Newbie question on LORs

Applying to College
1

Trying to use crowd wisdom from other parents to make sure we understand the LOR process correctly.

  1. If we ask for an “optional” recommendation and the recommender doesn’t submit on time - is the application considered incomplete. My kid’s previous internship supervisor is out-of-country - we have added him as “optional” for LOR. So, if he doesn’t complete on time, we are assuming it is OK and college will still process the application. Is that correct ? (this is what we have read online, but trying to make sure)

  2. Is it relevant to submit LORs for internship/activity from freshman year in HS ? We are hearing that the later ones are more relevant and LORs 2+ years doesn’t really add value. Any thoughts from other parents would be useful.

2

No. But even for the required recs, there is usually a grace period. Your kid, however, generally has no grace period.

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3

Obviously an optional letter isn’t required so you are good.

Getting letters is difficult. You have to stay on people.

If it’s optional, as opposed to an optional essay, I think it’s fine if you don’t have - but of course it may depend on the school.

A Freshman one in theory isn’t as good. But it certainly won’t hurt.

Good luck. I doubt it will move the needle one way or another. If they want the student, not having an optional LOR, from a non-teacher no less, won’t matter IMHO.

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4

Can you please elaborate on what “your kid however generally has no grace period” ?

5

Optimally the LoR’s need to come from teachers junior year (or multiple years) in core courses, one in math/sciences, the other in English/social sciences. The teacher needs to know the student well to speak to specific positive attributes of the student tying actions to attributes. It is best to get in front of the teachers during the summer before senior year before they get overwhelmed with requests. Some teachers may limit the number of LoR’s they will do.

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6

It means the application is due by the deadline, and the kid shouldn’t assume that the grace period applies to them.

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7
  1. It will not be a problem if an optional LOR does not arrive on time.
  2. LORs from recent activities would carry more weight. Hopefully the student has grown, matured, increased abilities, etc. since freshman year.
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