I’m asking this on behalf of my younger brother who is applying to Exeter.
His math teacher had agreed to write a letter of rec, but today, the teacher handed him a sealed envelope with a hard copy saying she didn’t want to submit the letter online, because the online form required her date of birth, and she didn’t want to provide it.
Has anybody run into this situation before? AFAIK, Exeter requires everything to be submitted online, and requires one letter from a math teacher. This is his only math teacher.
Discretely talk to the principal or other administrator. Give them the sealed envelope, and ask them to scan and upload the document on the teacher’s behalf.
You shouldn’t have somebody scan it behind the teacher’s back because it would require adding in her date of birth, which is considered “confidential personal information” that is not supposed to be disseminated without someone’s consent. If I was the teacher and I found out, the least of what I would do is contact Exeter and kibosh the application. I would not expect the GC or any other school personnel to participate in such a scheme.
I would have your parents contact Exeter and explain the situation. It may be that the teacher was a victim of identity theft and is reluctant to share personal info she sees as irrelevant to the task. I can understand that. Perhaps Exeter would agree to accept it without the dob or with only the year or month and year, if the teacher would agree to provide that info. Under no circumstances would I participate in any ruse to circumvent the teacher.