The Letter of Recommendation and Getting Into College

The beginning of your senior year of high school or the college is one of the best feelings.  You have less than a year left until graduation then get to leave your hometown and parents’ house, and travel off to college.  However, before you get prematurely excited, you need to keep in mind that your final year of high school/college is one of the most important toward getting into college/graduate school. 

Application deadlines are typically by the first semester, and the second semester is reserved toward visiting and touring schools you have been accepted to.  It is also within this time frame that you need to determine your standing with the teachers in your school who will be able to write letters of recommendation.

Letters of recommendation are one of the critical factors towards gaining admission into college, and even later on in graduate schools.  They provide a way for schools to get an outside view as to who you, as a student, really are.

Letters of recommendation provide a gateway through which schools can understand the student better; for example, a teacher may write that you contribute much to class discussion, but do not do well on standardized tests.  This may help to explain a lower score on the SAT, ACT or GRE, without damaging the student’s chances at a school.

Letter of Recommendation and SOP

Letters of recommendation are much different than a student’s own personal statement essay that many universities require.  The personal statement is presented as a way for the admissions board to get to know the student better: their background, experiences, and everything that is not readily described in an application.

The letters of recommendation, however, focus more upon the students’ applicable traits as they relate to schoolwork, rather than their personal life.  It is therefore extremely important to forge relationships with teachers early on in your high school career, but also to maintain these relationships, especially during your final year of school.  If you do not have close relationships with any teachers by your senior year, you need to make sure that you put forth the effort to gain a few by the end of your first semester.

This post was contributed by Heidi Taylor, who writes about the best master’s degree. She welcomes your feedback at HeidiLTaylor006 at gmail.com

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