Hello everyone!
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Awoken from my
tryptophan-induced coma thanks to copious amounts of turkey, I am back to continue our application mini-series by discussing how we evaluate recommendations…both teacher and school counselor.
Right off the bat let me assure all of you (and your teachers) that we DO read your recommendations. We consider teacher recommendations an important part of the process. After all, who better to accurately depict your academic abilities than your teachers? Your teachers can give us valuable insight into important aspects of your candidacy. There is always a story behind the grade you get in a class and, good or bad, your teachers tell us that story.
When considering who to ask to write a recommendation for you ask yourself who knows me best? It is important for the teacher to be able to describe your abilities and work ethic in class, but it is also valuable if the teacher is able to speak from experience about your activities outside the classroom. Also, if possible, consider matching one of your recommendations up with the subject that you are interested pursuing in college. For example, if you know you want to go the school to study Biology, perhaps your Biology teacher would be a good place to start when considering your source for recommendations. Keep in mind that while the Common App. requires two teacher recommendations, you can always send in additional ones if you like.
We understand that not all of your teachers may be able to go into significant detail about all of your accomplishments outside of their classroom…That is where your school counselor comes in. He/she can give us a great summary of all of your accomplishments, while also emphasizing your strengths and areas that you may need improvement in. Your school counselor also acts as your advocate by explaining what is going on behind the numbers. Perhaps on your transcript it looks like you hit a “sophomore slump” in 10
th grade as all of your grades dipped. Your counselor will be able to tell us why. Maybe it was a death in the family or perhaps a major illness like pneumonia or mono. Your counselor is there to help explain any aberrations on your transcript and, for this reason, is very valuable.
Some of the better counselor recommendations I have read all have one thing in common: they tell the story of who the applicant is and they don’t let one factor define that story. It is not just grades, or just activities, or just talking about “the illness”… there is no one “thing” which defines a student. SAT’s alone don’t…a grade in a class won’t. It is a collection of your 4 years in High School that we value…and your teachers and school counselor have an important role in telling us this story within their thoughtful recommendation letters.
Next up: Your Essay!
