope where my transcript and SSR are?</p>