<p>Hi Group,
I am a new member and am so glad there is a forum for me to ask questions. My son is going into his senior year and we have been receiving lots of applications. Some of the schools include a letter of recommendation form that must be filled out and returned directly to them. In the old days, we asked a few teachers for letters of rec. and these letters went into your transcript that was sent to school. (All the schools saw the same letter) Now it seems some schools have their own form to fill out. Does this mean my son needs to keep going back to the same teachers over and over again to fill these out?
Thanks for any insight. Septembermom</p>
<p>Most teachers will write a single letter, copied multiple times, and ATTACHED to the special form the colleges have.</p>
<p>Be sure your S provides his teachers with the form, as well as a stamped, addressed envelope(s), and a post-it noting the due date.</p>
<p>Some recs your S may never see (he should ALWAYS check the box stating he waives his right to review them), and some his teachers may provide him for his file.</p>
<p>PS: Welcome!</p>
<p>Usually teachers will word process a recommendation and just copy and paste the information onto each form; that way each school receives the same rec but on their own forms. I know with my daughter her recs were almost the same except each teach talked more about her wanting to attend her first choice school on that rec. I think while this is a lot of work for teachers, most know what they are getting into when they agree to write the recs.</p>
<p>Make sure your son sends a thank you note or gift to each teacher that agreed to help him. Nothing big, just a small token.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the quick reply. I am sure I will have many such questions over the next year. It is just so different from “my day” and definitely more overwhelming. Thanks again for your help.</p>
<p>Just to add to what the other have said, lots of colleges have two sided recommendation forms, where one side is a series of check boxes and the other asks for answers to questions or a recommendation letter in general - most of my HS teachers filled out the front of the form and then attached a printed letter instead of filling out the back. </p>
<p>Also, I used to give all my teachers a copy of my resume (along with an envelope and due date post-it) to give them an idea of what I do outside of their class so that they can sorta tie everything together.</p>
<p>“Just to add to what the other have said, lots of colleges have two sided recommendation forms, where one side is a series of check boxes and the other asks for answers to questions or a recommendation letter in general - most of my HS teachers filled out the front of the form and then attached a printed letter instead of filling out the back.”</p>
<p>Typically that’s how I handle recommendations for students.</p>