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For Students: How to Request and Rank Recommendations

Cristina Hernandez Updated by Cristina Hernandez

Ranking lets you and your counselor set a preferred order for your teacher recommendations, which Scoir then automatically assigns to your colleges before they're fulfilled.

Heads up! Once you rank your recommendations, they may automatically be sent to your colleges starting August 1 when the application cycle opens. If you want to send a specific recommendation to a specific college, we recommend waiting until August 1 to rank. That's when you'll also be able to manually assign recommendations to individual schools, giving you full control over which rec goes where.

Step 1: Request a recommendation from a teacher

Before you start, go to My Colleges and review the recommendation requirements for each college on your list.

Then, go to Recs & Docs.

Under Recommendations, click + New Request. If you don't see this option, your counselor may be managing requests on your behalf, or the feature may not be available to your grade yet. Check with them to confirm.

If this is your first request, you'll see a quick overview of how requesting and ranking works. Click Next to continue.

Your college list will appear with an estimate of how many teacher recommendations you'll likely need. This number is based on the college on your list with the highest recommendation requirement. Click Next to proceed.

Search for your teacher using the Teacher dropdown and select their name. Once selected, you'll be prompted to add a note, then click Submit. If your teacher isn't listed, they may not be in Scoir yet. Let your counselor know.

If you want to use this recommendation for one specific college only, click "I only want this recommendation for one school" before submitting, then select the college and confirm. A college-specific recommendation can only be used for that one school. If you don't see this option, your school may only allow general recommendations.

If you're applying through the Scoir + Common App integration, you can only use one letter from each teacher across all of your CA schools. Most students use a general letter that works for all their colleges.

You may still see empty slots on your college list after submitting. That's expected. Recommendations won't be assigned until you complete Step 2.

Step 2: Rank your recommendations

After submitting your requests, you'll be prompted to rank. You don't need to wait for your teacher to fulfill their recommendation. You can also return to Recs & Docs at any time and click Rank to set or update your order.

Don't see a Rank option? Your school may not have ranking enabled. Check with your counselor to confirm, or see this guide for requesting recommendations without ranking.

Use the arrows to arrange your recommendations in your preferred order, then click Save. In the example below, Emma is ranked #1, Janet #2, and Luke #3.

Once ranked, Scoir automatically assigns them to open slots at every college you’ve marked as Applying or Applied. For example, if a college accepts two teacher recommendations, Scoir assigns the #1 and #2 ranked recommendations automatically. If it only accepts one, it assigns #1. 

You and your counselor can both update your ranking at any time. Their ranking and yours stay in sync—either of you can update it at any time before recommendations are sent. If you notice any changes, we suggest checking with your counselor before reordering.

If you skip ranking, recommendations will need to be assigned manually by you or your counselor before they can be sent.

Tracking your requests

You'll receive an email and a Scoir notification when your teacher completes their recommendation. Check the status of any request at any time in My Colleges > Recs & Docs.

  • Requested: Your request has been sent and your teacher has been notified.
  • In Progress: Your teacher has started working on your recommendation.
  • Declined: Your teacher was not able to write a recommendation. Hover over the tooltip to see the message they left. You can submit a new request to a different teacher.
  • Completed: Your recommendation is uploaded and ready. Note that "ready" does not mean "sent." Your counselor sends it after it has been assigned to colleges.

Cancelling a request

Click Cancel next to the teacher's name in My Colleges > Recs & Docs. You can only cancel if your teacher hasn't started yet. Canceling removes the request from your ranking immediately, and any lower-ranked recommendations will move up one spot.

Try not to wait until the last minute to cancel, as your teacher may already be working on it even if the status still says "Requested."

How did we do?

Students: Requesting Fee Waivers for Common App

Students: Completing an Early Decision (ED) Agreement for Common App

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