This is part five of a six-part series titled “Getting Ready to Apply for College” for juniors who are preparing to apply to college in a few months. For this post I will be focusing on teacher recommendations. Colleges often require at least one letter of recommendation from a teacher. Some colleges require two academic teacher recommendations (English, math, science, history and world language), but most colleges will not ask for more than two. Nevertheless, most will say that if a student wants to submit a third letter from someone other than a teacher (coach, boss, supervisor, youth pastor), this can help them get more context on the student. At the end of the junior year, I encourage each of my students to request two academic letters of recommendation and one letter from a non-teacher.
Fifteen years ago, most colleges did not put a limit on the number of letters of recommendation you could submit. Students, especially those applying to competitive admission colleges, would submit 10-15 letters of recommendation. Admission counselors then started realizing that after two, they all said pretty much the same thing. Teachers were also getting overwhelmed because they were writing these letters of recommendation on top of their other teaching responsibilities. So a number of years ago, colleges cracked down on the amount of letters they would accept and almost all now say they only want 2 academic letters max and at least one letter from someone outside of the academic context. If you would like to get a couple more from outside of school, that’s fine as well.
I tell my students that colleges want to hear how you are in the classroom (integrity, work ethic, leadership, initiative, passion for the subject, etc.) and this is what the one or two teachers will write about. They also would like to hear if you carry all these qualities over into something you do after school. So this is where the additional letter from a coach, boss, youth pastor, supervisor, etc. can come in. You can’t have a family member or relative write your letter of recommendation though. Below are a few tips to make sure that you receive a quality letter of recommendation that can help you stand out in the college admissions process.
- Request the right person to write your letter– This is where some students make a mistake and then the next couple tips go out the window. First, one of your letters should be from a junior year teacher and then the other academic letter could be a teacher you had freshman or sophomore year and continued the relationship in some capacity since they were your teacher. If a college gets two letters from freshman teachers, they aren’t able to see growth and maturity but also may wonder, “why didn’t they have any junior year teachers write a letter…it’s a really important year”? Second, the individual that writes your letter of recommendation needs to be someone that knows you well and you have exhibited the qualities listed above (integrity, work ethic, leadership, initiative, passion for subject, etc.). Notice that I did not say that you had to have straight A’s in their class. A lot of students think that because they didn’t get the highest grades in the class, that teacher cannot write them a strong letter of recommendation. Some of the best letters from teachers are ones that talk about how the student overcame a problem, thrived despite facing adversity, started slow due to certain circumstances but then finished strong and they were one of the strongest students in the class at the end, etc. Third, you only need to request a letter pertaining to your major if you are wishing to pursue a major in math or science. If you are looking to manor in engineering, therapy of some kind, nursing, accounting, finance, etc. then it would be helpful to get a letter of recommendation from a math or science teacher. If you are looking to pursue something in the humanities, education, communications, psychology, etc. then it doesn’t matter who you get a letter from. Business tends to be tricky. I would say that if you intend to pursue majoring in business, getting a letter from a math teacher would help. However, if you do not think a math teacher you have had would write the best letter, then I wouldn’t request a letter from them.
- Request Your Letters in a Timely and Appropriate Manner- The teachers that write your letters of recommendation are doing so as a courtesy on top of all the other responsibilities they have as a teacher. Therefore, you need to approach your requests as a favor you are asking them, not as a formality you are just trying to check off the list. Some teachers (especially junior year teachers) have over 40 requests a year. First, you need to give each teacher at least two weeks notice to write your letter. How can you expect them to write a nice and informative letter if you ask them two days before the application deadline to write it. Would you expect them to write a more quality letter if they had more time to think about what they wanted to write and plan for the best time to write it instead of rushing to get your letter done in 20 minutes or so in between other tasks they have to get done? Second, you need to request the letter in SCOIR (this is how my students request their letters) but you must approach each teacher in person confirming they received your request, ask if they have any questions or if there is any additional information you can give them to help them write your letter and thank them for writing your letter. Third, if a teacher comes back to you and says, “I may not be the best person to write your letter”, DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY! They are supposed to do this for your own good because they want to make sure that you get a letter from the most appropriate teacher. It is not because they do not like you or would have written something negative about you. It is actually the opposite. They care about you, know the importance of the letter and feel that someone else could speak to your strengths a bit more than they can because maybe they didn’t teach you that long, it’s been a while since they taught you or they didn’t see you as a student that stood out in their class (this goes back to asking the appropriate person to write your letter).
- Give Teachers Appropriate Deadline and Follow-Up- One request teachers make over and over is to know when they need to complete the letter by. Please inform the teacher that you plan on applying by a certain deadline and if they could have your letter complete a week before that would be great. With all the other responsibilities that teachers have and the many students they teach, they need as many specifics as possible to make sure they remember and can plan on writing your letter at the time that is most convenient for them. You are able to track whether a teacher has uploaded (it says “submitted”) your letter to SCOIR. Your counselor will then follow-up with the teacher if another reminder is needed. If a college only requires one letter and you have two, talk to your counselor about which one to send. After you know that your letter has been written, it would be courteous and respectful for you to write your teacher a thank-you note.
Letters of recommendation could play an important role in determining whether you may be admitted to a college. It is not going to overcome sub-par grades (for that specific school), average test scores or even possibly a below average essay, but if these three things are where the school you are applying to is looking for, great letters of recommendation could be the feather in the cap that an admissions counselor can go to committee and really vouch for your admission to the college.
How do you request a letter of recommendation in SCOIR? Please watch this Loom video.