How long do teacher recommendations take

Along similar lines, your guidance department may give you instructions about when to ask. While individual teachers may set their own policies, your guidance department may also have a blanket rule for all college-bound students. Some schools, for instance, have students ask in the spring of junior year. Others tell students to submit three teacher preferences to their college counselors, who will then assign everyone two and thereby balance the numbers more evenly.

Other high schools tell students to ask in the fall of senior year, and still others have no particular guidance - they leave it up to each student to figure it out. They may determine whether you ask in April of 11th grade or September of 12th. Don't wait so long that your teacher forgets who you are! Also, just keep swimming. Remember that classic first day of school assignment, "Write about what you did over the summer"?

Well, what if your teacher asked you to write in vivid detail about what you did three summers ago? Just as you might have trouble remembering the specifics, your recommenders might not be able to produce the clearest memories if they had you in class years before you make your request. If you had a great connection with a 9th or 10th grade teacher and feel they might make a strong recommender, then you should ask them sooner rather than later.

Instead of waiting until senior year, you should ask them at the end of the year you had them , ie, at the end of 9th or 10th grade. Similarly, you could ask your junior year teachers at the end of 11th grade, rather than waiting until after summer break. You additionally want to provide a resume and a thoughtful brag sheet. Now that you have a sense of when students typically ask for recommendations and why, how can you figure out when exactly YOU should ask? To determine when you should ask your recommenders for a letter, you need to do your research.

Make sure you know all your college deadlines, for starters. Then figure out whether your school has any guidance about when to ask, like in April of 11th grade or September of 12th grade.

Figure out who you're going to ask in junior year, so you can find out if your teachers set any deadlines for or caps on requests. If you're a younger student, you should think about whether any of your teachers would make for strong recommenders.

If so, then consider asking them at the end of the school year. The latest that you should ask for recommendations is October of senior year for early deadlines and November to December of senior year for regular deadlines. To be safe and proactive though, as well as to keep yourself fresh in your teachers' memories, you'd do well to ask in March, April, or May of junior year. Asking early will not only give your teachers the time they need to write a well-crafted letter, but it will also give you peace of mind.

Apart from following up with a reminder and thank you note , your work on recommendation letters will be done! Then it will be up to your recommenders to upload their letters, and you can focus on finishing up the rest of your college application. As you can tell, a lot of planning and strategy goes into your recommendation letters.

Why are rec letters important in your application? What do admissions officers look for when they read them? Find out more about the role of rec letters in admissions decisions in these guides. Check out our complete guide to applying to college , from 9th grade up until senior year. We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:. She has years of teaching and college counseling experience and is passionate about helping students achieve their goals and improve their well-being.

Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. Ask questions; get answers. How to Get a Perfect , by a Perfect Scorer. Score on SAT Math.

Score on SAT Reading. Score on SAT Writing. What ACT target score should you be aiming for? Other teachers may write a generic letter, a short letter, or they may even just get a template letter off of the internet.

Usually, a teacher will be honest about what kind of letter they are going to write if you ask them. Rather, some teachers are just busier than others and some have more experience in writing recommendation letters than others. Just ask your teacher how they usually format their letters or what kind of information about the student they like to add in their letters. Remember that this teacher is evaluating you for a college, and they will probably draw on the most recent experiences they can remember with you.

It should also be formatted correctly, as discussed in our comprehensive guide to e-mail etiquette for high schoolers.

You should also give your teacher all the logistical information her or she will need to write this letter, like your GPA, class rank, unofficial transcript, and most importantly, the deadline for when this letter is due. You want the teacher to leave the conversation feeling like they have more than enough information to write you a great letter of recommendation.

How does your GPA, class rank, and more affect your admissions chances? Find out by using our free chancing calculator. Be sure to send them an email or some more informal form of communication thanking them again for agreeing to write a recommendation letter and asking if there is any information about you that they need to write a great recommendation.

You can remind them about the application due date, see if the letter is in progress, and ease some of the anxiety you might be feeling as you wait for the letter to be finished.

Even if a teacher agrees to write a letter of recommendation and gives you every assurance that it will happen on time, they may forget as time passes or they may not submit the letter by the deadline. In fact, repeatedly bugging your teachers about the letter may annoy them.

Wait a few weeks at a time before sending a quick email to check on the progress. After all, your letter is probably not the most important thing on their mind.

Once your teacher has written your recommendation letter, it is so important that you thank them for taking the extra time and effort to help you with their college applications. A simple email may not be enough in this case. Many students opt to give a little gift like a gift card or something homemade like a card to show their appreciation. We at CollegeVine have perfected the art of saying thank you to teachers who have written you recommendation letters.

Need more guidance on how to approach the recommendation letter portion of your college applications? Check out these previous blog posts on the subject:. Getting The Best Recommendation Letter. Want access to expert college guidance — for free? When you create your free CollegeVine account, you will find out your real admissions chances, build a best-fit school list, learn how to improve your profile, and get your questions answered by experts and peers—all for free.

Sign up for your CollegeVine account today to get a boost on your college journey.