<p>Last year when my D was applying for college, one school asked for a Science Rec. It had to be, from either a 10 or 11 grade teacher. The problem was the Chem. teacher retired after her junior year.
D had to asked the Math teacher, along with a quarter of the graduating class. Her office looked like 42 street during rush hour.
From the few college applications I read, no where do I see that the Rec. has to be written during the senior year. However, everyone gets them during that year.</p>
<p>My son requested his during the end of his junior year. The teachers wrote them over the summer. Teachers I’ve talked to strongly prefer that rec requests be made during latter part of junior year. They are too busy in the fall of senior year.</p>
<p>Jolynne I think it’s a good idea to get them the summer before senior year. However It’s up to the teacher.
I think schools should let parents know when a teacher is leaving. I have to admit the teacher did tell the kids. I was not thinking about Rec. at that time.</p>
<p>I’ve heard it’s a good idea to get this nailed down before the rising senior leaves for the summer. This is especially true for the more popular teachers. In my S’s case, because the last math class he took at the HS was his sophomore year (for AP Calc BC), he’s already asked that instructor for his LOR. He’ll get it, too, because this teacher is fond of him, recommended he forgo AP Stats and so now, S is taking an on line class in Linear Algebra. It would prove to be difficult to get a meaningful LOR from the on line instructor. Fortunately, the AP Calc teacher has been following S’s progress, knows S has volunteered time as peer tutor in math, etc.</p>
<p>Caveat: If your student will be doing something meaningful the summer between Jr and Sr years that should be highlighted in the LOR, you might mention this in advance to the LOR writers.</p>
<p>Still, I’d nail down those 1-2 LOR writers before leaving for the summer. Two weeks into the Sr year, I’d present them with the resume (to help them write the LOR … many HS provide a guideline on how to do this which the teachers are familiar with so probably best to follow their lead for this purpose.)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The kids always know when teachers are retiring. They just need to be reminded to think about recommendations in advance if a favorite teacher is retiring.</p></li>
<li><p>But many retired teachers are perfectly happy to write recommendations. You just have to ask.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Asking a teacher at the end of junior year is fine. But you’ll still have to give the paperwork to the teacher who has to sign and perhaps fill out some short answer questions. But the hardest part (the letter itself) can be done early though.</p>
<p>It’s good to ask the teachers at the end of junior year. However, they might procrastinate, as one of my D’s teachers did, and not get it finished until the day before the deadline. But there’s not that much the student can do other than gently reminding them about it. It ended up being a wonderful recommendation and it all worked out fine in the end. </p>
<p>A friend of mine ran into a small problem with her D using a retired teacher in that the school wouldn’t let the retiree use the school letterhead and envelopes for the recommendation letter since she no longer worked there. The student got caught in the middle of the argument so it was a bit stressful for her.</p>
<p>Some schools’ applications say that they want the rec to be on a specific form. After I freaked out about that on this board I was told that most teachers disregard the form and just staple their own letter to the form. So you can’t freak out if your child’s favorite college asks for a certain form?</p>
<p>Also, where is the letter going to live over the summer? Lots of teachers and GCs will not allow the student to see the letter.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies.
Jhs my D did know the teacher was retiring, unfortunately, I wasn’t thinking about recommendations at that time.
Missypie I hope the college counselor can be in charge of the letter until it is needed.</p>
<p>At my (public) school, teachers all talk about recommendations starting in May of junior year, and some departments even have recommendation application processes that start in April/May. </p>
<p>Regardless, as a lot of other people said, it’s probably best to ask the teacher for the recommendation itself before the summer. Some teachers have their own forms that they ask you to fill out or may ask for tentative college lists so that they can think about it over the summer, and then you can give them the “REAL” recommendation forms (CommonApp, whatever) the next year when they are released. The letters would live with the teachers; there is no need for them to print them out or anything before you provide them with the addressed/stamped envelopes to the schools that you are going to be applying to.</p>
<p>S1 knew he was starting a lengthy scholarship app. process between jr. and sr. year.
The app. required recs from an English teacher and any other teacher in a core subject. S got both recs. back before the end of jr. year and was able to proceed with the scholarship app. over the summer. The teachers didn’t mind at all and were very prompt.</p>
<p>“Also, where is the letter going to live over the summer?”</p>
<p>We made labels w/address of each school & return address of son’s HS & gave them to teachers (w/forms, if necessary). That way they could mail them out directly to schools. </p>
<p>Beware, though, some teachers don’t access email/mailboxes over the summer. Son’s follow-up email contact w/one teacher never rec’d. He didn’t bother to do rec until Sept. But, it worked out okay.</p>
<p>It’s always a good idea to ask a teacher if they’ll write you a recommendation junior year. When they actually write the thing is up to them! Usually there will be a form the teachers are supposed to fill out as well, so while my son lined up teachers as a junior he actually gave them forms as a senior when he actually knew where he was applying.</p>
<p>My kids made ALL of their college recommendation requests before the end of their Junior year in high school. They made appointments to see the folks in person. Then they provided the teachers IN WRITING…all of the necessary names/addresses. They followed this up by an email. Right at the start of the senior year, they contacted all of these folks and EVERY one of them had the references ready to go.</p>
<p>I agree. Teachers like to do them over the summer. My daughter asked for her recommendations well before the end of her junior year.</p>
<p>Before the end of his junior year, my son asked two of his AP teachers if they would write recommendations for him for college. He also called a college professor who taught his calculus class during his sophomore year. He’s glad that he made all those contacts early. Those teachers were swamped with requests.</p>
<p>My son’s guidance department suggested asking teachers in spring of junior year. That gives the teachers time to do them (even over the summer) at their own pace. The GC takes control of them then and mails them out.</p>
<p>Check with your guidance office. At our district hs all teacher recommendations go to the guidance office, which allows the same letter to be sent to all colleges a student applies to. The student folders are not prepared until senior year so any teacher rec could be misplaced.</p>
<p>BTW, the teachers love this insofar as their work is one and done for each student request.</p>
<p>My son wrote two teachers a note over the summer to ask if they would consider writing them. In both cases, they said yes and “let’s make a plan to sit down after school begins and discuss it.” Both are very popular teachers to ask but one is very good at saying no to kids. If nothing else, he was on the top of their “to do” come fall.</p>