Recommendation Letter Guidance Here are some guidelines for you to follow for getting the recommendation letters you will require for secondary school applications.
What’s Required? Every school requires the following recommendation letters for every application: 1. English Rec (Mr. Falconer) 2. Math Rec (Mr. Carver) 3. Principal Rec (Mr. D), you do not need to ask for this letter. We provide automatically when you complete the transcript release/school letter form. While not required at all schools, some will require a third academic recommendation from either science, history, or world language. It’s up to you to check the requirements at each school to find out if you require an additional letter. If you do need an additional academic letter, please use the same form you gave to Mr. Falconer and Carver, but you will need to follow the directions under the section below titled, “How Do I Get These Letters?”
What’s not required but recommended? We always recommend submitting at least one additional letter that is not required that comes from someone who is not connected to Brookwood. You already have at least three letters from Brookwood, and it’s a good idea to get other voices who can speak about you. This would give you four letters total. Do not submit more than five letters in total. If you have two extra writers, that is fine, but cap it at two additional letters.
How do I get the letters? For the English letter and the math letter, you need to actually ask Mr. Falconer and Mr. Carver, and you need to give them the form titled, Brookwood “Subject Recommendation Request Form.” Once you ask them, they will take care of the rest for you.
If you need to submit a third academic letter, please use the Brookwood “Subject Recommendation Request Form” and follow the directions below. We will only send English and Math for you…you need to take care of this third academic letter since it will be different for every student. For any additional letters, you need to hand the recommender the form titled, Brookwood “Special Interest/Personal Recommendation Form.” You also need to give that person an envelope with the address of the school on it. Don’t forget the stamp! Or You can also send them a link generated by either Gateway, SAO, or Ravenna. If you use the digital system, please just make sure to personally ask the individual writing on your behalf before you send them the link. You are NOT allowed to see these letters. They need to go directly to the schools themselves. What other forms do I need to complete? You also need to complete a Brookwood “Transcript Release and School Recommendation Form” that gives Brookwood permission to send your grades to other schools. This form also requires you to include an accurate list of schools you are applying to, whether for a day or boarding spot, and this will be used as your official list; be sure to get that to Ms. Marrero as soon as you have your list set. Last Word of Advice This is really confusing stuff, and it is likely that you will forget a lot of this when the time actually comes to ask for these letters. If you’re confused, ask Ms. Marrero or Mr. D for help. Also, all of these forms will be located in three different places so you never need to look too far: 1. In Google Classroom 2. Your parents have copies of them or they can access them through the Secondary School Database 3. Ms. Marrero keeps copies of the letters in her office and all you need to do is ask her for them