• Check each college’s admission requirements carefully to determine if they require letters of recommendation. 

• Some colleges accept a letter from a teacher OR counselor. Decide who will know you the best.

• If a college requires a recommendation from a teacher, they typically only need one. 

• It is standard practice that recommenders DO NOT share their letters directly with the student. They are typically submitted directly to the college or scholarship organization.

• Optional truly means optional!

• DO NOT ASK FOR MORE LETTERS THAN ARE ACCEPTED!

If a TEACHER Letter of Recommendation is Required:

At least one month before your deadline:

• Ask your teacher if he or she would be willing to write a letter on your behalf. Generally it is best to ask a junior year teacher from a core subject (English, world language, math, social studies or science) or a teacher from your major field.

• Review the Student Responsibilities for requesting Teacher Letters of Recommendation:

  • Confirm that you actually need a letter of recommendation before asking a teacher for one, as well as how many are required/accepted. Please do not make extra work for a teacher if a letter is not actually required!

  • Make sure to waive your right to view any letter in the application. This is standard practice.

  • Ask your teacher a month before the letter is needed if they are willing and able to write you a letter by the required deadline(s). Some "popular" teachers may have a limit or need even more time. 

  • If your teacher agrees to write you a letter, ask if they need anything from you (such as the Teacher Letter of Rec request form below.) REMEMBER – documents need time to travel/process. So if an application deadline is November 1st, you need to ask by October 1st!

  • Follow up with your teacher 3-5 days before the deadline to make sure the letter will be completed as expected if it has not been already. (Don’t hound them, just a friendly reminder!)

  • Optional (but highly recommended) is to follow up with a thank you letter afterward!

• If your teacher asks for it, print out/make a copy of the Teacher Letter of Recommendation Request Form, fill it out, and give it/email it to your teacher. 

• ADD the college to "College Applications" in SchoolLinks and INVITE your teacher to submit the letter of recommendation through the college's application page in SchooLinks. This is the only way to get your teacher's letter to the college.

• Invite your teacher to each college in SchooLinks where you want their recommendation sent. 

• PLEASE NOTE: Due to a high volume of requests, late requests, or various other reasons, a teacher may decline the request to write you a letter. Have some backup options in mind in case this situation happens to you. 

Optional "Other" recommenders are people such as your coach, employer, pastor, club sponsor, etc. Make sure this person is an "Other" recommender and not your Teacher or Counselor recommender. Even if your coach/sponsor happens to be a teacher at school, if they were not YOUR teacher for a class, they should not be your Teacher recommender!

If an "Other" Letter of Recommendation is Allowed:

At least 1 month before your deadline:

• Ask your "Other" recommender if he or she would be willing to write a letter on your behalf. 

• INVITE your "Other" recommender to submit the letter of recommendation through the college’s application by entering your recommender’s email address. 

  • NOTE: You WILL invite the "Other" recommenders directly through Common App and NOT SchooLinks.