College Search and Application Tips

Remember to begin forming relationships with teachers, counselors, and members of your community early in your high school years. This gives them they ability to: 

• Get to know you well, especially your strengths

• Have a longer history to speak on to schools

• Write a stronger letter of recommendation

Things can aid in receiving a strong letter of recommendation

• Strong relationships, especially those built over time

• Knowing about your strengths and potential barriers to success

• Good class attendance and behavior

• Strong performance in class

• ASKING EARLY i.e. about a month before your deadline

How to ask for a letter of recommendation

1. Ask to see if the individual can write you a strong, positive letter of recommendation. 

Be prepared for a no (due to lack of time or knowledge about you, not able to write a strong letter, etc.)

2. Asking in person is good, but always follow up with a written request or summary of the conversation.

3. Either attach your resume to the request email or state that you can provide it if needed.

4. Provide them relevant details like deadline, email or address to send to, and an upload/document invite if possible. Applications like Common App, Common Black App, and Coalition have this feature.

5. I strongly recommend you waive your right to see the letter for all recommenders. This is for your benefit, as a letter that has your FERPA right waived means the letter remains hidden to the student/family, which lets the college know that the recommendation was given freely and honestly. 

6. We recommend you give your recommender at least a month to complete their letter. I ask for a minimum of two weeks notice for a strong letter. Any time less than that will likely receive a form letter with not much substance about you.

Transfer of credits

• Credit transfer depends on multiple factors, like the ability to match the courses you take with your future college and the grades you earned in your dual enrollment classes. Transferability can be affected by the major you choose in college. Ex. Art classes would be less likely to transfer for a STEM major.

• Many schools will not transfer grades below a C and some will only accept As or Bs.

• You will want to request a transfer credit review, if your future school does not already do that automatically. You can request an official transcript be sent to your school. You may request an unofficial transcript at any time. See the request form below for further details.

• When considering transfer of credits, keep in mind that you are accelerating your graduation timeline, as well as your class difficulty (moving from 100 levels to 200+) and placing yourself in classes with older peers. You absolutely can do it, but some might not be comfortable learning with folks who are older than they are. And, classes will be more difficult right away, so a learning curve isn't really there.