<p>My D had all of her auditioned-for schools applications done by September 1. Now, we are having a hard time getting her recommenders and her counselor to get their letters and forms in. Any ideas how to encourage them along without irritating them too much? My sense is that it is just so early that folks aren’t really understanding that this is a key part. I have decided not to panic until October 1st. I would love any suggestions!</p>
<p>As a teacher, here is my advice- have her tell her recommenders she has everything in. If a kid let me know all their stuff was turned in, and they felt anxious about getting everything done, I would step up when I planned to write the letter. Normally when a student asks me for a letter, I ask them for a date, and then I work things into my schedule, but if there is time (example, I have 3 letters I need to do, but none of them need to be in until Oct, I haven’t been rushing) I put it further down my list of things that need to be done on any given day. If your D goes to her people and asks politely (without of course being demanding or pushy) I would imagine it would move up their list of things to do!</p>
<p>With all that said, last year I found that D’s schools would let her schedule auditions etc as soon as HER part of the application was done, even if other people’s letters and forms weren’t. And then I felt better about life :)</p>
<p>Every school I asked also allowed you to schedule auditions as long as the application was in, even if it was not complete. You must have everything in by the time of the audition though.</p>
<p>I agree that most schools will allow you to schedule the audition if your part of the application has been turned in. But… did you give the teachers a date by which you needed the recommendations completed? Human nature for most of us we won’t get it completed to on or just before that date. If you have not already given a date by which you need it completed, I would recommend you send a follow up email to them thanking them for taking their time to write the recommendation and let them know that due to the need to schedule auditions once your child’s application is complete, recommendations must be turned in to the school by October 1. See if there is anything you can do to be of help. I assume most recs are sent via email or common app these days. But if you need snail mail, have you provided an addressed, stamped envelope for them to use?
If you’re just needing a reason to follow up with them for a reminder - perhaps you can send them an update to your child’s activities that they might want to know about as they write the recommendation. Has your student recently gotten a part in a show? Have they started volunteering somewhere? Did they receive recognition for something recently? Just any excuse to update the on what your child is doing and in the process check in and see how they are coming with writing their recommendation.
Good luck!</p>
<p>I just wanted to chime in that I feel your pain!</p>
<p>Just a note from a Teacher… many of us do up to 20 recommendations a year. (at least I have the past few years) It’s a lot of work, and most of us take it really seriously, we WANT to help kids reach their dreams. I agree with @vvnstar , if you didn’t give teachers a date, it is more than fine for the student to shoot them an email, or stop by in school and let them know that they are hoping to have everything complete by a particular date. </p>
<p>And as a note- while I am 100% on board with the idea of the BFA application process as a “we” thing, talking to teachers about recommendations should come from the student; they are the ones who have a relationship 
I personally find it mildly annoying to get requests (or reminders) from parents- it’s between me and the kid. </p>
<p>Very much agree with all of toowonderful’s remarks; I’m an arts teacher, and we tend to get a lot of last-minute requests. Also true in general that as long as the student’s part of the application is in, they should be able to schedule auditions–none of my son’s schools required him to wait until all components had been received. </p>
<p>Our school’s counseling office asks us to upload all recommendations by October 15th, and they send a weekly reminders to the entire faculty. It’s not a bad thing for a kid to stop by (or email if necessary) to say “hey, I just wanted to check and make sure I’ve given you all the info you need for my recommendation.” And then, of course, it’s really nice to let your recommenders know about your results when you start hearing back from schools. :)</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the input. My D has taken the lead in communicating with the teachers. I think October 1 is a reasonable deadline (they’ve had it for several weeks but we didn’t communicate a deadline). We put together a spreadsheet for each teacher because there are a variety of methods for the recommendations and provided addressed stamped envelopes for those that need to go snail mail. I didn’t realize that being ahead of the game would create this unanticipated stress of having to wait for others! I am just relieved that D got her apps in before and just as school was starting since she is in rehearsals for two shows now! Good luck to all on this crazy process!</p>
<p>Also, as I mentioned on another post, if the recommender is using a university or other job-related email address, have S/D make sure that they RECEIVE the request. S’s voice teacher had to use personal email address b/c his university email filtered/blocked the request from common app. Also be ready for any “PICNIC” issues. For some reason, S’s h.s. counselor could not send replies to our specific email address - resorted to phone calls, although everyone else at the school seemed to have no trouble. One more loose end to attend to. . .</p>
<p>Thanks for the information! D will be sending reminders this weekend and we will double check that they got the Common App prompts.</p>