Letters of Recommendation

Letters of Recommendation:

Teacher recommendations can be one of the most important supplements in your application file. It is the teachers who provide the colleges with insights about your intellectual self. They will describe your work habits, your academic passions, and your idiosyncrasies. Colleges rely heavily on teacher recommendations to give flesh to the statistical skeleton they see on your transcript.

Unfortunately, because of the rush of tasks attached to the application, students’ thinking about recommendations is too often hurried and incomplete. During the spring semester of your junior year is when you should begin to think about teacher recommendations. In whose course have you excelled? Who knows you best as a student? Do any of your teachers know you well outside of the classroom as well? Of your teachers, who is most likely to write forcefully and eloquently about you?

Listed below are pointers that will help direct your thinking about teacher recommendations. 1. While each college may have its own particular demands, most colleges ask for two teacher recommendations, frequently requiring that one be written by your junior or senior English teacher.

2. While selecting your recommenders, think of balance. If possible, try to pick one from humanities or social sciences and one from mathematics or natural sciences. Two recommendations from the same department may prove redundant. However, if you are applying to a STEM related college or major, you may be required to submit a letter from both a math and a science teacher.

3. A number of institutions, particularly large state universities, do not require individual teacher recommendations. Read the instructions for each application carefully. If letters are not required, but are accepted, you may want to send one or two. It is very important to follow the college’s rules regarding letters of recommendation, and it is ultimately up to you to know and follow each college’s rules regarding such.

4. Do not confuse teacher recommendations with counselor recommendations or Secondary

School Reports (SSR’s). Check the headings of each form.

5. Ask a teacher directly if she/he will write a positive recommendation for you. If he/she agrees, then provide him/her with your Teacher Letter of Recommendation Request Form (these forms are kept in the College Counseling Office). Never leave a request in a mailbox or on a desk.

6. If a teacher declines, do not feel rejected or slighted; she/he may simply not know you well enough to write a full and convincing letter on your behalf.

7. Make sure you inform your recommenders of all deadlines and of any special circumstances.

8. We highly recommend asking your teachers for letters of recommendation prior to the end of your junior year. This will allow teachers to spend more time on the letters.

9. Be thoughtful. As you receive news from the colleges, thank your recommenders. Good recommendations require considerable time and effort; the teachers have vested interest in your applications.

Please remember that because there are so many colleges and universities (over 4,000), it is ultimately your responsibility to know which of your colleges require, allow or refuse letters of recommendation and/or special forms as well as how many they prefer and/or accept for each applicant.