Re: Recommendation letters

[EKT]

My junior is about to submit requests to teachers for recommendation letters for the college applications she will be submitting next fall. I haven't yet started poking around in any actual applications (the Common App or otherwise). If her teachers say yes, what exactly are we asking for at this time? Do teachers typically write the letters now, while the experiences are fresh in their minds, and give me (the counselor) digital copies? Or, do her teachers submit the recs directly into the applications using a link of some sort generated by the application? (If so, how soon would they be able to do that, generally speaking?) Any advice to how-to info would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

(I used to be a high school teacher and wrote tons of college recs myself for my students, but that was 16 years ago now! Back then, I was still sending them in actual paper envelopes....) 

[Clemsondana]

In the common app, students enter an email address for the teacher and then the recommender is sent a link.  The most recent scholarship recs that I wrote were also submitted directly to the organization or school after I was sent a link.  It's pretty rare to give something directly to a student - I did that for a summer job rec recently.  I think there was one college a few years ago where a student asked for a rec to be given to the student, but I asked for a link to the school and was able to send it directly there.  

[jplain]

For one scholarship app (Indiana University Wells Scholarship) the letter of recommendation had to be uploaded to the scholarship portal by the guidance counselor (me).  Otherwise they were all submitted via the Common App as described above.

[ScoutTN]

We did not use the Common App. Dd entered the recommender’s email in the applications and the schools contacted them directly. Dd could see in her portal if the rec had been turned in or not.

She did think about whom to ask and speak to those people about it late in her junior year, but the action all happened in the fall of her senior year.

Edited April 8 by ScoutTN

[saw]

You may already be doing this, but if not, it would probably be helpful to provide a cv or summary of activities to the recommenders. DS will ask his recommenders this week (that is, if he listens to me and the school counselor lol). He will send a request, along with a summary of his background, ECs and college majors, and likely ask for a call to discuss any questions. It's a small school so the teacher will likely be happy to have a quick chat with him. I know from speaking with the teacher he is asking that the teacher had no idea DS is very much a STEM kid, which made me realize it is important for the recommender to understand how the class s/he teaches fits into the kid's profile.

I don't expect the teacher will write the rec until summer/fall, but this avoids the last minute rush for the teacher. Somewhere on the Common App you will be asked to waive your rights to see the recs, and the general advice is to waive your rights.