My 16 year old took two college classes this semester. He got A's (and good feedback) from both teachers. I would like him to get letters of recommendation from both teachers for his college application, but he won't be applying to colleges for another year. What is the standard procedure for asking for letters of recommendation. If he was applying to colleges now, he would ask that the letter be sent directly to the college, but where should the letter be sent (directly to my son, I assume) and to whom should it be addressed since it won't be going to a specific college's admissions department?
Could you just ask them for an email address or something and then request it when the time is right?
I agree...ask for it when it is needed. A letter of recommendation that you hold and then send will mean less than one that the recommender sends directly. Besides, I think two "A's" in college courses is recommendation in itself!
I think that the problem some folks have mentioned to me about requesting the letter a year from now is that the student will no longer be fresh in the teacher's mind. The teacher will have had two more semesters' worth of student and she will be less likely to remember my son or at least less likely to remember specifics about conversations they had. I expect she will still remember him, and will remember that he was a good student, but will have a hard time remembering what made him stand out. I think if he asks now, she'd be able to give a much better letter.
I've heard of people request the letter writer to print out multiple copies of the letter, place them in sealed envelopes and sign across the seal of the envelope. Some schools will request a letter sent direct to them so, you could always send them back their own letter as a reminder (or to allow them just to stick it in another envelope). Others seem fine with the signed across the seal letter.
Just my experience for what it's worth; none of the schools (2 public, 2 private, 1 top tier) to which DC applied required the LOR be sealed. However, we did request that each academic letter be given in a sealed envelope, with an extra copy for us (not in sealed envelope). We sent each institution one academic letter and one from DC employer. Just a thought. Is your child interested in taking a second class from any one of these instructors? We decided to seek a recommendation from a teacher that taught my dc for two years (as opposed to one semester) in an AP type course, rather than from a community college professor. We did this based on advice we received from a college Q&A session we attended. They seemed to think admissions would place more weight on the former recommendation as Alice said, "I think two "A's" in college courses is recommendation in itself!" Having said that, I do know of students that requested LOR from community college teachers after the class was taken while everything was fresh in the teacher's mind.
this is what I would do too. I would have them send signed sealed letters to you to hold for further use.
