Letters of Recommendation: How do you get one?

Sources: Coursera and Life experience :)

Senior year is the year of starting the college application process and finding out what you’re most likely going to do with your life. Now, some seniors have no idea how to start. They may be confused about how to send transcripts, send SAT/ACT scores, or how to start in general.

However, one topic I am going to be focusing on is letters of recommendation and how you ask for one. What are letters of recommendation? Whenever you apply to colleges they may ask you to get a letter of recommendation from some people. The letter of recommendation is the college finding out what you are like in the school environment. The people that you ask are teachers and counselors mostly but you can ask other people, just don’t ask your parents.

This letter is a paper that the teacher or counselor has to fill out, if you ask them, about yourself. Now that you know what letters of recommendation are, let me tell you how to request a letter of recommendation.

The first thing you should do is pick the teachers that you want to write your letters of recommendation to. You should pick a teacher that you have a close connection with, or better yet pick a teacher whose subject is something about your major. For example, if you have a biology degree try to get a recommendation from a biology teacher or a statistics teacher.

Whenever you pick a teacher, make sure to ask them in person, and then if they agree you have to send a formal letter of recommendation request. Next, you have to give your teacher a resumé or a brag sheet about yourself. This email should include information on the school you’re applying to, details about how and when the letter should be submitted next, and an updated resume or brag sheet. Not every teacher knows what you have accomplished so you have to give them some sort of brag sheet to go off of. You need to also make sure that you give your teacher a lot of time to do the letter. Teachers have a life too and they shouldn't be stressed about turning it in on time, especially this is something they do out of kindness!

Make sure to let your teacher know the date you have to have it by and give them reminders when it is due. Finally, you need to thank the teachers that did this for you and make sure they know that you are grateful. Good luck!