<p>What is the earliest date it would be possible to get a recommendation from a teacher who is leaving? Could this recommendation be used on the Common Application (which resets August 1st)? He has already agreed to recommend me if it can be arranged.</p>
<p>Why don’t you just arrange to stay in touch with this teacher so that he can complete the letter when the time comes? Another option would be to ask for multiple copies of a written letter that he can seal now and leave with you or with your counselor.</p>
<p>This happens all the time - best approach is to ask for his e-mail address so that you can discuss options over the summer. Or, check with your GC. They may already have a plan in place, such as giving the departing teacher a list of students who would like a recommendation from the departing teacher - he writes them over the summer and sends them all to the GC. Depends on how your hs does letters - whether you the student have to chase them down individually or whether the counselors collect the letters and send them out with the transcript. But as long as the teacher is willing, should not be a problem.</p>
<p>My son had his favorite teacher write one of his recommendations. The teacher did so at the end of son’s junior year. Teacher gave college counseling office copies of his letter in sealed envelopes, and the counsellor sent off this letter with her package. It worked out very well. Our school had the email address of this teacher if the colleges had wanted to discuss anything with him. Go for it!</p>
<p>I will not be able to stay in contact with him because he is going to teacher students in a country where there is no internet access. He will not have a telephone or even an address. I could get several sealed copies, but this would prevent me from using online applications, correct? They won’t allow the application to be submitted electronically in part I’m assuming.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that as long as everything submitted by the applicant is done online, paper recs will be accepted. I feel this is true because at my school, all counselor recs are offline despite the vast majority of students doing online apps.</p>