Excellent Recommendation Letters

A Foolproof Guide to Romancing the College of Your Dreams

Wooing the College Admissions Committee
Brace yourself for some bad news: You can be valedictorian, ace the SATs, and write a jaw-dropping personal statement, and it still won’t get you into college. Ms. Admissions will glance over your application and say, “Is that all?” To really thrill Ms. Admissions, you must woo her with a dazzling…letter of recommendation.
Yes, like Cyrano de Bergerac (you know that big-nosed romantic of old? no?) you must find someone else to serenade her for you. The right words, from the right person, will warm the cold cockles of her heart and move her to say, “I do!” Or, er, “You’re in!” You get the point.

So what are the right words? And who is the right person??! Calm down young buck and read on for the good news.

Recommendation Step One: Let’s Get it Organized

Get it? Like “Let’s Get it On” except instead of “on” I said “organized”? Just don’t laugh so hard you lose focus. Back to Step One…

Here’s what NOT to do: Walk up to the first grown up you see and say, “Gimme a recommendation, and make it real nice. Also, it’s due in three hours.” Is that how you’d ask a date to the prom? Is that what a high school superstar would do? What you should do is gather all the necessary information into one place, organize it, and form a step-by-step strategy. Oh look, I’m already doing that for you!
Here’s what you need:

• Pen or pencil
• Paper
• Calendar
• Application instructions for EACH and EVERY college you are applying to.

Did you gather everything? Is it in front of you right now? Good. Here’s what you do next: Take a piece of paper and write the name of each school across the top. You are building an information table that will tell you everything you need to know at a glance. Down the left hand side of your table, write the following:

1. Number of Letters I Need
2. Submission Deadline
3. Follow-up Date
4. Submission Method
5. School Address
6. My Recommenders

Your table should look something like this:

	Dream School	Pretty Good School		Safety School
# of Letters I Need
Submission Deadline
Follow-up Date
Submission Method
School Address or URL
My Recommenders

Now, using the application instructions and calendar in front of you, we’re going to fill in the table. I know it sounds like a lot, but it won’t take long at all. Plus it will save you lots of time and confusion later. It’s a Don’t Mess This Up Table.

Number of Letters I Need:

Some schools ask for three reference letters, some are satisfied with one. Find out and jot this number down under each school on your Don’t Mess This Up Table. Luckily you can use the same three letters for every school you apply to.

Submission Deadline:

This is the final deadline to submit your application. As in, the very last day the college should receive the recommendation letter. Actually, lots of colleges will accept late letters if all other materials are in and they like you. But I didn’t say that. Proceed as if the opposite is true.

Follow-up Date:

The follow-up date is the date you want to check-in with your recommender. It’s the date you’re going to pay them a visit, make a phone call, or send an email saying, “Hi, it’s me, just a friendly reminder that the letter of recommendation you agreed to write for me is due by [insert submission deadline here]. And again, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SELFLESSLY HELPING TO SHAPE MY FUTURE BY WRITING THIS VERY CRUCIAL LETTER ON TIME!”

How do you know what the magical follow up date is? This is where the calendar comes in! Start at the submission deadline, and jump backwards two weeks. If your application is due February 1^st, the follow up date is January 18^th. That gives your recommender ample time to do a good job.

Now, if it’s already two weeks until the deadline and you haven’t even approached a potential recommender yet, you’re going have to adjust. Approach them ASAP, and say you’re going to follow-up a week or 5 days before the final due date.

Submission Method:

Does the school want all letters post-marked, snail-mailed, and sealed with a signature? Is it a green campus that will only accept letters through their electronic submission system? You (and the recommender) gotta know this stuff!

School Address or URL

If the submission method is “snail-mail,” write down the physical address. If it’s online, write down the website. You are writing this down in one place so you can easily copy the information for your recommender. Remember, they need the right information for each school they are sending a letter to.

My Recommenders

Pretty straightforward: This space is for you to keep track of who is writing which letters.

