Letters of Recommendation

[Jen in NY]

A question:

 

Have you had your student's recommenders upoad their recommendation to the Common App even if they are not academic teachers?

 

In the FAQ of the Common App website, it seems to indicate that non-teacher recommenders cannot submit the recommendation on the "Teacher Eval" form, but I think I have seen people recommend doing just that.

 

Also, I am perplexed because there is an admonition to submit all electronically or nothing electronically, but does this include LORs???

 

:001_huh:

 

Thanks for any comments....

 

~Jen

[RENEEinVA]

I would actually like to know the answer to this one as well. We will have a letter from a coach.

 

Anyone?

[dirty ethel rackham]

A question:

 

Have you had your student's recommenders upoad their recommendation to the Common App even if they are not academic teachers?

 

In the FAQ of the Common App website, it seems to indicate that non-teacher recommenders cannot submit the recommendation on the "Teacher Eval" form, but I think I have seen people recommend doing just that.

 

Also, I am perplexed because there is an admonition to submit all electronically or nothing electronically, but does this include LORs???

 

:001_huh:

 

Thanks for any comments....

 

~Jen

 

I know my son did. He had his Karate sensei do one for him. He isn't here for me to ask how, but, if I can find it, there was a recent post on the hs2col board about this very topic.

 

ETA: Here is my post from a year ago asking this very same question and the replies were very helpful.

Edited September 4, 2012 by dirty ethel rackham

[Muttichen]

We used the electronic form on the common ap for the teacher recs (cc profs). Our kids each had a couple of extra letters --e.g., my current 12th grader plans to ask his piano teacher and his mentor at NIH where he is an intern. For those letters, we give the recommender a stamped envelope addressed to each school and a sheet with the student's ID information to attach to the letter.

[momofkhm]

For those letters, we give the recommender a stamped envelope addressed to each school and a sheet with the student's ID information to attach to the letter.

 

Is this what is considered "normal" procedure, even when not using the Common App?

 

What student info is included?

 

First student applying this fall. I'm a tad lost.

[Gwen in VA]

My oldest was applying to college at the beginning of online apps -- some of hers were paper and some online.

 

I truly believe that the online apps have made life ten times more confusing for the applicants. They may make things easier for the colleges themselves, but they are a nightmare for the students/parents to navigate!

:thumbdown:

[Jane in NC]

My oldest was applying to college at the beginning of online apps -- some of hers were paper and some online.

 

I truly believe that the online apps have made life ten times more confusing for the applicants. They may make things easier for the colleges themselves, but they are a nightmare for the students/parents to navigate!

:thumbdown:

 

Especially confusing for those of us who do not fit well into the Common App Homeschool supplement. Hopefully that is less rigid than in former years...

 

Our 4-H agent uploaded a letter of recommendation to the Common App. For what it's worth...

[FaithManor]

My oldest was applying to college at the beginning of online apps -- some of hers were paper and some online.

 

I truly believe that the online apps have made life ten times more confusing for the applicants. They may make things easier for the colleges themselves, but they are a nightmare for the students/parents to navigate!

:thumbdown:

 

 

When dd was applying, we gave up on the online common AP...we had so many things that just didn't fit that we spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get "How should we" questions answered by the admisson's departments. I finally had dd call, explain that because we didn't fit the common AP profile very well, we really needed "paper" admission's packets. THAT was sooooooooooooooo much easier. I mailed everything, including reading lists, curriculum lists, course descriptions, letters of recommendation, etc. all together in manilla envelopes and sent them registered receipt signature requested so that I knew they made it and they couldn't claim they didn't receive it because it go lost on someone's desk or in the their internal mail system.

 

That worked very well for us. However, it will be 2014/1015 when ds applies and I really don't know what to expect then.

 

Sigh......it's never easy.

 

Faith

[Jen in NY]

I called a couple of dd's schools today, and 2 out of 3 were unfazed about non-teachers submitting their recommendation via the common app. At the third school the person sounded young and unsure of her answer, so I am going with the majority. We will know soon enough, because the gentleman dd asked for the recommendation is leaving for Germany on Saturday and wants to have this finished before he leaves.

 

Now my question is, if you are uploading a pdf, are you still governed by the 2000 character limit? :rolleyes:

 

Getting 'er done, one blank at a time....

[TravelingChris]

When my first applied, it was 2004/2005 and I don't think he even used the common application at all. The second one applied in 2010/11 and we used it and we did the paper version, which was a lot easier. I don't know what we will do with last one in 2014/15 because who knows what the rules will be then?