My D asked her one teacher before school stopped for COVID in March! LOL He limits letters but said she was first in line! She asked her other teacher a week or so ago also. Now she has to fill out a few questions for each. Our senior packet is due June 5. I need to remember that - time is slipping away from me these days!
Teachers limit recommendations here too and D21 asked back in March. She asked the teacher she had for English honors sophomore year and for yearbook this year. She thought that was a good choice since sheās known her for two years and they have a close relationship. Her other teacher rec will come from her sophomore chem teacher. I know itās not typical to choose a teacher from soph year but this teacher asked D if she could write her a recommendation. Theyāve remained close this year and D visits her before school all of the time. I like that sheās got an English teacher and a science teacher for balance. She emailed both of them again a month ago to ask if they could upload their recs to Naviance by June in case she wanted to apply to Wake Forest this summer and she confirmed with her guidance counselor that her rec will be ready as well.
I am not quite sure how recs work here since we donāt have Naviance. For an official transcript request you have to drop off a stamped envelope at the office and pay $1 so they can mail it to the college. This is a school with a graduating class > 1k.
I think D is going to end up using one soph teacher as well.
This year for academic classes she had:
Chem (teacher knows her from homeroom too, so that works well)
Spanish (probably would be OK, but Iām guessing she doesnāt write great recs)
AP Lit (probably good writer, but I donāt think she cares for D21)
AP Calc (Second block so only had teacher 9 weeks)
AP Bio (Second block so only had teacher 9 weeks)
APUSH (Second block so only had teacher 9 weeks)
She took AP Human Geography and AP World from the same teacher as a soph. He really likes her and Iām guessing would write a great rec. He wrote one for her this year for a local leadership position. We didnāt read it, but she was selected.
Spanish teacher has had D last 2 years. But I think the soph teacher will probably be able to write a better rec. We are in a school where not that many kids apply to schools where letters are needed. The plus is that makes it easier to get. The downside is that outside of a select few I donāt think these teachers write many and donāt really know what they need to look like.
Does this plan sound smart? The Chem teacher and the Soph teacher? She will probably apply as a pre med/History Major.
@dadof4kids that seems like a good plan!
I posted a question a while back about asking 10th grade teachers but didnāt get any feedback, so Iām glad this is an option! D is planning to ask her calc teacher and possibly AP Gov, both from this year, but her English teacher from last year had a much better chance to get to know her. Beyond the school closure starting in March, they had a long teachersā strike in the fall, and a couple of her teachers from this year took leaves for various reasons. I suppose flexibility in the recs will come with the territory this year.
Yes, my S may use his PLTW teacher from sophomore year as one of his recs. He needs a STEM teacher and he had 2 math teachers (plus a sub for a few weeks) plus coronavirus this year so didnāt get to know them. His āscienceā this year was AP Computer Science which was an online course b/c his small public school doesnāt offer it in person. Loved the class but has no relationship with the teacher.
Even though heās pre-engineering, his āprimaryā rec is history ā heās had same teacher for 3 years and this teacher is a rock star who loves my kid. This rec is already lined up; he needs to decide for sure the other one.
S21 was told they are supposed to ask before the school year ends. His first choice is his French teacher (heās had her for 2 years and really likes her) but since heās apply as an applied math or stats major I suggested that he also ask his Calculus teacher.
If all you have to say about COVID-19 is that the transition to online learning sucked and that you were disappointed that your ECs and summer plans were canceled, you should probably skip the question. (Unless you wrote a musical that never got to be performed, made it to nationals only to have the tournament canceled, were admitted to a highly prestigious FREE summer program that never took placeā¦ or something along those lines.) Otherwise, it is best to write something short about appreciating the silver lining of family time and the opportunity to dig into books and hobbies.
This is the perfect space for kids with more remarkable circumstances, like those who:
- Lost family members to COVID-19
- Were unable to focus on schooling because they had to supervise several younger siblings while their parents worked double shifts as essential workers
- Had to get job to supplement the familyās income
- Worked shifts in the food bank or sewed hundreds of masks, etc.