Phew. Now you have an awesome Don’t Mess This Up Table that looks something like this:

 

	Dream School	Pretty Good School	Safety School
# of Letters I Need	3	2	1
Submission Deadline	February 1st	March 15th	February 15th
Follow-up Date	January 18th	March 1st	February 1st
Submission Method	Electronic	Snail Mail	Electronic
School Address or URL	www.dreamschool.edu/apply	123 College Ave, College Town, USA	www.safetyschool.edu/letters-go-here
My Recommenders	Ms. Coach, Mr. History Teacher, Miss Knows-me-Best	Ms. Coach, Mr. History Teacher	Mr. History Teacher

Step Two: I Want You to Want Me to Get Into College

The person who recommends you should be a trustworthy source: someone with authority who knows you well enough to speak about your skills, abilities, and personality. You are selecting a spokesperson who will make your strengths shine. If you’re drawing a blank, run down this list and write down the people who jump to mind:

• The teacher who wrote lots of exclamations and smiley faces in the margins of your paper. The one you hung around to talk to after the bell, who gave you A’s, and embarrassed you in front of the class by reading your poetry aloud.
• That really kind, if a little cheesy, school counselor who asked you a million questions about your “passions” and told you “you’re gonna go far!”
• Your band/theater/choir/dance squad/cheerleading/color guard/you get the picture director. The one who’s seen you work hard year after year, and handed you homemade certificates that said, “Most Improved Flag Twirler,” or “Most Valuable Sax Soloist.”
• Your coach. I don’t just mean soccer or volleyball. Debate team, mock trial, model UN, academic decathlon—that’s the kind of coach that will really wow an admissions committee.
• The internship supervisor from that amazing organization your worked at last summer. Or the volunteer coordinator from the animal shelter, soup kitchen, or tutoring club where you moonlight.
• Your employer who’s seen you spend your precious weekends as a responsible young adult. As long as you don’t work at the burger shack.

At this point some of you are panicking. You’re thinking, I don’t have a single person on that list I can go to! Stop exaggerating. If you’ve attended high school at all—which, if you’re applying to college presumably you have—there are more than enough teachers for you to approach.

Step Three: Have I Told You Lately That I Need a Recommendation?

Approach your desired spokesperson at least one month before the deadline to complete and send letters. If you can, do it even earlier. They will be writing lots of recommendation letters come crunch time, so make sure yours is at the top of the pile. The last thing you want is a letter that sounds rushed or canned.

When you ask, take time to speak with them. Tell them why you are asking them instead of the teacher next door. It’s not a bad idea to stroke the ego a little by explaining that their endless lessons on the Civil War were very meaningful, or that you really identified with that one book they assigned.

Even if they say yes right off the bat, keep talking. This is your chance to refresh their memory with all the specific reasons you’re so great. Remind them of particular presentations you gave, papers you got an A+ on, or challenges you overcame in their class. Mention how you’ve always dreamed of becoming a zoologist, or playwright, or CEO. Let them see you have goals and aspirations. You’ll be making their job easier, and giving them powerful ammunition to use on your behalf.

Come prepared with all the pertinent information and hand it to them then and there. Use the following list to make sure you aren’t forgetting anything:

• School provided recommendation forms. Print this out!
• Stamped and addressed envelopes for each of the schools that operate by snail-mail.
• A copy of your resume or the personal statement you are submitting with your application.
• Your contact information. Phone number, email address, etc, in case they need to ask you any questions.

Step Four: Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m In!

You got organized, you identified your spokespersons, and you approached them with an impressive display of responsibility, respect, and charm. You politely followed up with each recommender well before the deadline. Well done! All that’s left to do check in one last time to confirm the letters have shipped. Good timing is a few days before the deadline. If they’re procrastinating, you can clearly (though still politely) state the deadline, and ask them to let you know as soon as the job is done.

Be sure to write thank you notes to your recommenders–it’s simply good form. They took time out of their very busy lives, set aside the demands of work, family, and hundreds of other students, to do you a favor. For free. Besides, you may need their kinds words again some day.

Who knew the secrets to romance were checklists, tables, and scheduled communication? These are steps that anyone can follow to woo that faceless and frightening admissions committee. With the right preparation, you can get glowing letters of recommendation whether you’re teacher’s pet, or the principal’s biggest headache.