Letters of recommendation for any application provide insight into how others perceive you and how you present yourself to the people around you. It is important that when choosing a recommender, it is someone who knows you well and can speak highly and honestly about you and the person you are. A good recommendation starts with a great relationship with the person you are seeking a recommendation from. When I was going through the college application process, I knew one of the rec letters would have to be from your guidance counselor. Because I went to a small school with an amazing guidance department, the counselors knew most of their students personally. This personal relationship allows for recommenders to add specific details about who you are rather than just a general letter made for everyone. Admissions counselors can tell which letters took the most amount of time because the person writing it meant every word and which letters were just ones that applied to a student they did not really know. If you go to a big high school where you do not know your counselor because of the large student body, I would suggest to really choose a teacher that you are close to as well. Colleges will know the ratio between students and counselors and will take that into account.
Ask your recommender far in advance for a letter. This especially applies to juniors going into their senior year. In my high school, there were very specific teachers that always received a large amount of requests for letters. I made sure to ask my recommenders before my junior year ended to be a recommender for me for my college applications and it ensured that they would be able to work on their letter before the school year started so they can take the time and effort to write the letter. If you ask your recommenders too close to the deadline, they may just submit a generic letter or may not even agree to write your letter.
Another thing that is helpful for recommenders, especially those who you may not know well enough but is required, would be filling out what my high school called a “Brag Sheet”. This is essentially just a bunch of questions that you answer about yourself that your recommender can utilize when writing the letter. It gives a clear idea of who you are and what things you would like the person writing the letter to include and let colleges know about you. Below is a sample Brag Sheet I filled out for my guidance counselor.
Brag Sheet
- What are the first three words that come to mind when you describe yourself?
- Where do you see yourself in 5 yrs or 10 yrs? How will you get there?
- Describe your parents and their background. Where were they born? Did they go to college? If so, where? What do they do for a living? How have they supported you and your future goals?
- What is it like at home? Who lives there? What are your household responsibilities? What languages are spoken?
- What special talents do you have, or what special activities have you been involved in, that we may not be aware of?
- What do you feel are your greatest strengths?
- What are your weaknesses? How have you tried to address them? Be honest!
- What have you liked most about high school? The least? What were your favorite and least favorite subjects? Why?
- Why do you want to go to college? What do you hope to gain from this experience?
- What kind of college do you think is best for you and why?
- Describe what you typically do on an ordinary Saturday afternoon?
- Describe a challenge you faced in high school and how you tried to overcome it.
- Anything else & a draft of college essay
Asking for a letter of recommendation is a very important and very big task so it is good to be sure to thank the recommender for their hard work. I remember buying my recommenders some small gifts as a thank you depending on their own preferences along with my own letter of thanks. All in all, recommenders are a huge part of your application so it is always good to get started earlier rather than later. Good luck!