For Counselors: A Guide to Letters of Recommendation in Scoir

This guide gives you an overview of how teacher recommendations work in Scoir and what counselors need to know to manage the process—whether your school uses the Common App™️ integration or not.

You'll learn how to set up your school’s recommendation settings, how recommendations can be requested and uploaded, how to track progress, and how recommendations are assigned to colleges.

If your school uses the Scoir + Common App integration, there are a few key differences in how the recommendation process works. For more details on what to expect, how the process differs, and how recommendations are assigned, check out the Common App Getting Started Guide.

💡 Need to create a counselor recommendation? Learn how to make one in this guide.

Table of Contents:

Adding Teachers to Scoir (Admins only)

Before any recommendations can be requested, teachers need to be added to your Scoir account with the Teacher role. This must be done by someone with Account Administrator permissions.

Teachers must be listed as users with the teacher role in Scoir to appear as options when students or counselors are sending requests.They should also complete their personal profile information—especially their title and phone number. Failure to do so could result in errors when it comes time to send.

Admins can add teachers by going to School Settings > Users. For detailed steps on how to individually or bulk add teachers, check out: Add Counselors and Other Administrative Staff to Scoir.

Once teachers are added, we recommend sharing the Scoir Guide: Getting Started as a Teacher to help them log in and understand how to view and complete recommendation requests.

If your school uses Clever or ClassLink to auto-roster teachers, the teacher role will be automatically assigned to them in Scoir.

Set Up Recommendation Settings (Admins only)

Once teachers are added, an Account Admin should review and configure your school’s recommendation settings. These determine things like:

  • Whether students are allowed to send teacher recommendation requests
  • Whether students can make college-specific requests (we recommend general recs to keep things simple since they can be used for multiple schools)
  • Whether completed recommendations are automatically sent to colleges

If your school uses the Common App integration, these settings affect how recommendations work. To learn more, see the Common App Getting Started Guide.

For a full explanation of all available settings, check out: Managing Recommendation Settings

How Recommendations Are Requested

Once your school’s settings are in place, recommendations can be requested in the following ways:

1. Students Requesting Recommendations

If student requests are enabled in your school settings, students can log in to Scoir and request recommendations from their teachers.

You can share this article to guide them through it: Students: Requesting teacher recommendations if your school uses Scoir

2. Counselors Requesting on Behalf of Students

Counselors can send teacher recommendation requests for students who need extra help or don't have access.

To do this, go to the student's profile, then Colleges & Applications > Manage Documents. From there, scroll to the Recommendations section and click Request. Fill in the details and send it. The teacher will receive an email letting them know about the request.

3. Uploading a Letter for a Teacher or Outside Recommender

In some cases, counselors may need to upload a recommendation letter directly into Scoir on behalf of recommenders. This is typically used when a teacher can’t submit through Scoir or the letter comes from someone outside the school, like a coach or mentor.

However, there’s an important limitation for schools using the Common App integration:Only recommendations completed directly by teachers in Scoir can be sent to Common App colleges.

This means:

  • If a counselor uploads a recommendation on behalf of a teacher, it can’t be sent to a student’s CA colleges
  • Uploaded recs can still be used for non–Common App applications
  • If a student is applying to a college through Common App and needs a third-party recommender (like a coach or mentor), they’ll need to request that letter directly through the Common App website.

For all other application methods—such as Apply Coalition with Scoir or applying directly on the college’s website—counselors can upload a letter on behalf of the outside recommender and use it for that college in Scoir.

For more on how recommendations work with the Common App integration, see the Common App Getting Started Guide.

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Once a request is made, the teacher will receive an email notification with a link that sends them to the request. You can share this guide to help them complete requests: Teacher: Completing Recommendations

Checking Recommendation Status

Counselors can keep an eye on teacher recommendation status in Scoir, found under Applications > Recommendations.

This section allows you to toggle between a student-focused view and a teacher-focused view to see what’s been requested and what’s still pending.

If your school uses the Common App integration, this step is especially helpful since recs can’t be assigned to colleges until they’re completed by the teacher.

For more details on tracking request status, see Checking the Status of Teacher Recommendations

Reviewing Completed Recommendations

Once a teacher completes a recommendation, students will get an email, and counselors can review it on the student's profile.

To review a recommendation:

  • Go to the student’s profile > Colleges & Applications > Manage Documents
  • Under the Recommendation section, click on the completed rec to preview it. You can also delete it, or request a new one on behalf of the student if needed.

This is helpful for ensuring the right recommendation was completed before sending, especially if the student or teacher needs to make a correction.

If your school has enabled the auto-send recommendations feature, recommendations will be sent to colleges immediately upon completion.