D21 asked three teachers for LORs several weeks ago. Her English teacher got back to her right away and said yes. She didnāt hear from her Calc or Physics teachers as of the last time I asked. She sent a follow up email with her resume attached and I donāt know if she heard anything yet. Today is not the day to ask! Good luck to all the AP Chem and Physics I kids today! Mine is taking both so I am headed to the office to free up the WiFi.
For LORs, D21 asked two of the four professors she had this year. Two of them she had all year long, for two different courses each. She also asked someone in our community who is seen as a leader in her unique/odd EC as an āotherā recommender. She asked all three in early March. The three said yes and two wrote their letters already and sent them to her via email. She politely replied to those emails without opening the attachments, explaining she could not read the letters herself, because she wants to honestly check the box on the Common App that says she has waived her right to see them. She explained that to her recommendersā¦I am not sure any of them have dealt with the Common App before since they are not high school teachers. She has since explained a bit about what they need to do over the Common App once August 1 rolls around, and sheāll touch base with them before then just to say hello and to remind them about August 1 (she will start the Common App ASAP and get the recommendation part done on her end first thing).
I need to write my own letter, since I am her guidance counselor as the homeschooling parent, but that will wait until Julyā¦I also need to write our school profile and finish the course descriptions (on the to-do list for June)ā¦which is, so far, a sixty-page document but is exactly what many schools on her list want from homeschoolersā¦descriptions of each course, if they were online or in-person, every single book and text used during high school, grading scale for each course, how grade was determined, examples of papers and science lab work, etc etc etc etc. The course description document is a massive thing which I fully expect will put admission officers into comas. But it is what many want (and I understand why and have no problem with that). Really, I am guessing theyāll flip through it quickly and scan to make sure bases were covered to their satisfaction. It is super-organized so they can find whatever info they want for any particular course quickly.
So excited for all of your kids who have secured or at least requested LOR. Our high school is definitely an early fall requesting type school - my daughter is the first of her friends to ask so she felt very on the ball. Maybe the teachers will put a little extra effort in because they donāt have a lot of requests yet and early summer is still pretty much locked down where we live.
Our counselors have yet to send Senior Packets/brag sheets etc. I donāt even know when S21 is supposed to start reaching out for recommendation letters so I told him to be proactive and start doing it now. Heās going to ask his APES teacher and possible either one of his band directors or his debate class teacher. Should LORās only be from core subject teachers?
@momof3b When my older kid went through the process, she was advised to pick one STEM teacher and one humanities teacher. Most important was to pick teachers who knew her well and where there was reasonable confidence that the person could write effectively and get stuff done on time.
This is what is requested on the admissionsā pages of the colleges to which my D21 is applying. One extra is sometimes okay if there is something different and informative that be gleaned from, say, a coach, a community leader, etc.
I would check with the colleges your son is interested in. I have always heard they should be teachers in core subjects, and preferably from 11th grade. Again though, to be sure I would check with your sonās specific colleges.
@Momof3B One humanities and one STEM is ideal but, if that doesnāt work, two recommendations should be chosen from the five main academic subjects - math, science, English, history, and foreign language. I would not use a band teacher. Many colleges only need the GC rec and one teacher rec, not two, so you can check on that too.
D is using her Latin teacher, but sheās had him for 2 years - and would have been going to Italy with him this summer but we know how that endedā¦!!! But he also is the advisor for a club sheās done all of high school so he knows her well. The other is her honors English teacher, who she really likes. Luckily, she got to meet with her counselor to go over the senior packet the day before school ended. Others are doing it virtually.
My S17 didnāt go to this school so I need to figure out how it works - one school sheās interested in (App State), she wants to apply in August because itās just the common app. The letters are only needed for the honors college application, which is due by Nov 15. I guess the dates get loaded into Naviance so they know when to get the letters out by? Iām thinking I should probably email the guidance counselor because I donāt know if thereās a limit - like could she do EA at every school she applies to? S17 was all rolling admissions and was done early. D would like to be done early too since sheāll probably have a lot of time in the summer!
