When students are applying for college, they need to provide a few letters of recommendation from people who know them well. These people can be professors, former colleagues, employers, or academic supervisors among others. When you are looking for a person who could provide a recommendation letter for college, consider that it should be someone who knows you well. Normally, people writing recommendation letters need to specify and describe some personal and working skills, character traits, and accomplishments. Teachers and professors are usually the ones asked by students to write letters of recommendation. Every year, they have plenty of students asking them help with that.
When you plan to ask some of your teachers or supervisors to write a letter of recommendation for you, ensure you ask them in person and set aside some time to speak to them. Clear out whether they have time to write it for you. After you have found teachers who agreed to provide you a recommendation, make sure you provide them with some of your personal facts and details concerning your accomplishments. You have to briefly inform them of the format that they need to maintain. Even if you found the teachers who are well acquainted with you, there may still be a need to refresh some facts and details about you in their memory. Make sure you also share some of your plans and visions for the future career. Also, tell them about some milestones you have overcome and accomplishments you have got. You need to ask whether you can provide your professors’ contact details in case the admission committee needs to contact them. If you cannot find anyone, do not panic – you can always rely on EliteWritings.com letter of recommendation writing service.
Wisely select your recommendation letter writers
Ideally, the best option is to ask some professors who teach your major or one of the core subjects. When picking these teachers, you can be sure they know you well and so they may demand fewer instructions from you. More so, it is also recommendable to choose those teachers who have recently taught you. For instance, if you had some teachers in your junior year and now you are in your final year, this option would not be that much good. It is a prudent decision to ask those professors for recommendation who know you well both in and out of the classroom. You can choose one of the teachers who also coach you in one of sports clubs or who lead some other club you attend.
Throughout the enrollment stage, members of the admission committee receive hundreds of letters on a regular basis. Take into account that not all of them can equally win their attention. So, your point is to make sure that the letter of recommendation provided for you contains some personal details. Why? – Because this approach to writing would enable your admission committee to get familiar with you as a person. Only those people who truly know your personality and interests can complete such specific letters.
So, start looking for recommendation letter writers well in advance. You may as well need some time to know them in the out-of-class environment. You can expand this communication at lunch time, during some extracurricular activities, in some clubs whatsoever. There is a chance for extra communication when you ask some professors to help you with some challenging assignments. All in all, grab any chance available to you if you need to find a reliable writer.
Any face-to-face interactions with your professors provide you more and more opportunities to communicate with them and get to know each other better. You can even demonstrate and share such parts of your personality that they could not see or could miss while they were teaching you.
When is the best time to ask?
Ask your professor to write a recommendation letter for you well in advance, for instance, at the beginning of the academic year. Keep in mind that professors are always busy, so they need to plan their time accordingly. Besides, due to their hectic schedule, it may take them more time that you expect to provide a letter for you. Another benefit of asking them at the beginning of the year is because later, a lot of applicants will be busy looking for someone to get recommendation from. So, contact your professor or counselor well in advance, and you will have more chances to get a dedicated and thoughtful approach to your recommendation.
What information to provide to my referee?
Even though some schools have special platforms where you can ask for a referee online, it is still reasonable to ask one for a letter of recommendation in person. After the person has agreed, you need to provide specific facts and details about you. It is advisable to provide information that you would like to be reflected in the recommendation paper since the referee may not remember everything clearly. All in all, teachers and professors interact with dozens of students every day. So, it is smart to share the key points from your academic history. Some of the underlying facts to mention are your accomplishments and key points of your academic career. Any key experiences will be worth mentioning. The key information that you provide will make it easier for the recommender to move in the right direction. In counseling offices in some schools, they have specific questionnaire forms that students can complete. The collected information will be forwarded to the referee.
Set aside enough time
It would be really awkward to start looking for a recommender on Tuesday if you need a letter on Friday. So, start searching for recommenders well in advance. First of all, they are busy people, and second not everyone will agree so easily. You need to have at least a few weeks that you could give your recommender to complete a letter of recommendation for you. Asking a referee to provide a letter close to the deadline may seem rude.
Provide envelopes and stamps if needed
Please make the process of recommendation completion as convenient for your referee as possible. Apart from providing essential information needed for the writing process, be sure to provide envelopes and stamps if the institutional affiliation needs some copies. In case the recommendation process is to be online, then provide all the necessary links.
The letter should demonstrate your improvement over time
When a recommendation letter is too good to be true, for example, if it is only focused on praising you and demonstrating merely strengths, the admission committee may be suspicious. Instead, the letter should be genuine in reflecting on your traits. The focus should be on how you progressed or improved throughout your studies.
