Teacher recommendations- they’re not done yet!

[Anonymous]

My dd is stressed enough with her applications due November 1, and now this. She asked two teachers for recommendations last spring, reminded and provided an info sheet in September, and reminded them in October. They’re still not done. She sent them both emails again today. What else can she do? Do we need to get the counselor involved? This is a large FCPS HS.

[Anonymous]

Gentle reminders are all you can do. I’m sure it happens every year, right at the deadline.

[Anonymous]

It seems highly highly unlikely that students would ever be penalized for late letters, nor is the file likely to be read on November 2nd. If the letters do not get done, that may be a different story so agree with the above, gentle reminders and assume it will get taken care of.

[Anonymous]

I get it, OP. My DC has one teacher recc already submitted, second teacher hasn't submitted--and the counselor has not submitted the counselor recommendation or school profile as of today. Also for a Nov. 1 deadline. Would love to hear from a parent reassuring me and OP and my stressed out DC that a college did not refuse an early action application because the counselor was LATE. Yes, DC has reminded as of last week.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Dd has one ED school and two EA. The counselor has submitted the transcripts, recommendation, and school report. Her ED school only requires one recommendation, so we could breathe if we at least had that.

I wish there weren’t so many moving parts that the kids have no control over.

[Anonymous]

Try to calm down - I'm a teacher and usually wait until the last week of October to send in my Nov. 1 recs because it is a very busy time of year. Grades are due soon and we're in the thick of DEVOLSON (the deep evil vortex of late September, October, November). I have even sent mine in a couple of days late before due to glitches in Naviance. Never once in my 11 years of writing rec letters has this been an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try to calm down - I'm a teacher and usually wait until the last week of October to send in my Nov. 1 recs because it is a very busy time of year. Grades are due soon and we're in the thick of DEVOLSON (the deep evil vortex of late September, October, November). I have even sent mine in a couple of days late before due to glitches in Naviance. Never once in my 11 years of writing rec letters has this been an issue.

It would make sense to get the rec letters done in September before it gets busy so that the students aren’t freaking out in late October.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try to calm down - I'm a teacher and usually wait until the last week of October to send in my Nov. 1 recs because it is a very busy time of year. Grades are due soon and we're in the thick of DEVOLSON (the deep evil vortex of late September, October, November). I have even sent mine in a couple of days late before due to glitches in Naviance. Never once in my 11 years of writing rec letters has this been an issue.

It would make sense to get the rec letters done in September before it gets busy so that the students aren’t freaking out in late October.

Seems like some of this problem could be solved by writing them in August. At least with my kid, the requests (and the personal question sheet with electronic answers) went out in the spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try to calm down - I'm a teacher and usually wait until the last week of October to send in my Nov. 1 recs because it is a very busy time of year. Grades are due soon and we're in the thick of DEVOLSON (the deep evil vortex of late September, October, November). I have even sent mine in a couple of days late before due to glitches in Naviance. Never once in my 11 years of writing rec letters has this been an issue.

Our counselor encouraged kids to write thank you cards to teachers, even if the teacher hadn't finished writing the rec - as a courtesy and as a gentle prod. One teacher wrote my kid's rec over the summer; the other one finished it at the last possible moment, even though my kid submitted responses to her questionnaire by the end of junior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try to calm down - I'm a teacher and usually wait until the last week of October to send in my Nov. 1 recs because it is a very busy time of year. Grades are due soon and we're in the thick of DEVOLSON (the deep evil vortex of late September, October, November). I have even sent mine in a couple of days late before due to glitches in Naviance. Never once in my 11 years of writing rec letters has this been an issue.

It would make sense to get the rec letters done in September before it gets busy so that the students aren’t freaking out in late October.

Seems like some of this problem could be solved by writing them in August. At least with my kid, the requests (and the personal question sheet with electronic answers) went out in the spring.

Except— teachers don’t get paid to work in August, or at least not until the end, when they have crammed full schedules to get their classroom up and running. They are on summer vacation. Sitting at the beach with their kids.

I am not a teacher. But respect teachers enough to not be a snot. No, they don’t have to write the letter over their vacation, or by the end of September, because you are a control freak. They need to write it and submit it by November 1. It isn’t November 1. They aren’t late. And if I was a teacher, I would submit all my 11/1 letters at the same time. Because kids talk and parents talk, and I would not want to deal with Laral’s letter being in and hearing from Larlo’s mom because his is not. They have another week. Chill out. They know it’s due.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try to calm down - I'm a teacher and usually wait until the last week of October to send in my Nov. 1 recs because it is a very busy time of year. Grades are due soon and we're in the thick of DEVOLSON (the deep evil vortex of late September, October, November). I have even sent mine in a couple of days late before due to glitches in Naviance. Never once in my 11 years of writing rec letters has this been an issue.

It would make sense to get the rec letters done in September before it gets busy so that the students aren’t freaking out in late October.

Seems like some of this problem could be solved by writing them in August. At least with my kid, the requests (and the personal question sheet with electronic answers) went out in the spring.

Except— teachers don’t get paid to work in August, or at least not until the end, when they have crammed full schedules to get their classroom up and running. They are on summer vacation. Sitting at the beach with their kids.

