OP, I agree it is a ridiculous policy. I am onboard with the other things you complain about- having to be onsite for free class, uniform infractions, and block schedule (though DC does not live block schedule).

We are having another adult leader write a LOR.

Good luck to DC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP what school is differentiating between whether a student is entitled to two letters of recommendation vs one? How do they make this decision? Only school I can think of is SJC which has a separate college counseling team for their scholars program. Either way, doesn't seem like a good policy.

I've never heard of a parent complain about this at SJC. Had kids go through scholars and non-scholars. None of them had issues getting into college.

Did your non-scholars kid get two letters of recommendation? Asking because I have a kid interested in SJC and I don't think they will be eligible for scholars.

New policy is that only scholars get 2 unless it is a REQUIREMENT for a school.

I get that they don't want to pile on teachers' workloads, but seems like a strategy not well-suited to a private school that prides itself on getting all graduates into college and touts the amount of scholarship money graduates are offered every year.

DP: Having been through it twice at other schools now, I'm guessing you haven't had a kid apply recently? If colleges only want you to submit one LOR, you should not submit more, so I don't see this policy as an issue. If anything, they are "protecting you from yourself" on that topic.

What if a student is applying to a summer program that requires a LoR? Will teachers write one?

DP but I would assume so. It seems pretty clear that they are willing to meet *requirements* for LORs, just not optional ones.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP what school is differentiating between whether a student is entitled to two letters of recommendation vs one? How do they make this decision? Only school I can think of is SJC which has a separate college counseling team for their scholars program. Either way, doesn't seem like a good policy.

I've never heard of a parent complain about this at SJC. Had kids go through scholars and non-scholars. None of them had issues getting into college.

Did your non-scholars kid get two letters of recommendation? Asking because I have a kid interested in SJC and I don't think they will be eligible for scholars.

New policy is that only scholars get 2 unless it is a REQUIREMENT for a school.

I get that they don't want to pile on teachers' workloads, but seems like a strategy not well-suited to a private school that prides itself on getting all graduates into college and touts the amount of scholarship money graduates are offered every year.

DP: Having been through it twice at other schools now, I'm guessing you haven't had a kid apply recently? If colleges only want you to submit one LOR, you should not submit more, so I don't see this policy as an issue. If anything, they are "protecting you from yourself" on that topic.

What if a student is applying to a summer program that requires a LoR? Will teachers write one?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like OP’s kid attends SR….

Anyone at a school with free periods needs to aka what they’re paying for

SR college counseling allows two letters of recommendation for each and every senior...so no. It sounds like SJC based on the PP's comment that only scholar program students get 2 letters.

Which other posters have stated is untrue.

No they haven’t. The full rule is that they can only send one unless the school requires two. The only non-scholar commenters who said their kids were able to send more than one said the schools required two.

Each student gets the number of LORs required by the colleges they are applying to.

What’s the issue?

If a student wants to add a LOR to an application where it is not required and they are not in scholars program, they will be refused. You think this is a good policy?

Student A and B both applying to College C - a college that does holistic admissions that requires 1 teach LOR but allows one optional teacher LOR
Student A and B have very similar profiles and student B has slightly higher GPA and test scores
Student A in Scholars program gets 2 LORs that highlight different aspects of the student
Student B gets 1 LOR

Who gets in?

Sounds like under the policy they can both send two since the college allows it. Also, LORs don't have to come from teachers, so either way they can both send two. In any case, on the common app the LORs are uploaded and for each app the kid clicks which ones to send, so if they are already loaded for one school, you can send them to any school.

Nope. The policy only allows a second LOR if the college REQUIRES it. Big difference and in the scenario above, only the scholars student would get the second letter.

Wow, I am pretty shocked about the LOR rule. I know a fair amount about college counseling at the parochial, independent, and public schools in the area and NO ONE else has this kind of limitation.

For those who say "What's the big deal?" - at any other school in the area, public or not, a kid can ask and get a 2nd teacher LOR if they want to send one even if it's "optional." But, apparenlty, not here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like OP’s kid attends SR….

