blondie888

how long should we give our teachers for writing a letter of rec? a week or so?

serenaxcheelam

you should give your teachers PLENTY of time! you have to consider that your teacher may be doing recs for many other students. i already gave me teachers the recs last week, and they were very surprised but very grateful that i got it prepared so early.
so the earlier the better.

dancebabe9008

Anyone know of a common application cover page?

Everyone seems to be talking & questioning about some sort of cover page.

Thanks!

MidwestMom2Kids

At our local high school the guidance counsellor tells the kids to give teachers three weeks notice, and don't count holiday days such as over Thanksgiving or Christmas break. 15 school days.

cs08carolina

when getting a rec from my teacher recently she explicitly asked for an activity sheet and then allowed me to read her recommendation which was excellent. so i dont think giving a resume is always a bad thing b/c it allows the teacher to tie in how well you do in class to your activities out of school.

differential

You should ask your teachers well in advance. You should give them at least one month with the physical application to actually write it. Provide self-addressed envelopes. Gently nudge them near the deadline. Handrwitten or in person thank yous are good.

MBJ

I spoke to the admissions office of over a dozen top schools....each one, with the exception of one school, said it was perfectly permissible for the student to collect the teacher recs in sealed envelopes and mail it to the school. This way, you need not worry whether the teacher actually mailed it out. The one exception was UVa...they want the recs given to the GC for forwarding.

southerncharm

at my school they tell us to give them AT LEAST 2 weeks, but it doesn't mean that it will take them 2 weeks to write it. i just asked a teacher today for a rec, and he said he'd have it to me by friday.

poolgirl

would it be okay if i asked a teacher who i only had for one semester? i dont usually have the same teacher the whole year.

art_star

Today I asked my physics teacher to write me a recommendation because I did very, very well in his class and he likes me very much. However when I approached him for a recommendation, he hesitated a bit when I told him that I planned to major in Economics and not any type of science.

But, in the end, my physics teacher told me to see him next week with my transcript, and that he'd think about writing me one because I'm a "top kid" and that he'd hate to "leave me in the dark." Also he says he wants to write recs for kids who want to do science, and that I'd be better off getting my math teacher to write me a rec, but the problem is that my math teacher is not a good writer and doesn't know me too well.

What should I do? Will asking a Physics teacher be irrelevant and am I better off just asking my math teacher? Also, I dropped science from my senior year courses, so I figured that if I got a science teacher to write me a recommendation, colleges will know that I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to science.

Thanks, i appreciate any advice you all can provide.

tickytock14

I was very ill my Junior year and didn't connect well with any of my teachers, except for my US History teacher. He's offered to write me recommendations many times, and I know he'd have good things to say. The problem is that he doesn't write well. At all.

Would poor grammar/possibly spelling make a letter seem illegit?

(note: he's not stupid, just... I don't know. He was a good teacher. I got a 5 on ap us, and I have him again for ap psych).

art_star

you said he was one of the only teachers you "connected" with, so it seems like he'd write you something decent.

gub

This is probably a really stupid question, but what type of envelope should I give them?

TheRisenLilith

Okay, can somebody answer the 847290346 questions about the cover page? Do we just print out the Common App. Teacher Evaluation form and stick it in an envelope?

ah2ris

seriously what is the cover page? is it on the common app?