First I will draw a distinct line between the UK and US recommendations. UK universities typically only require a recommendation through UCAS whereas US universities might request multiple recommendations. The recommendations by US universities are divided into two distinct types: counselor's and teacher's. Today I will explain the US recommendations or recs for short.
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| He is a mathematical genius. Recommendation letter of John Nash |
Recs: What do they do?
Recs provide an insight into your life as seen by an outsider. As the Chinese idiom says, 当局者迷，旁观者清 (Chinese idiom - the observer has the clearest view), when you are busy trying to portray yourself handsomely, having an outsider vouching your character is a refreshing sight to the admission officers. Hence, recs are important as the other aspects of your holistic applications.
More importantly, recs are your second (or third, or fourth..) essay, but written by other people. When you answer your essay prompts, you might not have enough space to talk about the other aspects of your life. If you can communicate properly with your teachers on the aspects that he/she has to cover, voila! You have another voice for your character!
The first rule of rec: Never write anything bad
Let's just pretend that you are trying to recommend your friend for a job, what do you do?
Of course, you will sing praises of their friends' work ethics while avoiding any of his/her flaws - "he/she is a meticulous secretary!", "he/she never misses a deadline!". As grandiose as these statements sounds, you will also need to hit the mark. Would you recommend someone's athletic prowess (He can really hit the ball!) to a future employer? I guess not.
But in the case of college application recs, things get more muddled. What does an institution seeks? A case of intellectual vitality? A dose of never-giving-up? A pinch of versatility? A dash of talent? What does the college really want?
But in the case of college application recs, things get more muddled. What does an institution seeks? A case of intellectual vitality? A dose of never-giving-up? A pinch of versatility? A dash of talent? What does the college really want?
The answer is somewhere between the fine lines. Your teacher should write something that answers the question (with some guidelines) but they should also write what they want to write. The only time the recommendation would be a disservice to your application would be when your teacher writes something negative. In that case, the teacher would undo everything good that he/she has mentioned in the past. Imagine the admission officer reading your stellar application and finding the teacher describing you as a smart but lazy bum. There goes your application down the drain.
Irrelevance is okay, but never anything negative.
The second rule of rec: Counselor =/= Teacher
Allow me to explain.
College recs do not have rigid requirements but they should provide context and value. Generally context is for the counselor's recommendation while value is more for the teacher's recommendation.
There was considerable debate during my application year on what constitutes a counselor and what constitutes a teacher in the US recommendation letters. Do not take counselor to be the school counselor! The system we have here in Malaysia is totally different from that in the US, where the counselor is supposed to know all the students personally and help paint a picture of the student for college application. So unless you really know your counselor and your counselor knows you well enough that you should nominate him to write your recommendations.
Your counselor should write some sort of a preliminary background check for your college. He/she should explain your family background and how does that establish your motivations in school. Hence, the counselor should know you and your family pretty well and able to explain your situation to the admission officers.You should choose the teacher who knows you best as a counselor. Thus, if you ever have any sob story to tell but afraid of ruining your essay, then you should tell your counselor to mention it in his/her rec.
Teachers, on the other hand are free to write whatever they please, that means if he/she is your basketball coach, then he/she could write about your ball game or your unique outlook on physics problem, whatever it is, it should be personal and adds value (I mean, that is the whole point of recommendation right?). There is another neat trick to letting your teachers writing your rec which is part of your admission strategy, you can actually assign the teachers to write certain things about you.
The third rule of rec: Help your teacher to recommend yourself
When you are applying to university, you must have some sort of application strategy. A simple idea would be "I'll apply to A first, if I got accepted into A, then I won't apply to B etc...". In the US application, you will definitely need to pre-plan your time, your energy and also your recommendations!
Why is a person entitled to three recommendations? This is because the admission officers want to gather as much information about you as possible. Hence, it would make sense to ask teachers which you have different interactions in class. For example, you should ask the Chemistry teacher whom you reverently ask questions in class as well as the Physics teacher that you always hang around with to write recommendations for you. Chances are, they would have different views of you in class. And the more diverse the views the better! Imagine if they all describe the same thing, then you might as well write the recs yourself!
Some teachers might approach you on how to write the rec, this is when you should tell the teacher what you would like them to write about. However, if the teacher ask you to plain write it yourself, try your best to persuade them to write it themselves, unless you really have no choice in this matter, which leads us to the fourth point.
A funny anecdote. My friend, after attending USAPPS 2015, was eager to apply his newfound strategy of recs. When he asked the chemistry teacher to not mention his grades because he has already mentioned it in other parts of the application. The teacher just replied: "Very good, then I would mention again to strengthen your application." This clearly illustrates the fourth rule
Irregardless of what you have said to the teacher, the teacher will still write what he/she would want to write. So do not be disheartened when the teacher still remain adamant to write certain things. They have their own viewpoint after years or months of interaction with you. This is a part and parcel of your application that you can't control the recs. You can have control over a lot of things, but not everything.
Anyways, recs are supposed to be a candid picture of yourself, for there are truly no right or wrong to recs (excluding the case that the teachers write something bad about you). The point is do not take it too hard or push your teachers to your limit. As I have said before, irrelevance is okay, but not anything negative.
However, you must always encourage your recommenders to write honestly about you - what were you like in class? How do you interact with your friends? Only a candid picture of yourself will merge perfectly with your essay (Imagine if you talk about how quirky you are only to have the image ruined by a teacher who can't stop talking about your grades). Tell your teachers to describe you as a human being, not as a model student.
Hopefully with these guidelines, you will be able to understand the use of recs and inform your teachers. May the recs pave your way to admission.
Why is a person entitled to three recommendations? This is because the admission officers want to gather as much information about you as possible. Hence, it would make sense to ask teachers which you have different interactions in class. For example, you should ask the Chemistry teacher whom you reverently ask questions in class as well as the Physics teacher that you always hang around with to write recommendations for you. Chances are, they would have different views of you in class. And the more diverse the views the better! Imagine if they all describe the same thing, then you might as well write the recs yourself!
Some teachers might approach you on how to write the rec, this is when you should tell the teacher what you would like them to write about. However, if the teacher ask you to plain write it yourself, try your best to persuade them to write it themselves, unless you really have no choice in this matter, which leads us to the fourth point.
The fourth rule of rec: The teachers will write whatever they like
A funny anecdote. My friend, after attending USAPPS 2015, was eager to apply his newfound strategy of recs. When he asked the chemistry teacher to not mention his grades because he has already mentioned it in other parts of the application. The teacher just replied: "Very good, then I would mention again to strengthen your application." This clearly illustrates the fourth rule
Irregardless of what you have said to the teacher, the teacher will still write what he/she would want to write. So do not be disheartened when the teacher still remain adamant to write certain things. They have their own viewpoint after years or months of interaction with you. This is a part and parcel of your application that you can't control the recs. You can have control over a lot of things, but not everything.
Anyways, recs are supposed to be a candid picture of yourself, for there are truly no right or wrong to recs (excluding the case that the teachers write something bad about you). The point is do not take it too hard or push your teachers to your limit. As I have said before, irrelevance is okay, but not anything negative.
However, you must always encourage your recommenders to write honestly about you - what were you like in class? How do you interact with your friends? Only a candid picture of yourself will merge perfectly with your essay (Imagine if you talk about how quirky you are only to have the image ruined by a teacher who can't stop talking about your grades). Tell your teachers to describe you as a human being, not as a model student.
Hopefully with these guidelines, you will be able to understand the use of recs and inform your teachers. May the recs pave your way to admission.
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