Recommendation Request Form
How to Request a Letter of Recommendation
STUDENT LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION INFORMATION FORM
(to be completed over the summer prior to the first day of senior year or as needed)
Letters of recommendations for colleges, universities, and scholarships are used to provide both a summary of your academic and extracurricular involvements as well as insight into who you are as an individual. Completing the questions and statements on the form linked below will greatly assist us in creating letters of recommendation that present you in a positive light. PLEASE BE AS THOROUGH AND DESCRIPTIVE AS POSSIBLE WHEN COMPLETING THIS FORM.
If you need a letter of recommendation:
1. Contact your school counselor either in person or via email AT LEAST TWO WEEKS prior to needing your letter of recommendation.
2. Please complete and submit this form AT LEAST TWO WEEKS prior to when you need your completed letter of recommendation.
Please Note: We understand that there may be some special circumstances in which you may have less than 2 weeks before knowing that you need a letter of recommendation. However, completing the form online ahead of time, even before knowing whether or not you will need a letter of recommendation, will help to expedite the process.
Additional points regarding letters of recommendation:
A letter of recommendation cannot be completed for you unless you have completed this letter of rec. info form.
Completing the form DOES NOT mean that a letter will automatically be written for you. There are many seniors and all of you do not need a letter (but completing the info sheet still gives us more info to advocate for you to college/university representatives, make scholarship and college recommendations for you according to your areas of interest, etc..).
If you are applying through Common App, you do not need to request a letter from your school counselor. We can look at the schools that you are applying to and see if you have any that require a letter. If you do, we will upload a letter of rec. for you automatically as we are completing the counselor report (you must add the advising email as you are setting up your profile in order for the student report and counselor report portions of the common application to be completed for you).
If you are applying directly through the college/university website, there may be a counselor form that is generated and emailed directly to your school counselor. Most schools want the letter to come directly from the school counseling office, but you may be provided with a letter in a sealed envelope with the school counselor's signature across the back if needed.
If none of the above applies to you, please double check through the college's website whether they accept counselor recommendations. Some colleges do not require recommendation letters and may explicitly say that they will not be reading letters sent in due to the volume of applications they receive.
Please be serious about the schools that you are applying to. Some colleges/universities may waive your application fee and so you start to apply because of this.