Common App (CA) Integration: For schools using the Common App integration, recommendations will be sent immediately after the recommendation is assigned to a school by either the student or the counselor.

Assigning Recommendations to Colleges

Here’s how things work once a recommendation is completed and how this differs depending on whether your school's Scoir account is integrated with Common App.

If your school does not use the Scoir + Common App Integration

Scoir automatically assigns completed recommendations to colleges:

  • General recommendations are assigned to all eligible colleges
  • College-specific recommendations are only assigned to their target school

When multiple recommendations are available, Scoir assigns them in the order they were completed. The earliest completed recs are used first.

To modify assignments, navigate to a student's profile and select Colleges & Applications > Send Documents. Under any school's document packet, click Manage Recommendations to substitute an available letter. This functionality applies to counselor recommendations as well.

If your school uses the Scoir + Common App Integration

The recommendation process works a bit differently for schools using the Common App integration.

Once a teacher completes a recommendation, it is not automatically assigned to any colleges. Either a counselor or the student (if permitted in your school’s settings) must manually assign the recommendation to each college where it should be sent, regardless if the student is applying via Common App or another method.

This step is required in order for recommendations to be sent.

A few key things to know:

  • You can only assign recommendations after they are completed by the teacher
  • One the integration is available in September, only one recommendation per teacher can be assigned across all Common App colleges for a student
To keep things simple and flexible, we recommend students request general recommendations rather than college-specific ones whenever possible.
  • This limitation to send only one recommendation per teacher does not apply to non–Common App applications—multiple recs from the same teacher can be used as needed

For a complete overview of how teacher recommendations work in Common App–integrated schools—including a video walkthrough of the assignment process—see the Common App Getting Started Guide.

Student & Teacher Experience Walkthrough

This video covers the letter of recommendation process from both the student and teacher perspective. Please note that this video does not yet reflect the recent updates made to support the Common App integration.

FAQ

Can I upload recommendations on behalf of other teachers?
Yes, counselors can upload recommendation letters on behalf of teachers or outside recommenders (like coaches or mentors).
However, if your school uses the Common App integration, only recommendations uploaded directly by the teacher in Scoir can be sent to Common App colleges.

Recommendations uploaded by counselors can still be used for non–Common App applications.
The wrong recommendation was uploaded for a student. What can I do?
If the recommendation hasn't been sent to colleges yet, you can replace it with another available one or delete it from the student’s profile and either:

• Request a new recommendation from the teacher

• Or upload a corrected version on their behalf
(Remember: if your school uses the Common App integration, recommendations uploaded on behalf of teachers cannot be sent to Common App colleges. This option is only valid for non–Common App applications.)

To review or remove a recommendation, go to the student’s profile, then click Colleges & Applications > Manage Documents. Scroll to the Recommendations section and locate the letter you want to preview or delete.

If the recommendation has already been sent, see: What happens if the incorrect recommendation was sent to colleges?
What happens if the incorrect recommendation was sent to colleges?
If a recommendation was already assigned and sent, and later turns out to be incorrect, here’s what to do:

• First, delete the incorrect letter from the student’s profile

• Request a new recommendation from the teacher, or upload a corrected version on their behalf (Note: If your school uses the Common App integration, only letters uploaded directly by the teacher can be sent to Common App colleges.)

• Reassign the updated letter to the appropriate colleges

• Re-send documents where possible

For schools using the Common App integration:
Once a Common App college downloads a recommendation, it cannot be updated or replaced in Scoir. In that case, we recommend contacting the college’s admissions office directly to provide the updated letter outside of Scoir.
Who should assign recommendations to colleges – counselors or students?
That depends on your school’s settings and whether you're using the Common App integration:

• If your school uses the Common App integration and students are permitted to request recommendations, they’ll also be able to assign completed recs to their colleges. However, counselors will still be able to manage assignments as needed.

• If student requests are not allowed, counselors must assign the recommendations instead.

Important: For schools using the integration, recommendations must be manually assigned—by either the student or counselor—before they can be sent to any colleges.

If your school does not use the Common App integration, assignments are handled automatically. There's no action needed from counselors or students unless you choose to manually adjust which recs are sent to each college.
My school is not using the Scoir + Common App integration. Is there a way to turn off the evaluation and student rating fields so teachers don’t have to fill them out?
Yes. If your school is not using the Scoir + Common App integration, your Account Administrator can disable these fields in School Settings.

Once turned off, teachers won’t be prompted to complete the required evaluation fields or optional student ratings when completing a recommendation.

How did we do?

For Counselors: Completing second Early Decision contract for the same student

Counselors: Complete a counselor evaluation/recommendation

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