<p>At the beginning of this school year, I was sure that Lehigh was the college I wanted to go to. I was honestly only going to apply to Lehigh except my parents made me select two other schools to apply to as well. Lehigh only requires one teacher letter of recommendation so that is all I got. Now, I am beginning to reconsider and am no longer so sure that I want to attend Lehigh. It was clearly not smart of me to limit myself by getting only one teacher letter of recommendation, but this is the position I am in. It is very frustrating because it seems as though any college with below a 20% rate of acceptance requires two teacher letters of recommendation and a guidance counselor (I do have a guidance counselor letter of rec). I was wondering if anyone knew of any competitive colleges that only require one teacher and one guidance counselor letter of recommendation?</p>
<p>Georgia Tech and California public universities do not consider recommendations at all. But cost and financial aid may be an issue if you are out of state.</p>
<p>Yeah I am from the east coast so California would be too far. Thanks for letting me know about Georgia tech though!</p>
<p>Could you ask another teacher for a letter of rec and claim you wanted to apply ED to Lehigh but changed your mind, and now need another letter of rec? The RD deadline for most schools ranges from Jan 1 to Feb 1. I would assume that a teacher would write a letter of rec for you. </p>
<p>Adding onto what UCBalumnus said, most public schools don’t require any letters of rec. Also, don’t use the selectivity of a school as a proxy for its academic quality. I can think of at least a few schools that accept only about a third of all applicants but aren’t considered to be academically excellent. Conversely, plenty of schools have over a 30% acceptance rate and are still extremely rigorous.</p>
<p>Sorry-I don’t think I worded my post very well. I am not basing the academic quality of a school based on selectivity. I referred to the selectivity of a college because I am looking for a ‘reach’ school to apply to. I already have several schools I have applied to that are above a 20% rate of acceptance and are still quite rigorous.</p>
<p>Most of the competetive schools have regular decision deadlines in January. I think that’s enough time to get a second LOR and maybe from a teacher from this year who now knows you well enough to write one.</p>
<p>Realize too that if your letter of rec is late, it won’t be held against you. You just have to have your application in by the deadlines. A late letter or transcript just holds up your file so you don’t get reviewed as quickly as if everything were there and complete. If that’s the barrier to a second letter of rec, it shouldn’t be.</p>
<p>Why do you feel you must have a “reach school”? If you are happy with your list, and it is comprised of nothing but dead-on safeties, it is OK. </p>
<p>Now if it happens that you don’t like your list, that is another thing. If you find a school that requires more letters of recommendation, ask your teachers politely about providing that letter. Yes, some will be happy to write a last minute letter to a place that is a good match for you that you have just discovered.</p>
<p>Rice only requires one.</p>
<p>Yeah I guess applying to that one reach school that I will most likely not get into isn’t worth going through the trouble of getting another teacher letter of recommendation. Although, does anyone know of any similar colleges to lehigh and lafayette?</p>
<p>For what major? Location?
Lehigh and Lafayette are pretty different - are you looking for another Lehigh? Hard to make suggestions without knowing your stats.</p>
<p>Similiar to Lehigh/Lafayette:</p>
<h2>Boston College, Colgate, Richmond, Wake Forest</h2>
<p>Syracuse, Clemson, Maryland, Delaware, James Madison</p>
<p>I intend to major in computer engineering so I am basically looking for good engineering schools along the east coast-preferably medium sized. I have spent a lot of time researching colleges but can’t seem to find that perfect fit that others have. When I do happen to discover a school, I will research people’s experiences on this website and college ******* and end up getting discouraged by the bad things others say. </p>
<p>I don’t know my exact GPA, but my SAT scores are 740 for math, 670 for writing, and 620 for reading.</p>
<p>and thanks for the college suggestions-I will definitely research those!</p>
<p>UVa is very competitive, specifically for OOS students, and only requires one teacher LOR and the letter from your GC. It is significantly larger then Lehigh. I don’t know if you consider 15k medium sized.</p>
<p>FWIW, I know a young lady who is a second year at Lehigh this year and has loved her experience there. Have you had a chance to visit the campus yourself and see what your own impressions are?</p>
<p>Bucknell only requires 1 LOR. What does your transcript look like? How many APs etc?</p>