Letters of Recommendation dilemma

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Mere2033

5-Year Member
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Sep 12, 2016
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My DD took English and Math at the community college in her junior year and never actually met the professors. Doe her senior year she took Calculus this summer and will take English Literature also at the college. Because we’re in California, her classes will be on line again! How do you ask a teacher you never met for a recommendation?
Thanks!
 
Hi @Mere2033
I saw this post and thought I might be of some help. I teach psychology at our local community college here in New Jersey and have taught both in-person and online. I've written many recommendations for students over the years as well. I have a quick question first....are your DD's classes live and virtual where she can connect via the camera or are the classes the traditional distance learning where the students are not learning live, but most likely listening to recorded lectures?
 
JenPen78 said:
Hi @Mere2033
I saw this post and thought I might be of some help. I teach psychology at our local community college here in New Jersey and have taught both in-person and online. I've written many recommendations for students over the years as well. I have a quick question first....are your DD's classes live and virtual where she can connect via the camera or are the classes the traditional distance learning where the students are not learning live, but most likely listening to recorded lectures?
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I have taught college courses online for my university and have written recommendations for online students who I had in live/virtual classes. If it was not a live class, I would have to spend some time working in person or via zoom with the student before I could write a decent recommendation.
 
On USCGA’s Admissions website, “required forms” seems to include the teacher recommendation form. The applicant must also supply teacher contact info in their portal. If the process is similar to the other SAs, it’s an evaluation type form with standard questions/choices, with some space for free text. The SA sends the form to the teacher.

This can’t be a new problem, so Admissions should be able to advise the applicant and clarify expectations.
 
Our California school district requires 4 years of English and 3 years of Math and Science for high school graduation. That implies 10 classes from which your child can request recommendations. I respectfully suggest you work with your school counselor whose recommendation you also need for USGA application.
Good luck.
 
JenPen78 said:
Hi @Mere2033
I saw this post and thought I might be of some help. I teach psychology at our local community college here in New Jersey and have taught both in-person and online. I've written many recommendations for students over the years as well. I have a quick question first....are your DD's classes live and virtual where she can connect via the camera or are the classes the traditional distance learning where the students are not learning live, but most likely listening to recorded lectures?
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply. She took the English courses all distant learning. The teacher just listed the assignments. She had a few email communications with him and he always wrote up nice evaluations but according to the LOR the academy is requesting it says to upload the LOR.
if it were just the evaluation then I think it would be doable. Doesn’t look to be that way.
 
Capt MJ said:
On USCGA’s Admissions website, “required forms” seems to include the teacher recommendation form. The applicant must also supply teacher contact info in their portal. If the process is similar to the other SAs, it’s an evaluation type form with standard questions/choices, with some space for free text. The SA sends the form to the teacher.

This can’t be a new problem, so Admissions should be able to advise the applicant and clarify expectations.
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The Recommendation section asks to upload the letter of recommendations so I’m not sure if these teachers that have never met her could write a full write up. A LOE would be doable. It does say a humanities teacher would do but that means she has to wait until classes starts up again and possible get one from her Econ teacher?
 
GirlGeek said:
Our California school district requires 4 years of English and 3 years of Math and Science for high school graduation. That implies 10 classes from which your child can request recommendations. I respectfully suggest you work with your school counselor whose recommendation you also need for USGA application.
Good luck.
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I was under the impression they prefer 11 or 12 grade teachers? Not sure if I just assumed that maybe?
 
Mere2033 said:
I was under the impression they prefer 11 or 12 grade teachers? Not sure if I just assumed that maybe?
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Must be a teacher either current or past year. So if it was a college professor in that time frame, that should be acceptable. But again, best to check with Admissions.
 
Mere2033 said:
Thanks for your reply. She took the English courses all distant learning. The teacher just listed the assignments. She had a few email communications with him and he always wrote up nice evaluations but according to the LOR the academy is requesting it says to upload the LOR.
if it were just the evaluation then I think it would be doable. Doesn’t look to be that way.
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Hi @Mere2033
You may want to consider having your DD give the college instructor a call, explain what she's doing and ask if he is comfortable writing a recommendation. If he is, then try to provide him with as many guidelines and/or additional information as needed about your DD. I say this from experience over the years. For instance, I had a wonderful student who I taught through traditional distance learning and was able to get to know quite about her through emails, writing assignments, etc. After the semester was over, she asked me to write a recommendation for a scholarship. I was happy to do so and she actually ended up receiving it, so that was good! I hope this helps and feel free to reach out if you have any other questions!
 
JenPen78 said:
Hi @Mere2033
You may want to consider having your DD give the college instructor a call, explain what she's doing and ask if he is comfortable writing a recommendation. If he is, then try to provide him with as many guidelines and/or additional information as needed about your DD. I say this from experience over the years. For instance, I had a wonderful student who I taught through traditional distance learning and was able to get to know quite about her through emails, writing assignments, etc. After the semester was over, she asked me to write a recommendation for a scholarship. I was happy to do so and she actually ended up receiving it, so that was good! I hope this helps and feel free to reach out if you have any other questions!
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That is exactly what she is going to attempt today. She actually did that for one teacher she had for chemistry when applying to girl state. She had to give him all of her stats but he was able to write about the type of student she is. Hard working, etc…
Hopefully these college professors will be open minded! Thanks for the advice.
 
You're most welcome! I agree, they definitely should be open minded especially the hurdles students have had to faced with all of the classes going online due to Covid. Even when I teach in a traditional distance learning setting, I can tell pretty quickly who is hard working and wanting to do there best by not only their grades, but if they email with questions, call me, turn in work early/always on time....all of those things! Good luck on the recommendations!
 
JenPen78 said:
You're most welcome! I agree, they definitely should be open minded especially the hurdles students have had to faced with all of the classes going online due to Covid. Even when I teach in a traditional distance learning setting, I can tell pretty quickly who is hard working and wanting to do there best by not only their grades, but if they email with questions, call me, turn in work early/always on time....all of those things! Good luck on the recommendations!
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She sent an email to an English professor she had last year at the college. She did very well in his class and he complimented her work but his response disappointed her. She asked with detail and his response was “Yes, that’s fine.” She was disappointed so now she’s not sure how favorable his evaluation will be. Is she reading too much into it?
 
Asking because I have not seen the teacher evaluation/LOR form - but.... would it be fair to categorize the instructor LOR as a skillset/aptitude evaluation and less of a character reference? If so, the relationship side of a virtual instructor would be less important.
 
I've filled out a number of CGA LORs. Unlike the DoD schools, there is no survey section for teacher evaluations. It's an electronic submission of a freeform LOR (in text or PDF formats).
 
Physicsguru said:
I've filled out a number of CGA LORs. Unlike the DoD schools, there is no survey section for teacher evaluations. It's an electronic submission of a freeform LOR (in text or PDF formats).
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I’m really hoping if these teachers need some back ground information on my DD, they will contact her. She’s offered to assist them with what ever they need so I sure hope they take her up on it!
 
Mere2033 said:
I’m really hoping if these teachers need some back ground information on my DD, they will contact her. She’s offered to assist them with what ever they need so I sure hope they take her up on it!
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Please recognize that teachers are inundated with LOR requests. It would be in your best interest to provide them with a "brag sheet" to highlight your child's accomplishments.
Good luck
 
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