What should I look for in a Letter of Recommendation Answered
I have known the teacher I want to ask for four-five years now, and have had multiple classes with him, but am unsure what I should request in hopes of a unique, eye-catching letter? I know he could just speak to my grades and diligence but I feel like there should be more, and was planning on asking today. Any thoughts?
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2 answers
When requesting a letter of recommendation, it's important to communicate to your teacher what kind of information you're hoping they can include in the letter. Here are a few things you might want to consider:
1. Highlight specific experiences or achievements: Think about any particular moments or projects where you went above and beyond, or received recognition for your work. These can be great examples to include in the letter to showcase your abilities and strengths.
2. Emphasize your personal qualities: While your grades and academic achievements are important, you might also want to highlight your personal qualities, such as your work ethic, creativity, leadership skills, or teamwork abilities. These can help to paint a more complete picture of who you are as a student and a person.
3. Discuss your future plans: If you have a specific career or academic goal in mind, you might want to share this with your teacher and ask if they can speak to your potential in this area. This can help to demonstrate your motivation and drive, and show that you are a serious and focused student.
4. Provide context: If there are any particular challenges or obstacles you've faced during your time in school, it can be helpful to provide some context to your teacher so they can better understand your achievements and strengths.
Remember that your teacher wants to write you a strong and supportive letter of recommendation, so don't be afraid to share your thoughts and ideas with them. By providing specific examples and highlighting your unique qualities, you can help to ensure that your letter stands out and makes a positive impression on the reader.
GOOD LUCK!
Top colleges are all looking for uniquely qualified applicants that are fantastic humans. Most applicants do not fit this criterion because they are too focused on their GPA, test scores, racking up leadership positions, and checking off all the boxes.
While all these things are important, for the most part, top colleges use these as threshold markers or gatekeeping criteria. When a college gets 50,000, 60,000, or 150,000 applications, they need to cull the maybes and definites as soon as possible so preliminary sorting can occur.
The thing that moves the needle from maybe to certainty is not a 1600 SAT or 36 ACT score, 20 APs, or an IP diploma, or winning a Science Olympiad or being Valedictorian or President of your class.
The 3 key things are in no particular order.
1. Glowing recommendations that can testify to you being a fantastic person.
2. Your writing ability
3. Evidence of your innate love of learning outside of school (IV/IC)
It doesn't matter who writes your recommendation. It can be the custodian or lunch lady. It can be your water polo coach or your Principal. What matters most is that you pick someone that knows you better than other adults and can accurately and effectively communicate through writing about your stellar personal character.
What the other respondent wrote works for 90% of people who are all shot-gunning schools trying to stand out in the crowd with their performance in a single class, whether it's AP Chemistry or AP German.
If you are a genuinely kind, thoughtful, caring, and compassionate human, then you want to think twice about who writes your recommendation. You do not want Ms. Heinz from AP Calc to write your recommendation because you got a 5 on the AP test and an A in Class just like the other 25 people who asked her for a recommendation. Maybe you want the school librarian to write it because you see her every day during lunch when you volunteer to tutor other younger kids who need help instead of socializing with your peers in the cafeteria. Maybe she's the right person to advocate for the type of human you are because she has eyewitnessed 100s of acts of service to others which has a profound impact on your high school community.
The biggest mistake high school students make with their recommendations is to think that college admissions officers want to read about what a great STEM student you are. Who cares? On paper, there are 57,000 great STEM students that apply to certain top schools every cycle. What they want to read about is that you are a great human.
Your chance of acceptance
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Don’t I want them to tell a story though? I feel like this is not unique—or is that unimportant?