Our GCs send everything through Naviance. The teachers upload their letters to Naviance. When the student finishes a common or coalition app, they put in a request to the GC to send the letters. The GC goes in and uploads the letters.
I suspect Wesleyan is going to fall off of the list because they require one math/science req and kiddo does not have that, but we hadn’t visited yet so it was only a maybe. Kid won’t miss what he hasn’t seen, right?
My D19 and I went to a Barnard tour/info session yesterday, and at the info session, the guy said, “THREE letters of recommendation, THREE. One from your counselor, two from teachers. Mayyyyyybe another one if you truly think it would show a side of you that you didn’t show in your application.” Then he said, last year, one application had 18 recommendations in it!!! He sounded aggrieved, ha ha.
@ninakatarina Wesleyan requires a math or science teacher recommendation? Well, there goes that. I had no idea.
I am too busy with the World Cup and don’t follow this thread often.
AP English and AP Calc teachers will write recs for my D. She requested them more than a month ago and they said they would be happy to write the recs for her.
D19 has one LOR figured out but has a dilemma about the 2nd one. The definite one is her teacher from AP Calculus AB. Picking the other person is a bit challenging. D19 has significant organizational and time management issues (partially due to ADHD, dyslexia etc) and chronically has late or missing assignments. (Math was the class where she was most on top of all her assignments.) At one point I thought of asking her AP Lang teacher who is a very experienced teacher and wrote a LOR for my D15. But then the school year ended and D19 barely squeaked in with a B in that class. Her Art teacher has taught her every year and loves her, but that’s not a core class. The other candidate is the teacher who taught both her US History (regular, not APUSH) and Criminology classes. He’s a brand new teacher and this was his first year teaching, so I doubt he has much experience with LOR’s. Her science class (Anatomy & Physiology) was a struggle and she didn’t like the teacher, so that one’s out.
So should we go with the very experienced AP English teacher despite her barely getting a B, or the Art teacher who doesn’t teach a core class, or the History/Criminology teacher who is like 23 years old? D19 isn’t targeting highly selective schools, so the LOR’s would be mostly for apps to honors programs at the public universities or maybe some CTCL’s.
They don’t require it, they recommend it. However I go with the theory that with an elite college application, anything ‘recommended’ is a requirement unless you have a damned good reason not to provide it.
@ninakatarina In the case of Wes’s “recommended” math/science recommendation, I think it’s got to be just honestly recommended. Those types of highly ranked LACs know there are some kids who are pointy and, with two very good recs from humanities teachers, it’s hard to believe that would be a deal breaker.
@JenJenJenJen All of the schools we visited said the same thing. Send the three. They do NOT want any more. Send them what they ask for and that’s it.
I don’t think you need only to have teachers where you have gotten the best grades write for you. A class in which you showed progress or lots of determination or overcame some struggles with material can make for a very strong letter. I haven’t checked schools for D2 yet, but I recall for D1, there were several schools who wanted to hear from both a stem and a humanities teacher. And some schools only wanted recs from junior and senior year teachers.
On the qty issue, one admissions counselor mentioned getting 19 letters for one applicant. Someone asked if that student was admitted. The answer was No. Followed by a joke - the thicker the file, the thicker the student.
DS19 is having his APUSH teacher write one and his Chemistry Honors teacher write one . Both of these teachers know him well because they because they facilliate the Academic Team and Science Team. He’s been a member of both since Freshman year and has been team captain on both teams for at least 2 years .
My d asked her ap english teacher to write one for her and I wish she hadn’t since it was her lowest grade with a consistent comment in the margins (teachers select from a standard drop down list) “progressing satisfactorily” - ummmm doesn’t sound like a glowing rec to me! She had much more enthusiasm and interest in the apush class so hoping she will ask her to take her place. USC actually said they only want one rec because they feel each rec is just so similar.
@corinthian I’m no expert but I wouldn’t worry much about a new teacher writing a recommendation. That lack of experience also means the teacher is less likely to sound burned out or bored by writing the letter and it may be more glowing than a teacher who has been writing them for decades.
