<p>^^great post; great advice!!!</p>
<p>My kid’s strength and what he wants to major in are not taught at the high school. He already knows that his history teacher will write a letter for him, but it looks like he needs another teacher. His next “best bet” will be moving to another country next year. He wants to major in Sound/Audio/Recording Engineering and he has a bunch of experience through church, and they have offered to write a letter, but it looks like they want a teacher’s rec.</p>
<p>I do like your thoughts on teachers playing up the strengths, I would do that too. I suspect I had a bad rec from a teacher in high school - I found out later that he didn’t like women in technical fields, so I guess I’m a bit more concerned than most. But yes, most teachers would probably politely decline - that makes sense.</p>
<p>“His next “best bet” will be moving to another country next year”</p>
<p>Both of my girls received recommendations from teachers who left the year after they taught them (no, they didn’t chase them away lol)…have your son discuss the process with this teacher and find out if they would be willing to write the rec; he/she could send it to your guidance office or actually, if more appropriate, send the recs directly to the colleges in question (older daughter did that)…</p>
<p>your son could provide this teacher with stamped, self-addressed envelopes to the schools…make sure to instruct the teacher to sign the seal of the envelope (to ensure confidentiality)…</p>
<p>an alternative is for the teacher to send your son the rec; as long as it’s sealed and signed on the flap, the college will assume it was done without your son seeing it…</p>
<p>lots of options here…</p>
<p>Oxford College of Emory University, based on my research, is a very hard school. Your 3.0-3.3 son/daughter may be advised to go to another college, seriously. Oxford doesn’t take it easy on its students just because they got lower stats. They offer the same level of work as Emory College. If you think your 3.0-3.3 son can do elite college level work, by any means, let him do it, but even people at Emory College with 3.7-3.9 unweighted HS GPA average struggle. There was a thread on here where a student from Oxford posted that the average GPA is 2.7. I do not believe that getting a <3.0 GPA just so you can tell people your son goes to “Emory University” is worth it.</p>
<p>Definitely not a school to be made fun of and placed in lower ranks.</p>
<p>For the rest, see you at the main campus next year. A lot of people say Oxfords a backdoor, and I blatantly agreed at first, but doing a lot more research helped me to realize that it’s the people who are using it as a backdoor and getting completely screwed once they get there. Not the college’s fault. Well, they deserve it.</p>
<p>
We could ask that, I bet she would. She seems accommodating. We haven’t figured out the short list for schools yet, so I would hate for her to have to write dozens. </p>
<p>I’ll have to ask the GC how they handle stuff like this. Thanks rodney :)</p>
<p>AtomicGirl, my S and yours sound a lot alike. Mine is typically very well-liked by his teachers (typically, not always) but doesn’t perform to his potential. </p>
<p>The key to a good rec letter is to find a teacher that knows him well. It would be helpful if your S gives the teacher a brag sheet which lists all his accomplishments and activities during his high school years. The teacher can use that information to add to his own opinions/perceptions to create a compelling letter. </p>
<p>S had the good fortune of having a teacher who was also a club adviser in a club in which he was one of the leaders. She knew him as both a student and club leader and since she is an English teacher, we had no doubt she could write a strong letter.</p>
<p>campbellmom - thanks!</p>
<p>My son has a teacher who is also an adviser for his main EC - that’s the history teacher. It’s the second rec we’re struggling with. I have thought of the English teacher for similar reasons, that they, at least, can write and his teacher does like him, although not a stellar student, gradewise (B) in there and it’s definitely not a strength. </p>
<p>Next year my son will be taking his “strengths” so to speak - music courses and finally, physics. I wanted to wait for next year to have one of these teachers write a letter, but they will only know him a bit before writing the letter and others felt that wasn’t prudent.</p>
<p>I would think a brag sheet would be off-putting - is that not the case?</p>
<p>AtomicGirl, Our kids’ school asks for a brag sheet! It makes their job so much easier in being able to write letters for these kids. S didn’t title it Brag Sheet, but rather Summary of High School Activities, but the lingo from the school was Brag Sheet. </p>
<p>I think it’s o.k. to wait for your S to have one of his junior year teachers write the other rec. You want it to be a strong letter and often times a junior-level teacher is advised. They will know him for a year and that is plenty of time to get to know a student.</p>
<p>The brag sheet that my son fills out is to help out the teachers and GC writing out the recommendation forms. The colleges don’t see it. My son’s asks him questions like what does he consider his most important achievement, what are his favorite academic subjects, what book or subject made him think about something differently, etc By the time it’s filled out, you do have a better idea about him and the teacher can tailor their letter better. There’s also one for the parents that is optional but I’ve done it for all of my kids and I think it also helps.</p>
<p>For clarification: I am contemplating waiting until his senior year to have a teacher he will finally have write a letter - he’s in his junior year now.</p>
