How do letters of recommendation work for college

In some cases, it might be acceptable to include a recommendation from a different source, for example a sports coach or music teacher. However this should only be considered if a teacher or counsellor is not available, or if the student is applying for a specialist degree. For the most part, a student is responsible for approaching potential recommendation writers and there is plenty of guidance available to help them choose who to ask.

If you still have lots of positive things to say about the student, you should definitely consider providing a written reference.

Different US institutions have slightly varying recommendation requirements. However, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT offers some useful prompts that can help you structure your writing. They include:.

He has represented our school as a delegate for Model United Nations, and demonstrates an understanding of world affairs and current events which has served to make him a highly skilled public speaker. His love of literature has also seen him contribute some fantastic articles to our school newspaper, and he certainly has an instinct for a compelling story. In all aspects of school life, David demonstrates drive and a love for learning which I have no doubt will see him excel in his future career.

His warmth, intelligence and good humour makes him a joy to teach, and a constant inspiration to his fellow students. This also means that you should be able to comment on what makes them passionate about their field of study, and why you believe they will excel in their chosen degree course.

Example: "David has demonstrated a consistent ability to use independent thinking and rigorous analysis in both written assessments and classroom discussions. He has been generous, thoughtful and witty in his interactions with his classmates, and is always keen to stimulate and drive debate. However, it is worth noting that the answer you provide to the COVID question is applicable to all of your students, and therefore cannot be tailored individually.

After all, your letter could be the deciding factor in whether they are accepted or not! Especially if you are writing letters of recommendation for multiple students, it might be tempting to reuse some of the same content. However, this is something you should definitely steer clear of. Instead, make sure you highlight the individual strengths of each particular student, their unique achievements, and why you think they would be a good fit for their chosen institution.

The Common App has an example which you can download here. Likewise, it is not necessary to include quantitative data like test scores or activity lists, as these will be submitted by the student. Instead, focus on what these things indicate about the student. Critique : Good.

Lots of specifics here give us a very clear impression and help us to know why that impression is held. We have evidence of her newspaper directives and overall character. Jane is an outstanding young woman whose academic record may not fully reflect her ability. Her parents were divorced during her junior year, and, for several years before that, her home situation had been in turmoil with a great deal of fighting between her parents.

Her father has an alcohol problem, and Jane certainly endured a great deal of emotional distress. The fact that she has been able to do as well as she has done given the circumstances says a lot about her.

Now that the home situation has stabilized, her performance has improved. I believe her senior year grades are a much better reflection of her ability. Critique : You may wonder whether or not the above information is appropriate in a letter of evaluation. It is! Comments about problems that a student has experienced will help us understand the context in which they have accomplished whatever they have achieved.

The extent to which they have dealt with these problems is useful to know as well. I do not really know Mike very well. He has come to me for routine matters but generally has not had any problems that he has discussed with me. In this large school, I do not always have the time to personally get to know each of my advisees. Critique : We do not learn very much from this report, but we understand why.

The counselor is very honest, and we are not left guessing as to the reason there is not more information and will turn our attention to other parts of the application. Brian was in the top five in my class consistently. He is certainly motivated to study. His character and personality are admirable.

Brian is an excellent student, hard worker and has above average reasoning ability. The comments provided certainly do not give much substantive information. This is a situation where we will probably form our impressions based on the pattern of all the recommendations. Home Apply Parents and educators Parents and educators: How to write good letters of recommendation. A guide to writing evaluations for MIT Both school counselor and teacher evaluations are most helpful when they are specific and storied.

Try to address the following questions in your evaluation: What is the context of your relationship with the applicant? If you do not know the applicant well and are only able to write a brief summary, please acknowledge this.

Has the student demonstrated a willingness to take intellectual risks and go beyond the normal classroom experience? Does the applicant have any unusual competence, talent, or leadership abilities? What motivates this person? What excites them? We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools , from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in.

Many high schools use the college e-docs software program Naviance. Your counselor controls one end of Naviance from her account, and you control and access another part with yours called Family Connection. Naviance lets you search for colleges and keep track of deadlines and submitted documents.

At the same time, your counselor can upload documents, like the secondary school report and school transcript.

Your Naviance account and all the documents it collects, including your recommendation letters, will sync up to your Common Application and any other school applications that accept e-docs. If you are using the Common Application, you'll need to "match" your Common App and Naviance accounts. Once you've done this, your "Assign Recommenders" page should look like this:.

As you can see, you won't actually be inviting your recommenders through the Common Application. Instead, you'll invite your recommenders directly through Naviance. Since your Naviance account is directly connected to your high school, you can just select your teacher recommenders from a drop down list that has all the teachers in the school. You simply choose the teacher and add a personal note, making sure to indicate which colleges you want her to write letters for.

While this process makes it easier on you—you don't have to collect your teachers' first and last names and email addresses—it also has some limitations. Can you see what they are? Instead of manually entering your teachers' contact info, as described above, Naviance asks you to select your teachers from a drop down menu.

While this makes your teacher recommendations easy to request, it doesn't allow you to ask anyone outside of your school's faculty. Some students wish to send supplemental recommendations , like from a private music teacher, coach, or supervisor. Others may have switched high schools and want to ask a teacher from their previous school, or perhaps one who recently retired and has been removed from the drop down list of current faculty.

If any of these scenarios apply to you, then you'd have to invite your external recommender through your online application. If you find yourself exceeding the number that your application allows, then you could print out the evaluation form and have your recommender send her documents by mail. Of course, exercise caution about sending too many extra letters! This process may sound a bit complicated, but once you sit down at your computer, you'll actually find it to be pretty intuitive.

You'll either assign recommenders through your online applications, or you'll choose them through Naviance. Finally, you may have some recommenders who have full-fledged technophobia and insist on sending their letters by mail. While not preferred by colleges, this method is actually pretty easy. Despite rumors of a shutdown a few years ago, the post office is still going strong and available to deliver your orange envelopes to colleges. If your recommender wants to send a hard copy, make sure to print out any ranking form that needs to accompany the evaluation letter.

Then give your recommender a pre-stamped, pre-addressed envelope. Typically, these envelopes should be sent to the school's undergraduate admissions office. As with all your recommenders, make sure this teacher knows your deadlines, and follow up with her to check that she sent it in. Don't worry if this package arrives before you submit your application.

The college will start a file on each applicant and collect any materials that arrive within that file before eventually sitting down to review it as a complete application. Since there are a few different options, let's review the key steps that you need to know for submitting your recommendation letters.

Additionally, you may also have a Naviance account connected to your school. Without Naviance, you simply invite your recommenders directly through your online applications by providing their full names, positions, and email addresses. With Naviance, you'll need to sync up your applications and invite your recommenders through your Naviance account , manually indicating which colleges you want them to write letters for.

If you run into any technical difficulties through the process, make sure to speak to your counselor about troubleshooting. Until you've completed that step, you can't move onto your recommendation requests.