![]() Some teachers/counselors are better recommendation writers than others. Don’t penalize a student for what is not said. Do not penalize a student whose recommender’s writing style is not strong. Watch for recommenders who use the same basic text for every student for whom they write, or who write inappropriate comments. Watch out for the “halo effect,” where a parent or other relative of the applicant may be on staff at the same or another school or be a VIP in that community. Do they corroborate or contradict one another? Note if there is consistency among the recommenders. For many of our private school applicants, hyperbole can be more the rule than the exception guard against over-rating such comments. “In general, our candidates receive good, solid support. (PSA: The rubric is about 15 years old, but Martin thinks it can still shed some insight on the evaluation process.) Here’s a rubric and some instructions admissions representatives used to follow to assess recommendation letters for students (courtesy of Martin Walsh). Well, your letter may get a sort of grade that will (hopefully) bump your student up in points. Yes! (To the first question) Your letter will be read and rated, sometimes by multiple admissions reps at each school. ![]() Special circumstances beyond the classroom that impact the studentīut does anyone actually read my recommendation letter? (Or am I just shouting into the dark, dark void?) The student’s abilities in context, over time-how do they fit within the school’s overall demographics, curriculum, test scores? On the other hand, a counselor’s letter should describe: The student’s personality, work ethic and social conduct The impact this student has on the classroom Teachers, according to Martin Walsh (former assistant dean of admission at Stanford) and a presentation co-led by Sara Urquidez (executive director of Academic Success Program), your recommendation letter should describe: If you’ve ever seen or written a counselor recommendation letter, you’ll notice some similarities.īut know this: While the format for these two letters of recommendation may be very much the same, the content should differ. All told, they’re kind of a big deal.Īs teachers, you provide a key source of information about something that test scores and transcripts can’t-your student’s role in the classroom. Our buddy Chris Reeves, a member of NACAC’s board of directors, has another way to read this table: “If you consider ‘considerable importance’ AND ‘moderate importance,’ the teacher letter is also more important than demonstrated interest.”īasically, if it comes down to your student and another candidate-all else being equal-your recommendation letter can get your student in or keep them out.Īnd, according to a presentation co-led by our friend Sara Urquidez at a 2017 AP conference, rec letters can also help decide who gets scholarships and who gets into honors programs. Ethan (the College Essay Guy) and I serve as your synthesizers and storytellers in this guide, which we’ve chunked into a few parts: Michelle McAnaney, educational consultant and founder of The College SpyĪnd I’m Alexis, a high school English teacher-turned college counselor-turned journalist. Martin Walsh, school counselor and former assistant dean of admission at Stanford Sara Urquidez, executive director of Academic Success Program, a nonprofit that promotes a college-going culture in Dallas/Fort Worth high schools Kati Sweaney, senior assistant dean of admission at Reed College Michelle Rasich, director of college counseling at Rowland Hall Trevor Rusert, director of college counseling at Chadwick International in South Korea In the spirit of this topic, we’ve gathered advice from a number of experts, including:Ĭhris Reeves, school counselor and member of the NACAC board of directors While we’re at it, we’ll also walk you through how letters of recommendation for teachers differ from the counselor letter then, we’ll offer you two different schools of thought on how to write recommendation letters for students.īoth approaches work well, so we’ll show you how each is done-with examples for your reading pleasure. As your list of recommendation letters for students continues to grow, maybe you can understand.īut fear no more! We’ll show you why writing strong recommendation letters for your students can be one more way to serve them in their future academics. Even so, the same overwhelming feeling of angst bore down upon me every year around application season.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |