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YesLetter: Applications: Letters of Recommendation:
Articles
Recommendations: What We Recommend (An Overview)
by Adam
As a mere fragment of the application package, letters of
recommendation are likely to be less important than the applicants’
own work: their grades, test scores, extracurricular achievements
and essays. Still, a selective admissions department wouldn’t
ask for such letters if they didn’t serve some purpose.
That purpose is to bring the applicants to life, to lift them
off paper and become unique human beings who students and faculty
could be interacting with on a daily basis. The best way to
produce this effect is through a revealing, anecdote-filled
letter insightfully written by a person willing and able to
provide such a personal description.
However, applicants rarely seek out such recommendations,
and as a result the letter of recommendation is perhaps the
most underutilized aspect of students’ applications. You
should, therefore, seek out someone in your life who knows you
well, regards you in a positive light and has interesting and
personal things to say about you as an individual. That someone
may be a teacher, a coach, a drama director, an employer, a
religious leader, a community leader, a parent, a grandparent,
a sibling, or even an intelligent friend. What matters is not
the credentials of the writer, but the capacity in which they
are able to write about you. This means that the first-year
teacher who would feel honored to write about you would be a
better choice than the most popular teacher in school who already
has dozens of recommendations to write and little time to do
it in.
Applicants also too often attempt to use a connection to an
alumnus, trustee, or politician to obtain seemingly valuable
recommendations. Unfortunately, unless that alumnae is someone
who knows you well or you’ve worked personally for the
politician, such recommendations are often bland, generic assertions
that you are a qualified applicant. If the admissions committee
doesn’t already know that anyway, you’re in trouble.
If selecting a teacher to write your recommendation, there
are a few questions that you should answer for yourself first:
What do you intend to major in? Most schools
ask you this question on the application, and a letter from
a chemistry teacher may go a longer way for a student who has
portrayed himself as a prospective chemistry major. The student
is also more likely to have shown his enthusiasm and curiosity
in chemistry class.
What grades have you received in a teacher’s
course? Teachers from whom you have received easy A’s
may seem equally easy prospects for letters of recommendation,
but imagine this scenario: French comes easy to you; you can
breeze through the assignments faster than you can say “Je
suis fini,” tests are a breeze, and you don’t have
to pay much attention in class. Now math, on the other hand,
is a bit more challenging. You’re enrolled in a rigorous
course, and have had to spend an exorbitant amount of time to
keep up with the material, often asking your teacher a few questions
after class, and your grade started out as a B, but has since
climbed to a high A-. Which teacher will probably write a better
letter for you?
Finally, honestly ask yourself if you get along with the teacher.
This seems obvious, but many students overlook the fact that
they do not see eye to eye with a teacher if they have received
an A in that teacher’s class.
Once you’ve singled out one or two people who have the
ability to write personally about your character, make sure
you know how to politely and unintrusively ask them to write
a letter on your behalf, while still making sure that they know
what you hope such a letter will achieve. When you approach
a potential recommendation writer, first tell them which schools
you’re applying to, and then ask if they have the time
and are comfortable writing a recommendation for you. Most will
probably say yes if you know them well enough, but asking first
prevents you from coming off as demanding--plus if they decline,
they wouldn’t have written much of a recommendation anyway.
After getting their consent, be sure you have all the proper
forms; many selective schools require a signature form and “rating
sheet” in addition to the letter itself. Along with the
forms, include a list of your achievements in case the writer
needs a nudge to get started, and also include an addressed
and stamped envelope for each college. Prepare some type of
sheet or cover letter that lists the deadline for each letter.
Also be sure to sign the Buckley Amendment, effectively waiving
your right to see what is written about you. If you’re
concerned that the writer may write negative things about you
if he or she knows that you will never be able to see them,
you’re either paranoid or have chosen the wrong person
to write your recommendation. Waiving your right both displays
your trust and makes the writer more comfortable with writing
a personal letter.
Finally, be sure that the writer knows what is expected--that
your looking for an in-depth assessment of your character from
an outside perspective. Ask them to make it interesting, fill
it with anecdotes, make it unique--make it lift you off paper
and bring you to life.
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