A rec?

You say you want me to write you a rec?  

Assuming that you understand that I am obligated to be honest, I am very happy to write a recommendation for you based on what I know of you as a student and/or as a person. But I would like to ask you to do a few things first:

Give me all necessary information.

* I know: I had you in class. But for what, a semester? A year? Two years?  Do I know enough about you to write a good rec? Perhaps you should supply me with a bio sheet if I do not. Maybe you could even remind me of some of the things that you felt defined you most in my class.

* Also, if you have been in my class and have done some interesting writing that I might be able to incorporate into your rec, give me a copy with your other items (preferably via e-mail; it makes incorporating it into the rec that much easier).

* If I had you as an underclassman, I often like to quote from portfolio pieces and/or process letters in my recs. Please take the time to email me copies of major pieces and letters. Send them to any of my addresses. If you no longer have important documents on your computer, then give me your portfolio.

I used to say: "Take care of all of the envelopes and forms."  But then...

The tech gods invented Naviance!

Here's a rule of thumb: anything that makes life easier is good:

Therefore, and this is just a lot of fun to write: FORGET THE ENVELOPES ENTIRELY!!!!  I won't need them.  

Everything will be sent automatically through Naviance, and neither of us will need to worry!  :-)

(OTOH: If for some benighted reason one of your colleges absolutely insists on remaining in the Dark Ages about this: at least use an envelop that is self-sealing. And be sure to address and stamp it and fill out as much of anything that you can. But this should happen only once in a blue moon.)

A word about those forms.

Here's the Truth of the Universe: I only agree to write letters for students for whom I can write kick butt, state of the art, personal, dynamic, elaborate letters. Universities always accept these with or without the "form" application. (If you look on the common app form, you'll note that it specifically states that alternative means of reference are acceptable.) 

Therefore, I strongly suggest that you save us both the trouble and don't bother with it.

In fact...

LFHS has developed its own proprietary Teacher Evaluation Form, and it even includes a version of that silly checkbox thing.  So here's the bottom line:

Forget the forms.

No one will even wonder where they are.  Honest.  Ask your counselor if you don't believe me.  :-)  Save us both the time and trouble.

and finally