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Has your son or daughter already asked teachers to write recommendation letters in support of their college applications? If not, you can be sure that some of their classmates have–and that by not doing so soon, your child can put him or herself at a serious disadvantage in the admissions process.
For most selective colleges, your child will need two or three letters of recommendation. Your guidance counselor will tackle the first – and then your child should have one or two teachers write the others.
How do you pick the right teachers? Here are three tips:
- Be sure that the teacher knows your child well. Did your child participate in class? Or slump in the back counting down the minutes to the bell?
- Choose teachers whose classes your child excelled in. Ideally, these should also be in subjects related to what your child plans on majoring or studying in college.
- Are there teachers your child worked with outside of class? Maybe one was a club adviser or coach. If so, he or she will have a better understanding of your son or daughter.
Consider the number of students in your child’s class. Now think of how many teachers there are at your high school. You don’t need to be a statistician to understand that, in all likelihood, each teacher will be writing at least one–but more likely–multiple letters of recommendation.
Now do you see why asking early is important?
Teachers write letters of recommendation in addition to their other many responsibilities. So, be kind and allow enough time for him or her to write an excellent letter. Make it easy by having your child provide an informal résumé about him or herself, including ideas for college majors, and extracurricular and work experience so that the teacher feels well prepared to write the letter.
Don’t have your child hold back on letting recommenders know all the great things about him or her, so that they can put that information in their letters and convey to colleges why your child should be admitted.
Still haven’t asked? Stop reading – and have your child get to it!
As an independent college counselor, I usually have my students write up a number of bullet points that they can give to each teacher and their counselor in order to get the best college recommendations. Students need to go in and talk with these people and give them the bullet points and discuss them. Students should only have two teachers and their counselor write a recommendation unless a particular college requests more.