By the end of your junior year, you should have filled out your recommendation packet and requested a letter from two teachers who know you well, and can speak fondly of you as a student.
In September of your senior year, you should contact your recommenders and check in with them, making sure you are still on their radar.
By early October you should have already added your teacher recommenders on Naviance. You must give your teachers at least three weeks advance notice from the deadline date of the college you are applying to. Fill in the basic information such as your name, school, deadline etc. You must notify teachers that you are applying to your schools through Naviance. Most of their letters will be submitted through Naviance.
For schools that require applications to be mailed, you must provide each teacher with an addressed, stamped envelope. Complete the forms that your teacher may require you to submit for your recommendation.
Thank the teacher(s) for their willingness to write on your behalf.
Guide to requesting recommenders on Naviance
1. From the Colleges tab in Family Connection, students will click on a new link under the My Colleges section, titled Letters of Recommendation.
2. On the recommendation request page, students will click on the blue Add Request button to submit their requests, one teacher at a time or for all applications.
3. The student should select a teacher from the drop-down list. It is important to note that teachers will only be available in this drop-down list if they have been added to Naviance, given a user account, and had the box checked to appear in this teacher drop-down list. If the teacher is missing from the drop-down list, students should contact a school staff member.
4. The student should determine if they want the teacher to write a letter of recommendation for specific colleges on their College's I'm Applying to list or for all current and future colleges they add to their list. Click the Radio button for selection.
5. If the student selects All current and future colleges I add to my Colleges I'm Applying To list, colleges on student's list are not shown. (Selecting this option indicates you want the teacher's recommendation to be submitted to every college you apply.) (RECOMMENDED)
6. The student can add a personal note (up to 3000 characters) to the teacher and highlight any important aspects of their applications (such as first choice schools, early decision applications, intended major or degree of study), that they may want the teacher to consider when writing a letter of recommendation.
7. The student should click the Submit Request button at the top or bottom of the screen which returns them to their recommendation status page. At the top of the screen, a green status bar shows the teacher's name and the number of request for the student.
8. From here, he or she will see the status for all Teacher Recommendations requests that have been made. (All applications or college specific)