Academic References for Common App

[Arch at Home]

My DD homeschooled almost exclusively through 10th grade. At that point, she started dual enrollment. She has one CC teacher that she has definitely developed a relationship with who will be a good recommender but she has had not as significant relationships with the others. Meanwhile, DD has taken classes from the local Shakespeare company since she was 7 and has been in their Apprentice Troupe and taken the class associated with that troupe since she was 11. I included the classes from this troupe as one of the classes on her transcript. Could the director, with whom she has worked closely with for many years, and who has taught many of the classes be considered an accademic recommender? He definitely has seen her grow and develop as an actor and as a leader.

Secondly, I really enjoy reading Georgia Tech's Admissions' Blog. The latest post was directed at recommenders and couselors. Would it be acceptable to include a link to this post in her information she is sending to her perspective recommenders?

Thanks for your input.

[kirag714]

I can't answer your specific question, but most schools seem to only require one academic recommendation. Only the most selective schools on our list ask for two. 

[Arch at Home]

Kirag, you are right. The selective school require 2 recommenders. DD has a list full of selective schools  

I will try asking this question in s different way. Does anyone have experience using a musical instrument or drama or other similar instructor not associated with a school as a recommender? How did it go?

Thanks!

[GoodGrief]

One of my daughters did have a private music teacher and a private Chinese tutor on her list. I can't recall though what category they went into. If I recall correctly, "teachers" were supposed to have some sort of association with a school that was named when the recommendor filled out the form, though in the case of some of hers, the association was a loose one: PAH, the local "Chinese school" which was not accredited in any way, a retired-from-a-school chemistry and physics tutor.

[katilac]

I don't have experience with doing it, but I would choose an enthusiastic teacher of an arts class over a lukewarm/not really know academic teacher for sure. Definitely ask the recommender to specifically mention they had her in a class, not just as part of the troupe. 

Recommenders usually like some direction; most of ours asked what the letter was specifically for and/or if there was anything specific they should include. I don't know if I would include the link, though. It's wordy and has too much extraneous information. I would probably read it myself and just add a bit of the most pertinent information in a "thought this might be helpful" kind of way. If your student has improved a lot over the years, include the bit about "where did this student start in the race and where did they finish" and so on. "Because Tommy has come so far, it would be great if you could talk about his improvement over the years." 

Edited September 11, 2018 by katilac

[Julie of KY]

On 9/9/2018 at 10:17 PM, Arch at Home said:

I will try asking this question in s different way. Does anyone have experience using a musical instrument or drama or other similar instructor not associated with a school as a recommender? How did it go?

 

For my first son, he had a math coach write a teacher recommendation for him. He was hesitant as he had never had him in the classroom. I simply told him to write the recommendation as he knew my son and submit it as through the teacher link - told him to answer the other questions the best he could or write n/a. My son got into an extremely selective school with this recommendation. 

[alewife]

On 9/9/2018 at 10:17 PM, Arch at Home said:

Kirag, you are right. The selective school require 2 recommenders. DD has a list full of selective schools  

I will try asking this question in s different way. Does anyone have experience using a musical instrument or drama or other similar instructor not associated with a school as a recommender? How did it go?

Thanks!

One of the schools one of my kids applied to required a letter of recommendation from a humanities teacher and another from a math/science teacher.  His AP English Language teacher from PAH wrote one of the recommendations, but since it had been a few years since he had taken an outside class for math/science, he had his research mentor write the other recommendation.  That approach was fine even though the recommender was not associated with a school.

Good luck to your daughter!

[Arch at Home]

Thank you for your input. After much discussion, she decided to go with last semester’s math teacher who wrote a letter of recommendation for the math tutoring job she has...Now she just has to ask him. 

[Arch at Home]

In further looking at the Common App, we learned that most of her schools require 2 teacherrs and allow for one or two additional optional teachers and one or more optional other recommender. Her Shakespeare director/teacher can be slotted in the Other and she will have to go with the 2 teacher previously identified. This is different than what I was seeing on the various school websites and last year's Common App;