Colleges need help deciding if a student has the character and ability to function successfully at their institution. A strong teacher recommendation can bring a student to life for the admission committee and may be the decisive factor for students with weaker grades or test scores. How can you help your teacher colleagues write effective recommendations?
The role of the teacher recommendation:
- Teacher recommendations should be honest appraisals of a student's academic performance and intellectual promise. They are intended primarily to convey the teacher's classroom experience with the student — to give colleges an idea of how the student is likely to perform academically. These recommendations serve a different function than the counselor recommendation, which is meant to provide a broader view of the student.
- Teachers should not feel pressured into writing an excessive number of recommendations. If they're not comfortable furnishing a recommendation for any given student, it's in both their and that student's interest that they decline.
- Help your teachers gather information
To effectively write recommendations using a personal approach, teachers need to have as much information as possible. Suggest that they ask the student for:
- A completed student information form or a résumé to supply more anecdotal information for the letter. Print out the Recommendations: Student Self-Assessment and the College Questionnaire for Parents or Guardians for your teachers to use if they like.
- An "Interaction Sheet" on which the student describes past events or interactions from the time in the teacher's class. This will help the teacher recall specific characteristics of and anecdotes about the student.
- Assignment samples from the time the student was in the teacher's class. Again, this will help the teacher remember the student.
- A brief synopsis of the student's goals and interests.
- A list of colleges the student will be applying to, along with deadlines and any appropriate forms.
Create and distribute a list of positive descriptive words (for example: perceptive, inventive, precise, intuitive and imaginative) that might serve to jog teachers' minds about what a certain student is like. The more specific the teacher can be when characterizing the students and their work, the stronger the recommendation.
A brag sheet/information sheet offers you the opportunity to BRAG!!!
- We suggest you use the format provided on the example. We suggest you save the brag sheet sample and questions in a new word document and edit them with your personal information.
- We also recommend that you answer the questions provided (typed) and give them to the person writing your letter along with your brag sheet.
- Once you have completed your Brag Sheet/Senior Information Sheet, follow the Letter of Recommendation Instructions VERY CAREFULLY.
All of the information will assist the teachers, coaches, advisors and counselors when they are writing your letters of recommendation. A “good” letter of recommendation may make a difference in your acceptance to a college or your level of competency in a scholarship contest. Therefore take your time to carefully respond to each question.
When answering the questionnaire, use complete sentences. The more information that you offer to your writer, the better the recommendation letter will be!
At least two weeks before the due date, give your writer(s) a copy of your brag sheet, a copy of the brag sheet questions, a teacher or counselor form (if one is required by the college) with the list of colleges needing letters of recommendation. Fill out as much of the teacher/counselor form as possible before asking a “writer” to complete the form.
Don't forget to send a handwritten THANK YOU card to every teacher who wrote you a recommendation. An email is NOT sufficient! Keep in mind how much time they spent writing your recommendation.