my S27 (international) submitted an application yesterday (it was his 4th one in the US, and I think the last one). The application yesterday required two teachers and had one optional outsider. He assigned teachers and his former summer job employer who had already provided recommendations. He contacted the former employer to let him know about the new submission and he sent S27 a copy of the recommendation he had already submitted which was addressed to the university for which he had first assigned him. S27 does not know whether the (public school) teachers have also addressed their letters to another university, because they have not shared the content. He is afraid that because one of the teachers was very enthusiastic about his first choice (the application that he submitted in August) she might have included something specific to the university in her letter. He will try to contact them, but he has changed schools in between so it might take him some time until he can reach them. I read a previous thread here (from 2024) which referred to the Counselor and said that the letter could not be changed afterwards so I assume that the same applies for teachers.
My question is. Should S27 contact the admission office of this university about it and ask how he could resolve this?
Thank you for the reply. Yes he submitted through common app. He does not know what the teachers have written, he knows now what the employer had written because the employer sent him a copy of the letter he had previously submitted. He is still worried that one of the teachers will have written something enthusiastic about his first choice university inside the letter so he plans to talk with her. I will alert him to what you said that he is not allowed to ask about the content of the letter, so that he does not do it. Is it ok, if he asks only whether she has mentioned the other university in her letter?
In all cases, they wrote about him. That doesn’t change from one to the next.
No doubt this happens every year.
The colleges are curious as to whether you are a fit.
For most colleges (private), for international students, $$ will matter most. That’s what they want.
Leave it be - is my guidance. Nothing good would come out of reaching out to a school. You submitted a letter. It will say something positive about your son. That doesn’t matter if it’s Boston U or Boston College. What was said about him is the same.
If you can’t change it, what’s the point of asking if it included the school? He can’t do anything about it. A LOR mentioning a college will not be why a student is rejected.
And the person who sent him the letter was wrong to do so.
It should be thrown out and removed from your mind.
Here in the U.S., kids waive their FERPA rights, ie their rights to review a letter. If they didn’t, that would likely be a black eye toward their application. Schools want these to be candid and honest, not designed by a student.
In this case, let it go - and it’s unlikely to have any impact because as I noted, they know you are not applying to one school.
I agree with tsbna, don’t contact the teacher. Even if the teacher put a specific school in the LoR, your S can’t swap out letters. I’ve read many LoRs that mention a specific college (that wasn’t where I worked)…it happens, and won’t hurt your S.
It’s the writer’s prerogative to give the student a copy of the letter, even if the student waived their FERPA right to see it. FERPA says nothing about prohibiting a letter writer from voluntarily sharing the letter with the student. It’s not a FERPA waiver violation for a student to read a letter that is voluntarily given to them.