College Admissions Letters of Rec

ustin Timberlake should not be writing your college admissions letter of recommendation. Don’t try to impress college admissions counselors. Impress your teachers and your guidance counselor instead (photo credit: Georges Biard).

College admissions letters of rec should come from your guidance counselors and the teachers who know you best. These letters of rec should not come from your state’s governor. What does Chris Christie know about you as a student? These letters of rec should also not come from a famous person you happened to run into at a shopping mall. Even if said famous person agreed to write your college admission letter of rec, what do you think this famous person could possibly say about you? That you pressed the elevator button well? Don’t try to impress college admissions counselors with letters of recommendation from famous people. They don’t care and it’ll only hurt your chances.

Rather, focus your efforts on securing great letters of recommendation from your guidance counselor and your teachers. Think about what kind of student you are in your classes. Are you the student who is a wallflower, sitting at the back of the classroom and refusing to participate in class discussion? Maybe you get great grades but what is your teacher going to write about in her recommendation? That you sit nicely and get great grades? That won’t go over well. You want to be someone who changes the course of class discussions, who inspires debate, who shows a real passion for learning and true intellectual curiosity.

Your transcript already shows your grades so a good college admissions letter of rec will show all that isn’t on your transcript. It’ll show that you’re a student a college must have, the kind of student who will add to the diversity of thought on a college campus. Think about the classes in which you’ve really participated in class discussions. Think of specific times when you offered an opinion that really ignited conversation. And don’t forget to remind your teachers about these instances as there’s a good chance they’ve forgotten.

For more information, check out this newsletter on Effective Letters of Recommendation or this one on Counselor Letters of Recommendation.