One of my d19’s LOR is going to be from a newer teacher.
Just a reminder to check your kid’s “school list” and to look at what kind of recommendations they require. Some want 2, one from a STEM class and one from a humanities class. Some just say 2 of anything.
My kid’s best 2 will come STEM classes, but he’s getting one from a history teacher too, because one school asked for stem and humanities. For the other schools he’ll use Physics and Math recs, as those might be better and more relevant for an engineering kid.
My daughter’s LOR (I don’t think she’s applying anywhere that requires more than one teacher and one GC LOR, except for a program at St Mary’s that requires an extra non-educator letter) will come from one of her math teachers, from whom she’s gotten an A and a B, thinking that yeah, any math teacher can talk about how she’s got good mathematical instincts, but a glowing letter (and he’s made it clear it will be) from someone who taught a class where you clearly weren’t the top student in the class? Strategically good, she figures.
My vague recollection was that D19 got her LOR for a couple summer programs she applied to from her Physics teacher (they were Physics programs, and she wants to study Physics) and APUSH? I think only one college requires a non-STEM LOR along with a STEM LOR, but it’s obviously much easier to choose those 2 than to tweak the LORs to find a second STEM LOR for the schools that don’t have a non-STEM LOR requirement.
But D19 has done no work to get those LORs for the upcoming year (aside from writing thank-yous to the teachers for writing the previous LORs). We can wait until school starts mid-August…
I’m surprised everyone is getting 2 and 3 letters. My D16 never needed more than one for any school. I haven’t checked all S19s schools but assume they only need one as well. I thought only very selective schools asked for more.
DS16 did not apply to any selective schools . 3/5 required 2 letters. The other 2/5 required no letters.
My D19 will have 3: one from her APUSH teacher, one from her AP Eng teacher, and one from her GC. All 3 know her very well. As far as the teachers go, she excelled academically in those classes and she participated in class a lot over the last year. My S16 took a different approach. He had his AP Calc teacher write him a LOR - which was a class that he worked very hard in just to get a B. However, he doubled up in math his sophomore year just so he could land in AP Calc his Senior year. The teacher knew him well since he had her in both 9th & 12th grade. She could attest to his drive to get to the highest level math class offered at his HS - even if he didn’t get A’s in his math classes. It was a good choice to have her write one of the LOR letters ie he was accepted (and attends) a select university.
S17 did not apply to very selective schools. Of his 7 schools, 6 wanted/required the GC. 3 required 1 teacher in addition to the GC. 6 allowed for 1 teacher plus the GC (so the 3 that didn’t require, did allow) Some wanted only 1 teacher, some wanted (or allowed) 2-3 total teachers but no one “required” more than one. We sent what was asked for.and if allowed, a total of 2. I can’t imagine sending 19. Or anything more than the max listed and even then, more than 2 + the GC seems overkill!
Anyway, in his case, he gave his LOR writers his resume but both knew him so well, it wasn’t an issue. At the time he was applied as an Environmental Science major but his LOR writers were US History, and the AP Lit/Engl honors 9/Drama teacher. We went for the better relationships versus the STEM for the sake of STEM, despite his major. While he had a solid option with his PreCalc teacher…it wasn’t the same as the other two. One of which I’ve seen and it made me cry!
I think I wrote down what S19’s are but need to go check. He’s already asked and both teachers have told him they have their own form for him to fill out, so he will do that. He will make a resume over the summer which will help. In his case it’s his AP CS (who was also PreCalc) and his AP Lang (who has also been homeroom all 3 years) teachers. While he doesn’t have the deep relationships his brother did, they are really solid options who know him as well as anyone there would and I don’t think will be bland.
I just looked up admission requirements at all the schools on S’s possible list and none required more than one teacher recommendation. Some don’t require any. Phew. I was getting nervous reading all these posts.
Just double checked, none of S19’s schools require more than 1 teacher LOR and the GC. Some only require the GC. Some will take more than 1 “extra”. But it does make me wonder if he should even bother getting 2. I think we just cut the school that wanted 2. Guess I’ll wait and see what the common app indicates it will accept as that links to our Naviance.