Can you still get into colleges without teacher recommendation?

Applying to College
1

For example: NYU, U of Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Columbia, U of Michigan, and Emory.

2

No, recs are a requirement so they are required.

3

Recs are not a requirement for all schools. Pitt, for example, does not require them. I don’t know about the others.

4

Not your examples, but some colleges yes.

5

On 12/5 you said you have this:

GPA- 3.58
SAT CR+M- 1160
SAT- 1680

Based on these, NYU, , Rutgers, Columbia, U of Michigan, and Emory are completely unrealistic for you due to the extremely competitive nature of the applicant pools and low admit rates. You should meet with your guid counselor and craft a viable target list. Many of those will, like earlier respondents have said, won’t require teacher rec letters.

6

Have you moved to GA yet? If not, can you get some of your teachers in CA to commit to writing rec letters before you leave?

You said in a previous post that you plan to pay for school using grants, a part-time job, and a little money from your mom and dad. I don’t think your test scores are high enough to get you a lot of merit at the schools you listed. All you can borrow is $5500/year, so you need to find out how much your parents can pay and make a budget. It will be much cheaper for you to go to an in-state school, so if your parents can’t pay much you may need to take a gap year to see if you can get residency in GA.

7

You cannot stay in California, graduate high school there, and retain California residency?

The California public universities do not require any recommendations.

A mid-senior-year move across state lines may leave you with no state residency anywhere; check the rules for each of the states.