Interesting! My school does not limit number of recs nor do they require a way to ask, but they also let you see them all so Im not sure they really follow guidelines in general lol.
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D26 school only 2 teacher recs per student allowed and they coordinate them all through counseling office and make sure every kid has 2 teachers writing for them. They also get a counselor rec. Rather than a brag sheet, the counseling office sends each kid and each parental unit an extensive survey for them to fill out over the summer on the kidās interests, key activities, awards, personality, traits they are proud of, learning style, anecdotes of various kinds, anything they want them to know for college process and college recs. They then use that information to draw off of for recommendations.
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There are also no ārulesā for LORs at D26ās school.
They have the suggested path to successful LOR request.
Talk in person- follow up email with Brag sheet/needed info- apply- follow up again to let teacher knowā¦
But this is a suggestion- not a school requirement
Some teachers have their own rules and limit the number of students they will write for. But itās an everyman for themselves type of situation 
And some teachers will let you look at them beforehand and other will not 
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Our school also recommends 2 teachers, one STEM and one humanities. My S26 has his junior year Honors Pre-Calculus teacher and his APUSH teacher writing for him, as well as his counselor. All three had extensive brag sheets for him to fill out. I would say his math teacher rec will be greatāshe loves him and recommended him for peer tutoring this year. His history teacher likes him and he loves history so his passion and participation definitely showed. His counselor probably knows me better than him, but only because he transferred in as a junior and she and I went back and forth a bunch to get him squared away and sort out his 504. Plus, he took Japanese off campus so we had a bunch of exchanges regarding transferring credit. But he goes to a big public school with a handful of counselors for 1600 kids so Iām sure admissions will put that into context.
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Oh.. ours is specific that you have to sign the FERPA on the common app before they will release the LORs. Itās all coordinated via Maia.
This is pretty much the questions on the brag sheet. Also one to the student and one to the parent. I didnāt see the student one but assume itās similar questions to the parent one.
Yes we do that as well! But they may or may not just show you it lol
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our school does 2 LOR + counselor LOR. D26ās teacher LOR are going to be from her 9th/11th grade history teacher (had same teacher both years + heās the advisor for mock trial, which she did in 10th grade) and her 10th grade AP Bio teacher. The LOR have to be from 1 STEM teacher and 1 Humanities teacher.
Counselor uses the studentās resume + 2 questionnaires that students have to complete on SCOIR (lots of open ended questions to answer) + they meet individually w/each student couple of times in the fall in order to gather into to write the LOR.
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C26 just has one LOR as none of their schools require more than one (and some donāt look at LORs at all). They chose their physics teacher who took them for regular physics last year and approved skipping AP phys1 (normal path at our school) and going directly to AP2, which she also teaches C26 this year. The teacher has also given us great feedback about C26 in class so I am pretty sure the LOR will be good. Not fussed about the counselor rec as itās a large school and I doubt it carries much weight.
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Very similar questions for us as well, however no parent ones.
Has anyone toured W & L, thatās one of the only ones on my list I havenāt toured. Not worried about prep/rich kid culture, but wondering how conservative the vibe is. I live in the south so I am not against going to a more moderate/right leaning school ( Bama,Ole Miss) but just wondering how it compares.
Oh, this makes me think I actually have no idea what a brag sheet actually is then. I have never heard the term except for on this forum. Iāve never heard anyone connected to D26ās school say brag sheet or anything like it. And, the survey has a lot of space and questions that are really about what the kid is like and enjoys (e.g., she loves crocheting in her free time, is an introverted quiet thinker whose not that interested in traditional leadership positions, thrives in settings where everyone loves to learn for learning sake not primarily for grades or because it is required for a certain future goal). Or challenges (such as - socially very uncomfortable in big groups) Many of those things I donāt think of as even in the realm of bragging as opposed to trying to give them a fuller picture of the kid including the parts nobody would brag about. But, I may have just misunderstood what brag sheet means.
Paging @DramaMama2021 who has a child that just graduated from W&L.
Same exact process here ā that is a brag sheet! 
The anecdotes are especially helpful for someone writing a rec letter.
The questions were extensive and hard to answer for my D26 ā it took a long time, especially the challenges or weaknesses part. Much like in an interview, I got the sense that the weaknesses should be spun as something positive. My kid is a perfectionist and is often disappointed in herself and in others for not performing up to her expectations. (100% an Enneagram type 1, lol.) So she went with something along those lines.
Well, I learnt something today and itās not even 10am! All this time Iāve been hearing folks here talk about ābrag sheetsā and have been thinking that is something D26s school doesnāt do. 
I hate that name by the way, brag sheet sounds obnoxious and the survey was anything but in my opinion.
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The letters at our school are stored in the system and sent to the colleges through the college advising office/counselors, so the students never see them.
BUT, my older kid ā D22 ā follows her favorite English teacher on social media, and he messaged her years later asking if she wanted to see what he wrote. YES, yes she did, lol. And it was awesome. (English teachers are always good because you gotta figure they write well!)
This is terrible. You would think the teacher/mentor would have the grace to politely decline the request for a rec letter, just saying, āSo sorry, Iām not able to write you a letter at this time.ā
One of my good friends is an AP Lit teacher, and sheās done this a number of times for students she couldnāt in good conscience recommend. That seems better than writing a bad rec!
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D26s school send the LORs through School Links so the student does not see what was actually sent in. Just that it was sent.
But her CS teacher sent D26 the rough draft to look over. Asked if there was anything included that she would want to be removed and/or if there was anything that she would want to be added that was not already in there.
So D26 will not see the final version- but knows what will be in there.
Any teacher that does this should be ashamed of themselves!!! There is nothing wrong with telling a student that they would not receive a good recommendation from them- but to agree to write one and then submit a bad one is wrong!! (IMO)
We expect students to use the power of communication and professionalism- we should expect no less from teachers.
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I contacted the moderators about that poster several months ago and was told they were aware of the issue and trying to figure out how to handle it. I noticed a blissful time when they werenāt responding to many, if any, posts. Alas, theyāre back. It makes me wonder if their time in the naughty corner has expired. 
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D26 is submitting 2 teacher LORs (humanities and STEM) and her counselor letter. She was told that she should have 2 teacher LORs max so thatās what she did. Both teachers have had her for multiple years and know her well, so they should be able to say nice things about her. She did have to provide a brag sheet, but she already had her resume prepared from recruiting, so it wasnāt much additional work.
This part, I donāt get. If you canāt write the student a glowing LOR, you should politely decline so the student can find someone who can. To me, a āmehā letter is on par with a ābadā letter. Perhaps Iām projecting, but 2026SwimDad got hosed for fellowship match by a āmehā letter from a prominent professor. One of the programs was kind enough to let him know not to use the same reference in the future, as it did him no favors.
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