@NJWrestlingmom I donāt think teachers check Naviance for the due dates of their letters. GCs are typically over worked here and, even though they can see when recs are due for each school for each student, they are not reaching out to teachers and asking for recs. They tell the kids they are in charge of making sure the recs get sent.
A student can see on the Common App if recs have been sent. It will even say the teacherās name. So, when S19 was applying, he gave his teachers a 30 day buffer ādue dateā for his earliest app. He had one EA school and he gave the teachers a date 30 days earlier than when his recs were due for that app. He didnāt want to give them the real date and be all stressed. His teachers did get them in without him having to hassle them.
And your D can apply to as many EAs as she wants.
@homerdogā¦interesting. Thatās not how S17ās school worked! Teachers uploaded the letters to Naviance and the school sent them out to the colleges based on the dates in Naviance. Guess I need to confirm with guidance! So far Dās list has a lot where she needs to get everything in by Nov 1 or 15 to be eligible for merit and/or honors college consideration so itās really important it gets done on time!
My D is fortunate in that her sophomore honors English teacher (who has been among her most effusively complimentary teachers) will also be her AP Lit teacher and I canāt imagine she would turn down a request. (Her AP Lang teacher told the class last fall that she is too busy to do any recs at all). Her teacher for AP physics 1 and pre-Calc will be her AP Calc teacher next year, so that is perfect. He has added optional positive comments on her report card each grading period, so I think heās a safe bet. Since she scores relatively low (compared to ERW) on SAT math, I think/hope his recommendation could carry some weight to mitigate the score if she canāt bring it up.
I really wish a third recommendation were necessary because her band teacher would write a fine oneā¦Itās clear that he likes her and he probably knows better than anyone her true personality, work ethic, sense of humor, and how she works well with others to make the group succeed without turning the spotlight on herself. Sheās a really quiet kid in class and in most environments most of the time (from what both she and teachers have told me throughout the years) and doesnāt outwardly appear to exude the āpassionā that seems so sought-after by AOs, but she is that quiet, steadfast, low-drama, behind-the-scenes glue-that-gets-things-done in any group. That shows up best in band, as well as her more lighthearted, social side (on all those band trips among friends). And, despite her reserve she did get the best freshman instrumentalist award, best marcher award last year, section leader in all-county band and will be section leader in fall marching band (though I doubt that will happen). She has several ECs but doesnāt have ECās or evidence of leadership that tops what she did in bandā¦and without an extra āsomethingā on her app like this, I feel she would fall through the cracks at the reachy, maybe even match schools on her list.
As far as APs sheās really nervous about APUSH tomorrow. As you-all know, it will just consist of one DBQ. She said her class did exactly ONE DBQ last fall! They analyzed small excerpts lifted from documents over the year but only the one real DBQ. Not only that, but she left the small binder that happened to contain her DBQ material inher locker back in March (when she couldnāt imagine a world in which she wouldnāt return to school). I told her to look online for tutorials on how to do a DBQ. Any suggestions for good ones? At any rate, I told her not to worryā¦that colleges are going to place little weight on AP results this year, and honestly, I donāt care about getting college credit (though I feel for those who really do need it).
To be honest, with everything up in flux, I find myself less and less invested on a daily basis on the college search as I did in the past. With such a constant fluctuation of data and of speculation, it would drive me crazy to be as fined-tuned about it as I was. We also find the online college talks unremarkable in getting much of a feel of the distinctions between LACs (and my D is totally undecided about majors and potential careers so perusing course listings just confuses her more).
I feel at this point that anyone is fortunate just to stay safe, healthy and go to any decent college at all, so at the moment Iām not as concerned as I was about my D finding the ābestā school for her. That may change as we know more in the coming months but right now Iām more in āhunker down and batten down the hatchesā mode even as my state is on the brink of trying to open things up.
Stay safe, and good luck everyone!!!
@inthegarden I agree 100%! The broader context does shift oneās priorities, doesnāt it?
Try YouTube or Khan Academy for DBQ tutorials. Also, there should be one on the College Board website. My kid accessed them for a different subject.