Princeton comes to mind. I think this is also true of several of the NESCACs.
Our teachers write their letters over the summer. Most are well versed in doing so. They send that to the college counselor who then sends everything together to the school once the student submits their CommonApp to a given college.
I don’t know if it has changed (I don’t think so) but when I was at Cornell everything was campus adjacent, if not officially on campus.
Tonight, my kid tells me the AP Chem teacher already announced he’s not taking any more LOR requests for class of 2025. Yikes! AP Chem is the typical junior science class at our school so he has all juniors. TG my kid had already confirmed he’d write one, I didn’t realize c25 was on top of that.
MIT social life is on campus. They’re too busy to go off campus 
At my '25s school they are told to ask Q4 of Jr year. that is protocol. however, all schools are different, reach out to guidance.
NESACs (as someone else pointed out) or schools with a higher than average % of greek life. Colgate, in my day, was often a back-up for Dartmouth.
AP Calc this morning. D25 is still studying this morning. She feels unprepared. Her teacher has been on leave for the last 3 weeks. It’s very unfortunate. She looked up what you need to pass and I guess you only need a 40% on the test to get a 3 and 60% to get a 5. She needs at least a 4 to get college credit at the schools she’s looking at.
She’s not as worried about AP Lang for tomorrow. Says there’s not much she can do to study for that one.
True. Mine feels the same.
Does anyone have any thoughts on UCSB for an out of state business student? My son is obsessed with the place but I don’t think it’s worth the price. He is in talks with the coach there but I’m assuming no substantial scholarship money for his sport.
D25 hasn’t asked yet but will soon. One of her teachers is retiring this year so it’s important to ask now. I figure they can write the letter and then paste it into whatever. I think our school submits them through Naviance.
S25 is about to ask teachers for recommendations. He wants to study Poli Sci, but his APUSH teacher is cold to all students and just mean in general. S25 doesn’t want to ask him for a rec. Do you think it will hurt him that his teacher recs will be far outside his intended major? (Right now thinking AP Bio and Illustration since those teachers know him best and are generally nice individuals.)
Mine feels unprepared too and had a hard time motivating to study for it. She needs a 5 for college credit and feels like that’s a long shot. Glad she is at least giving it a go. Best of luck to your daughter!
D25 had her last dance recital. Bittersweet.
She asked if we could go to New Jersey this summer and I see there is a Rider summer preview day Aug 13 so we will aim to do that. That is all I have planned thus far.
Yes, same thing here, minus the teacher being on leave. S25 actually was out of school three days last week for a band event, so he missed those review days. He did study this weekend, but he had a bit of a deer-in-the-headlights look about him last night, and this morning he just looked like he wanted to throw up as he was getting ready to head out the door. I think they’ll be so relieved when this one is behind them!
I just put the important school dates for next year into our family calendar. Including graduation! Yikes!
I think what’s most important is that it be teachers who can write positive and meaningful comments about your child. I’ve also heard that schools prefer the recs be from core subjects so not sure that illustration falls in that category (certainly could use this teacher for any places that allow a supplemental rec). D24 ended up doing two STEM teachers even though her intended major is something business related and it worked out well. A few schools do specify they want one from LA/SS and one from STeM but those are few.
Apparently at our school, some teachers book up their recommendation slots really early. S25 was not able to get his favorite teacher to write a letter and has to go to a teacher that he doesn’t know all that well. Or to be more accurate, my kid is planning to do film study but his counselor recommended getting a “core” teacher to do the recommendation letters, and he only knows 2 teachers well enough from his core classes and the both only will write letters for 10 students and they booked up a long time ago, so my kid had to go with an option that he only sort of knows in one of his weakest subjects (math).
He is going to get his film teacher to write one as well, but it’s a bit frustrating.
It’s intense for sure! However, the small class sizes and ability to connect with professors helps. My S participated in intramural sports which was a good stress relief. He also worked for AskRose tutoring and as a lifeguard. He chose not to join a frat, but had lots of friends that did.
Wow, I feel lucky for DS that he currently attends a small enough school that the hunt for recommendations should not be an issue for him. That must be quite an extra level of stress for everyone’s kids!
What I’m wondering about on this front is if DS can use two letters from his current teachers or if he should have one letter from a teacher at each school, since he’s switching schools this fall. There’s an outside chance he’ll apply early somewhere, so that seems like not a lot of time for a teacher to get to know him well, which is why I’m glad someone upthread shared a link about brag sheets. The new school is about 7x the size of his current school at least, so I wonder if he’ll run into the situation where his new teachers have already “committed” to write letters for students this spring and he’ll have to scramble. It will be interesting to navigate the guidance process for him, but he’s a pretty outgoing and engaged kid, so I think he’ll be quick to figure things out and forge relationships.
My son is at UCSB and loves it, but we are in-state. I don’t know that it is worth it for the OOS tuition. Also, they do not have a business major.
You are correct. He would have to do economics and I believe they have accounting as well. Thanks for the feedback!