Anonymous wrote: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.

So of course your daughter's applications are already submitted, right? And she turns in all her schoolwork a week in advance to her teachers?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Colleges understand that Recs are out of the kids' hands. As long as the letters get there within a week or so of the deadline (and I mean after), there is absolutely no problem.
- teacher


That depends on the college. Some colleges will accommodate late recommendations, and others will not accept late recommendations. Again, if you aren’t able to complete them by the deadline, why agree to write one in the first place. It’s okay to say you are too busy.

I've been a high school teacher, a college professor, and worked admissions for a few years, so I have been on both sides of the recommendation line.

I have probably written hundreds of letters over the years to a wide variety of schools. It was rare, but occasionally I had to submit letters late. I always called the admissions office to let them know and I have never encountered a school that did not accommodate late recommendations. As the first PP said, it's not a problem.

When I worked admissions, we got calls from teachers who were late frequently. Never a problem. Also, the person who checks in the file is not one of the people who review applications. The people that count won't know a recommendation was late, unless it's a very small school. Admissions folk are very understanding of the challenge teachers face with regards to writing a bunch of letters on top of their regular duties.

In admissions, if it was more than a week or so late and we had not heard from the teacher, we send the folder with a note. I would advise the student to contact the school if the recommendation is over week late. Tell them which teacher is late and ask what they should do.

Everyone's been digital for at least a decade. What do you mean by "send the folder with a note?" To whom?

I would love to know more about your experience, just out of curiosity. What years were you in admissions?

assuming PP is saying "send the folder TO THE ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE with a note that a teacher rec is missing."

And what the other pp was saying is, there are no folders and no notes. Everything is on a computer, time-stamped.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Colleges understand that Recs are out of the kids' hands. As long as the letters get there within a week or so of the deadline (and I mean after), there is absolutely no problem.
- teacher


That depends on the college. Some colleges will accommodate late recommendations, and others will not accept late recommendations. Again, if you aren’t able to complete them by the deadline, why agree to write one in the first place. It’s okay to say you are too busy.

I've been a high school teacher, a college professor, and worked admissions for a few years, so I have been on both sides of the recommendation line.

I have probably written hundreds of letters over the years to a wide variety of schools. It was rare, but occasionally I had to submit letters late. I always called the admissions office to let them know and I have never encountered a school that did not accommodate late recommendations. As the first PP said, it's not a problem.

When I worked admissions, we got calls from teachers who were late frequently. Never a problem. Also, the person who checks in the file is not one of the people who review applications. The people that count won't know a recommendation was late, unless it's a very small school. Admissions folk are very understanding of the challenge teachers face with regards to writing a bunch of letters on top of their regular duties.

In admissions, if it was more than a week or so late and we had not heard from the teacher, we send the folder with a note. I would advise the student to contact the school if the recommendation is over week late. Tell them which teacher is late and ask what they should do.

Everyone's been digital for at least a decade. What do you mean by "send the folder with a note?" To whom?

I would love to know more about your experience, just out of curiosity. What years were you in admissions?

assuming PP is saying "send the folder TO THE ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE with a note that a teacher rec is missing."

Anonymous wrote:

Colleges understand that Recs are out of the kids' hands. As long as the letters get there within a week or so of the deadline (and I mean after), there is absolutely no problem.
- teacher


That depends on the college. Some colleges will accommodate late recommendations, and others will not accept late recommendations. Again, if you aren’t able to complete them by the deadline, why agree to write one in the first place. It’s okay to say you are too busy.

I've been a high school teacher, a college professor, and worked admissions for a few years, so I have been on both sides of the recommendation line.

I have probably written hundreds of letters over the years to a wide variety of schools. It was rare, but occasionally I had to submit letters late. I always called the admissions office to let them know and I have never encountered a school that did not accommodate late recommendations. As the first PP said, it's not a problem.

When I worked admissions, we got calls from teachers who were late frequently. Never a problem. Also, the person who checks in the file is not one of the people who review applications. The people that count won't know a recommendation was late, unless it's a very small school. Admissions folk are very understanding of the challenge teachers face with regards to writing a bunch of letters on top of their regular duties.

In admissions, if it was more than a week or so late and we had not heard from the teacher, we send the folder with a note. I would advise the student to contact the school if the recommendation is over week late. Tell them which teacher is late and ask what they should do.

Everyone's been digital for at least a decade. What do you mean by "send the folder with a note?" To whom?

I would love to know more about your experience, just out of curiosity. What years were you in admissions?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colleges understand that Recs are out of the kids' hands. As long as the letters get there within a week or so of the deadline (and I mean after), there is absolutely no problem.
- teacher

That depends on the college. Some colleges will accommodate late recommendations, and others will not accept late recommendations. Again, if you aren’t able to complete them by the deadline, why agree to write one in the first place. It’s okay to say you are too busy.