<p>Can anyone recommend a favorite or especially helpful thread here on CC that discusses the whole teacher recommendation process? I’m sure it’s been discussed many times and so I’ll go read threads you might recommend instead of reinventing the wheel here. I’m looking for guidance re: which teachers to ask, when, how, how many, process, logistics…that kind of stuff. WiggleBoy1 is 2011.</p>
<p>I don’t have a specific thread in mind - suggest you use the search feature in the blue bar at the top of the screen. Please keep in mind that every hs does it differently and you really need to know what your hs does. Some hs have their own form - some have you give the common app form or other school specific form to the teacher. Some hs gather the teacher recs internally and mail them out with the transcript. Some have you give the teacher an addressed stamped envelope and the teacher mails it directly to the college. So, please be sure to check with your hs GC for the correct procedure.</p>
<p>Excellent advice from Rockville–it is everything you need to know. After the recs are written, ask friends in your town whether gifts are appropriate.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of a senior teacher doing the recommendation letter unless the student had him/her for another class previously. The reason for the Junior teacher is that the applications are usually done first quarter senior year and those teachers don’t really know the kids very well. Generally the student will ask a teacher that will give them a good recommendation. My older kids did not ask their math teachers because they were not planning to go into a math centered major in college and we didn’t feel that the math teacher would probably do as good a job writing the rec. I think the intended major should influence who writes the recommendation. Colleges always (I think always) ask for two recommendations and usually specify teachers, not friends or other adults. Students can ask teachers in the fall, but some teachers limit the amount of rec’s they will write so it’s not uncommon to nail those teachers down now.</p>
<p>The way it works in our school is that the students have to fill out the brag sheet and the parents have a similar one. The kids ask two of their Junior teachers (my son asked his honors English teacher and his Computer Science/Math teacher a couple of weeks ago) and give them the brag forms. We actually did them in Word and will e-mail them. Then for every college that the students apply to they have to notify those teachers and the guidance department. Guidance gives the kids a receipt that says when they got the notice and let’s the kids know when the transcripts and profile from the school is sent. I think they (guidance) also collect the rec letter from the teacher, or maybe it’s e-mailed, I’m not sure. It’s not really complicated but there are a few steps. The one that is hard for the kids is that Guidance requires a two week notice so any of those EA applications have to be ready a good two or three weeks prior to the Colleges deadline. As you all know, deadlines and teenagers makes for angst all around.</p>
<p>That’s what we’ve heard ^</p>
<p>Our dilemma is that the teacher they would most like to hear from (music) won’t be his teacher until his senior year. He was late coming to his major and we’re playing some catch up. He will have the teacher for 2 different classes.</p>
<p>I’m just not sure who we’d ask otherwise. My S would like to use a Chem teacher he had sophomore year, only second semester - the first semester teacher was let go. I’m not sure how that would look. All the rest of his teachers this year(one will do the letter) - he feels - are not the right teachers.</p>
<p>My S did some real soul searching before asking any of the teachers! He waited until December, actually! He ended up using his Sophomore Year English Teacher, a Math Teacher who had taught him in several classes, his Guidance Counselor (standard operating procedure for GC to write one) and his Music Teacher/Band Director. </p>
<p>All his schools were Common App schools so each teacher does their own thing! Some will submit electronically & some will give to Guidance to mail or fax. In the case of the Music Teacher, that was given to S. We then faxed it to Admissions Depts ourselves. </p>
<p>S recently brought in thank you notes to all 4 & left in their mail boxes, a Starbucks gift card was enclosed. We like to do something as a thank you!</p>
<p>My S used his sohomore & junior year science teachers. The junior year teacher was the department chair, he wrote a truly excellent recommendation that I really think tipped the scales on some admissions.</p>
<p>Regarding teacher recommendations: do we actually get to see/read a copy of what they send? What is a polite and acceptable way to request this? My S has done really well in AP US History (A in the class – don’t have AP exam score yet) as a junior this year and I think he should ask that teacher for a rec. He didn’t just get good grades, but actively participated and found the course intellectually stimulating – fantastic change for a “B” kid who is a bit shy. Will probably ask Brit Lit teacher for the other rec. He’s hovering at just an A (final exam to could make or break this one). Teacher is excellent and tough as nails. Can he ask for a copy of the rec?</p>
<p>Teacher rec rules are best discussed with you rcounselor, as they vary among schools. At our school, you cannot see the rec. The “brag sheet” used at some schools–and some teachers will take them, others not, at our HS–give you a chance to steer a rec in certain directions. Otherwise, your child, when making the request, can explain why he is asking, for example, a teacher who gave him a B to write the rec.</p>
<p>Your son seems like a great kid–and one who might bloom in the right small B school</p>
<p>At my S’s school the teachers will not give the kids copies of or let the students/parents read the recs. The kids have two brag sheets to fill out for recs. One for the GC and another for the teachers.</p>