Letters of Recommendation

Letters of Recommendation

• Do your research:  Do your colleges require letters of recommendation? Not all do!  One is usually enough and two at most.

• Give your recommenders AT LEAST 3-4 weeks’ notice prior to the college’s deadline.

• Contact your recommender to request a letter of recommendation before requesting in SchooLinks.

• Schools that require an academic teacher letter of rec are generally looking for an English, Math, Science, Social Studies, or World Language teacher.

• Complete your brag sheet in SchooLinks.

TEACHER RECOMMENDATION LETTERS

• Follow-up with a SchooLinks request to the teacher(s):

  • Go to “Colleges” → “College Applications”

  • Click on the edit pencil of a college to add the recommendation request

  • In the middle section under “Recommendation Letters” you can choose a recommender to invite. Click “+Request Teacher Recommendation” or “Add recommender”. All teachers are pre-populated into the system. Once you find and select your teacher’s name, click “Submit Request”.

  • Your teacher will receive an email request to upload and send your letter.

• You will need to repeat this process for each college that requires a teacher letter of recommendation.

• Do NOT use this section to request an “other recommender” or a counselor recommendation letter. This section is for teachers only. See below for information on “other recommenders”

• You can view the status of all of your recommendation letters by clicking on “College” →  “College Applications” → “Recommendation Tracker” (on the left side)

COUNSELOR RECOMMENDATION LETTERS

• Not all colleges require a counselor recommendation letter. Please do NOT request a letter from your counselor unless the college requires it.

• Contact your counselor to request a counselor recommendation letter, if required.

• Complete the brag sheet form in SchooLinks. Your counselor will NOT write your letter until you complete the form.

  • Requests must be made and forms completed 3-4 weeks before the deadline.

• Common App schools will automatically populate a Counselor Recommendation Letter request in SchooLinks, if required.

• Non-Common App schools: If your school requires a counselor recommendation letter and it did not automatically populate, contact your counselor.

OTHER RECOMMENDATION LETTERS

• If your college allows you to have an outside or other recommender (employer, clergy member, music teacher, etc.), do NOT use SchooLinks to request this letter of recommendation.

• You can use your Common App to request an “Other Recommender” by going to the “Recommenders and FERPA” section of your Common App.

• Instructions for requesting teacher or counselor letters of recommendation-Google Doc

• Which schools require letters of recommendation?