Teacher Recommendation Letters – Tips and Tricks
At College Insights, we believe you should paint a picture of your accomplishments, potential and character with teacher recommendation letters. Such letters will help round out your academic profile, adding qualitative factors to your application. They also provide insight into what you are like as a student and person from the perspective of someone who has worked closely with you during your high school career.
Outlined below are College Insights’ tips and tricks for your college application recommendation letters:
- From the beginning of high school, build relationships with teacher and guidance counselors. Having people advocate on your behalf when it comes time to apply to colleges is a bonus. Best timeframe to request letters is before the end of junior year. Most selective colleges require one to three recommendation letters with your application, usually from your guidance counselor and at least one teacher. This helps separate competitive students from the regular academic pool.
- It is important to seek out recommendation letter from a teacher in the subject that is relevant to the course of study you intend to pursue if possible.
- Choose the people who know you best. Avoid recommendation letters from well-known or influential people who don’t know you personally. It’s better to have recommendations from people who know you very well and can expand on your academic and extracurricular strengths and accomplishments.
- It is not typical to see the recommendation letter before submission or ask what a person wrote after its submission. This puts them in an awkward position. If you are that worried about what a teacher may say, you probably shouldn’t be asking that teacher for a recommendation in the first place.
- Don’t forget to say “thank you!” after teachers have submitted letters of recommendation — send an email letting them know you appreciate of their time.
- Remember: Don’t wait until the last minute to request recommendations. Teachers get busy and the best ones are bombarded with recommendation requests. Letters of recommendation are an important part of the college application; it shows your fundamental building years academically and personally leading up to college.
- You obviously can’t write the letter for your teachers or mentor, but you can certainly help them. Provide a resume or “brag sheet” so they have an idea of what you do outside of school and can include that in your recommendation. This will help paint a full picture of the type of person you are. In addition to teachers, be sure to reach out to non-traditional recommenders such as coaches, advisors, work managers, etc.
- Each college may have different requirements so be sure to check the individual websites for specific details prior to requesting any recommendations.
In summary, recommendation letters speak to other parts of your personality and application. Colleges are looking for students to contribute beyond the classroom and how you can make a difference on campus and beyond.