I am not a teacher. But respect teachers enough to not be a snot. No, they don’t have to write the letter over their vacation, or by the end of September, because you are a control freak. They need to write it and submit it by November 1. It isn’t November 1. They aren’t late. And if I was a teacher, I would submit all my 11/1 letters at the same time. Because kids talk and parents talk, and I would not want to deal with Laral’s letter being in and hearing from Larlo’s mom because his is not. They have another week. Chill out. They know it’s due.

Teachers are welcome to say no if they don’t want to write recommendation letters. However, once they have said yes, it is their chosen duty to follow through in a timely fashion. Every college has said to be sure not to submit your application at the last minute, but teachers who stall don’t leave students a choice and make them look irresponsible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try to calm down - I'm a teacher and usually wait until the last week of October to send in my Nov. 1 recs because it is a very busy time of year. Grades are due soon and we're in the thick of DEVOLSON (the deep evil vortex of late September, October, November). I have even sent mine in a couple of days late before due to glitches in Naviance. Never once in my 11 years of writing rec letters has this been an issue.

It would make sense to get the rec letters done in September before it gets busy so that the students aren’t freaking out in late October.

Seems like some of this problem could be solved by writing them in August. At least with my kid, the requests (and the personal question sheet with electronic answers) went out in the spring.

Except— teachers don’t get paid to work in August, or at least not until the end, when they have crammed full schedules to get their classroom up and running. They are on summer vacation. Sitting at the beach with their kids.

I am not a teacher. But respect teachers enough to not be a snot. No, they don’t have to write the letter over their vacation, or by the end of September, because you are a control freak. They need to write it and submit it by November 1. It isn’t November 1. They aren’t late. And if I was a teacher, I would submit all my 11/1 letters at the same time. Because kids talk and parents talk, and I would not want to deal with Laral’s letter being in and hearing from Larlo’s mom because his is not. They have another week. Chill out. They know it’s due.

Teachers are welcome to say no if they don’t want to write recommendation letters. However, once they have said yes, it is their chosen duty to follow through in a timely fashion. Every college has said to be sure not to submit your application at the last minute, but teachers who stall don’t leave students a choice and make them look irresponsible.

Teachers aren't welcome to say no. It's part of our job to write them.

Students don't submit the teacher's recs. If your kid submits his application late, then he is being irresponsible. If the teacher submits his rec late, then that reflects on the teacher.

If your child isn't mature enough to understand that, then maybe they aren't mature enough for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try to calm down - I'm a teacher and usually wait until the last week of October to send in my Nov. 1 recs because it is a very busy time of year. Grades are due soon and we're in the thick of DEVOLSON (the deep evil vortex of late September, October, November). I have even sent mine in a couple of days late before due to glitches in Naviance. Never once in my 11 years of writing rec letters has this been an issue.

It would make sense to get the rec letters done in September before it gets busy so that the students aren’t freaking out in late October.

Seems like some of this problem could be solved by writing them in August. At least with my kid, the requests (and the personal question sheet with electronic answers) went out in the spring.

Except— teachers don’t get paid to work in August, or at least not until the end, when they have crammed full schedules to get their classroom up and running. They are on summer vacation. Sitting at the beach with their kids.

I am not a teacher. But respect teachers enough to not be a snot. No, they don’t have to write the letter over their vacation, or by the end of September, because you are a control freak. They need to write it and submit it by November 1. It isn’t November 1. They aren’t late. And if I was a teacher, I would submit all my 11/1 letters at the same time. Because kids talk and parents talk, and I would not want to deal with Laral’s letter being in and hearing from Larlo’s mom because his is not. They have another week. Chill out. They know it’s due.

Teachers are welcome to say no if they don’t want to write recommendation letters. However, once they have said yes, it is their chosen duty to follow through in a timely fashion. Every college has said to be sure not to submit your application at the last minute, but teachers who stall don’t leave students a choice and make them look irresponsible.

But your kid did submit their application timely, right? And the teacher isn’t late yet. Right? And many junior teachers can’t say no. It explicitly or implicitly goes with the job or teaching juniors. So calm down. And worry about late when it is late. Right now, you’re not angry about late. You are angry about it not being early enough to suit you.

[Anonymous]

Calm down. Teacher here. I usually have 40+ to do. They take an hour each to write a thoughtful one. I have never missed a deadline in 20 years doing more than 500 recs but I also get some of them done in the couple of days before the deadline. It does not matter to the school whether I submit it in September or October 30th.

Please remember that some teachers will not do recs (several at my school). The rest of us pick up the slack and it is not a requirement of our job. We do it because we believe in our students and want them to do well in life. All I want is a sincere thank you and some faith that I will be a professional and mee the deadline. I have to say that the students who are rude and ask me why I haven't finished weeks before the deadline do not leave the impression they probably want to leave.

[Anonymous]

Calm down. Teacher here. I usually have 40+ to do. They take an hour each to write - I take time to think about each student, gather examples of their work and give my best assessment of their talents. I have never missed a deadline in 20 years doing more than 500 recs but I also get some of them done in the couple of days before the deadline. It does not matter to the school whether I submit it in September or October 30th.

Please remember that some teachers will not do recs (several at my school). The rest of us pick up the slack and it is not a requirement of our job - our school does not require it. We do the recommendations because we believe in our students and want them to do well in life. All I want is a sincere thank you and some faith that I will be a professional and meet the deadline. The students who are freaking out and asking me why I haven't finished weeks before the deadline do not leave the impression they probably want to leave.