by Gen & Kelly Tanabe
Gen & Kelly Tanabe are the authors of Get
Into Any College: Secrets Of Harvard Students, Get
Free Cash For College: Scholarship Secrets Of Harvard Students, and founders of
SuperCollege.com where you'll
find more tips, secrets, and strategies.
In college admissions, application forms and essays give admissions
officers your own perspective on your achievements. However, to get
another person's viewpoint they often turn to your letters of
recommendation.
When you apply to college, you will typically submit between one
and three recommendation letters from teachers, employers, or other
adults who can vouch for your academic achievements or personal character.
Even though others actually write the letters, you might be
surprised to discover that you can influence the results by
who you select and what information you provide them. Here
are some strategies for getting the best possible recommendation
letters:
1. Start Early
Most colleges require two teacher recommendations and a school
report completed by your counselor, principal, or headmaster.
Some schools also allow you to submit an extra recommendation.
Giving out the recommendation forms early should be your first
priority.
Recommenders need at least three weeks if not several months to
prepare your recommendations, especially if they are busy
teachers or administrators and have a stack of other recommendations
to write. Before doing anything else, work on distributing the forms
to them. But first, you need to find some recommenders.
2. Hunt Down The Best Recommenders
Identifying quality recommenders is much like finding star witnesses
for a courtroom. You want people who can testify in support of
your strengths, who are believable, and who won't reveal anything
incriminating. Essentially you want to find people who know your
strengths and will attest to them.
For example, if your English teacher thinks that you are the
next Hemingway, then you should ask him. Or, if biology is so
easy that your teacher asks you to grade the exams, then
you should ask her. Obviously the teachers in whose classes
you excel will be your most likely candidates.
For the school report, you may not have a choice who to ask.
Many colleges specify which administrator should complete
the report, usually your counselor, college advisor, principal,
or schoolmaster. If you are given a choice, of course pick the
one who knows you and your accomplishments best.
3. Give Them Everything They Need
Once you have your recommenders, put together a packet with a
cover letter, resume, and all of the forms that they need to
fill out for the colleges. Be sure to include in the cover letter
a list of all the deadlines. Also, spend the extra money and put
stamps on the envelopes so all your recommenders have to do
is drop their recommendations in the mailbox.
4. Check In Often
Make sure that none of your recommendations are turned in late.
It's your responsibility to make sure that your recommenders
are aware of the deadlines and complete everything on time.
Without pestering, make sure you inquire every so often about
the status of the recommendation. A subtle way to remind them is
to send a thank you note a week before the recommendations are due.
While you can't control every word your recommenders write,
by following the above four steps you will greatly increase
the chances that you will have stellar recommendations.