So let's start a list of schools that will not accept anything after deadline:

University of Michigan
UC System (no recs needed)

Everyone I know takes the deadline into account (marks on the calendar) and backs out the days they will need to do all of the letters. Very responsible people who understand when the deadline is and will do what they need to do meet it. Your teacher may well even have the letter written already, but prefers to do all of the uploading at once rather than letter-by-letter.

Colleges understand that Recs are out of the kids' hands. As long as the letters get there within a week or so of the deadline (and I mean after), there is absolutely no problem.
- teacher


That depends on the college. Some colleges will accommodate late recommendations, and others will not accept late recommendations. Again, if you aren’t able to complete them by the deadline, why agree to write one in the first place. It’s okay to say you are too busy.

I've been a high school teacher, a college professor, and worked admissions for a few years, so I have been on both sides of the recommendation line.

I have probably written hundreds of letters over the years to a wide variety of schools. It was rare, but occasionally I had to submit letters late. I always called the admissions office to let them know and I have never encountered a school that did not accommodate late recommendations. As the first PP said, it's not a problem.

When I worked admissions, we got calls from teachers who were late frequently. Never a problem. Also, the person who checks in the file is not one of the people who review applications. The people that count won't know a recommendation was late, unless it's a very small school. Admissions folk are very understanding of the challenge teachers face with regards to writing a bunch of letters on top of their regular duties.

In admissions, if it was more than a week or so late and we had not heard from the teacher, we send the folder with a note. I would advise the student to contact the school if the recommendation is over week late. Tell them which teacher is late and ask what they should do.

Mailbox? Fat envelopes? Aren't most schools electronic now? I think that out of 10 notifications, two of my Dc's were FOLLOWED by snail mail packets but all arrived initially by email notification (after which you went to their portal for the confetti animation).

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it sad that high school in the "wonderful schools" that we pay big real estate prices to access culminate in this toxic mix of angst and competition.

I feel for the parent who expressed that "this is a shi*#y" time." Were your teenage years like that? Mine were not.

We are doing something wrong, and it makes me sad for our children.

I think I agree. I have five - two in college and three nearly there - and it is/has been a stressful process. The end is (usually) fun but it sure sucks along the way. A little like buying a car in that way. We just got a fat envelope from our daughter’s safety so that was a big exhale. But many more mailbox lotteries to go.

Anonymous wrote:Colleges understand that Recs are out of the kids' hands. As long as the letters get there within a week or so of the deadline (and I mean after), there is absolutely no problem.
- teacher

That depends on the college. Some colleges will accommodate late recommendations, and others will not accept late recommendations. Again, if you aren’t able to complete them by the deadline, why agree to write one in the first place. It’s okay to say you are too busy.

Colleges understand that Recs are out of the kids' hands. As long as the letters get there within a week or so of the deadline (and I mean after), there is absolutely no problem.
- teacher

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Thanks for explaining.

It's a bit tough on anxious students and parents who don't know that it works like this.
Blame it on the high-stakes system, if you want, but have a little tolerance for the students. It's a shitty time, honestly.

How difficult is it to understand that there are many more students than there are teachers so teachers will be doing multiple recommendations, each of which take time in order for it to be personalized to your kid. So the teachers are supposed to jump when you say jump because you've chosen to create this sense of anxiety for you and your kid? That is a terrible lesson to teach your kid. Work on ways to manage anxiety in your household. How is your kid going to survive college?

I'm not the poster to whom you're responding, but have you had a kid apply to college? And deal with having teachers (or worse, counselors) not submitting recommendations until just at the deadline, or late? You can be perfectly calm as the parent but the kids are keenly aware of what is completely out of their control on their own applications and they create plenty of stress of their own. As an earlier poster noted, it's awful that so many parts of the process--reccomendations, the vital "school report" that only the counselor provides, sending the transcript in time, etc--are in the hands of others who are already swamped.

Isn't it sad that high school in the "wonderful schools" that we pay big real estate prices to access culminate in this toxic mix of angst and competition.

I feel for the parent who expressed that "this is a shi*#y" time." Were your teenage years like that? Mine were not.

We are doing something wrong, and it makes me sad for our children.

My empathy goes out to the seniors and the spouses of some of the posters here who are finding fault with teachers who are kind enough to agree to write RCs to their children. Looking at the bright side, at least the seniors will have liberty from such parents in the next several months. As for spouses, they asked for it through their marriages!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Thanks for explaining.

It's a bit tough on anxious students and parents who don't know that it works like this.
Blame it on the high-stakes system, if you want, but have a little tolerance for the students. It's a shitty time, honestly.

How difficult is it to understand that there are many more students than there are teachers so teachers will be doing multiple recommendations, each of which take time in order for it to be personalized to your kid. So the teachers are supposed to jump when you say jump because you've chosen to create this sense of anxiety for you and your kid? That is a terrible lesson to teach your kid. Work on ways to manage anxiety in your household. How is your kid going to survive college?