Anyone at a school with free periods needs to aka what they’re paying for

SR college counseling allows two letters of recommendation for each and every senior...so no. It sounds like SJC based on the PP's comment that only scholar program students get 2 letters.

Which other posters have stated is untrue.

No they haven’t. The full rule is that they can only send one unless the school requires two. The only non-scholar commenters who said their kids were able to send more than one said the schools required two.

Each student gets the number of LORs required by the colleges they are applying to.

What’s the issue?

If a student wants to add a LOR to an application where it is not required and they are not in scholars program, they will be refused. You think this is a good policy?

Student A and B both applying to College C - a college that does holistic admissions that requires 1 teach LOR but allows one optional teacher LOR
Student A and B have very similar profiles and student B has slightly higher GPA and test scores
Student A in Scholars program gets 2 LORs that highlight different aspects of the student
Student B gets 1 LOR

Who gets in?

Sounds like under the policy they can both send two since the college allows it. Also, LORs don't have to come from teachers, so either way they can both send two. In any case, on the common app the LORs are uploaded and for each app the kid clicks which ones to send, so if they are already loaded for one school, you can send them to any school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like OP’s kid attends SR….

Anyone at a school with free periods needs to aka what they’re paying for

SR college counseling allows two letters of recommendation for each and every senior...so no. It sounds like SJC based on the PP's comment that only scholar program students get 2 letters.

Which other posters have stated is untrue.

No they haven’t. The full rule is that they can only send one unless the school requires two. The only non-scholar commenters who said their kids were able to send more than one said the schools required two.

Each student gets the number of LORs required by the colleges they are applying to.

What’s the issue?

If a student wants to add a LOR to an application where it is not required and they are not in scholars program, they will be refused. You think this is a good policy?

Student A and B both applying to College C - a college that does holistic admissions that requires 1 teach LOR but allows one optional teacher LOR
Student A and B have very similar profiles and student B has slightly higher GPA and test scores
Student A in Scholars program gets 2 LORs that highlight different aspects of the student
Student B gets 1 LOR

Who gets in?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of dress code violations are flagrant enough to be seen on security cameras footage?

At the girls school where I teach the most common dress code violation is sweatpants under their skirt. I am not aware that anyone has monitored that on a camera but it wouldn’t be hard to see.

You mean it’s not a “privilege” for seniors to be allowed to wear sweatpants under their kilt? How will they ever function in society without wearing a kilt?!?

That’s a weird comment. Lots of people wear something during the day — a tie, scrubs, a construction helmet and figure out how to function in settings where other clothing is appropriate.

Our school doesn’t have that senior privilege we do have pants as an option, but they aren’t sweat pants.

But even if we allowed seniors to wear them, it would still be obvious on video camera when an underclasswoman was wearing sweats so my answer to “what uniform violations would be visible on camera” still applies. Ties would be another example.

Why would a student want to add an LOR the college does not want?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like OP’s kid attends SR….

Anyone at a school with free periods needs to aka what they’re paying for

SR college counseling allows two letters of recommendation for each and every senior...so no. It sounds like SJC based on the PP's comment that only scholar program students get 2 letters.

Which other posters have stated is untrue.

No they haven’t. The full rule is that they can only send one unless the school requires two. The only non-scholar commenters who said their kids were able to send more than one said the schools required two.

Each student gets the number of LORs required by the colleges they are applying to.

What’s the issue?

If a student wants to add a LOR to an application where it is not required and they are not in scholars program, they will be refused. You think this is a good policy?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like OP’s kid attends SR….

Anyone at a school with free periods needs to aka what they’re paying for

SR college counseling allows two letters of recommendation for each and every senior...so no. It sounds like SJC based on the PP's comment that only scholar program students get 2 letters.

Which other posters have stated is untrue.

No they haven’t. The full rule is that they can only send one unless the school requires two. The only non-scholar commenters who said their kids were able to send more than one said the schools required two.

Each student gets the number of LORs required by the colleges they are applying to.

What’s the issue?