SENIOR YEAR TIMELINE FOR DEVELOPING TEACHER RELATIONSHIPS

STUDENTS
This is the time when good teacher relationships will pay off. Sometimes teachers will think so highly of you that they will offer to write recommendations even before you have a chance to ask them.

See Guide 13 Letters of Recommendation for how to handle every aspect of asking teachers for recs; helping them with the process; and keeping on top of deadlines. One way of really helping teachers is to let them know colleges to which you are applying, and why you want to go to these colleges.

PARENTS
Do everything you can to help your child provide teachers with organized, complete admissions materials. Above all, make sure that your child’s teacher recommendation forms get to teachers on time, preferably way before the deadline. See Guide 13 on Letters of Recommendation for specifics on how to do this.

FAQ #2: I hear that colleges only want recommendations from junior year teachers. What should I do if the teachers I want to ask are from freshman or sophomore year?

ANSWER: Some colleges specify what they want in teacher recommendations, including the year in which a student was in their class (e.g, junior year), the number of recommendations (e.g., one, two or three) and sometimes the content of the class (e.g., one science class and one social science class). It’s important to follow applications directions.

However, if teachers from your junior year will write recommendations that are less stellar than ones from your sophomore or even freshman years, you might want to politely ignore the directions. Doesn’t it make sense to have the best possible, most complimentary letters you can? The way to handle this on your application is to simply explain that you have asked a teacher who knows you and can best comment on your academic abilities, she/he happens to be from other than junior year.