Online College Resources

As we slam into the joys of the holiday season, I realize it’s perfectly natural to fall into the trap of excess: more presents, more decorations, more Taylor Swift renditions of mediocre holiday songs. It comes as no surprise then that some of you seem under the impression that if you can’t secure a good letter of recommendation for your college application, at least you can compensate by sending A LOT of them.

Oy.

The best letter of recommendation for your college application would be from a recent teacher in an academic subject in a class where you had to work really hard but still got a really good grade. Oh, AND that person needs to really like you — that would be the most important part. Of course, there are exceptions: You might get a recommendation from a teacher that had a tough class where you got a really good grade during your freshman year. That’s fine as long as that teacher still LIKES you.

However, in students’ quests to assure at least one good letter of recommendation, I often receive many (and by that I mean MANY, sometimes for one applicant) recommendations that often sound like the recommender barely knows the applicant at all. They all sound exactly the same. It’s as if the applicant gave them all the same pre-written letter and just had them sign their names. But that couldn’t be right, could it? Nah.

Not only are those extra recommendations not helpful, but they can actually be a detriment by distracting the college admissions committee from useful information. Whatever number of recommendations a school requires, if you feel a need to send extras, one or two extra is PLENTY. After you find your perfect teacher and they tell us what a great student you will be, the rest of your recommendations should be from people who can tell the college admissions committee other things about you. It might be a coach who can tell us how dedicated you are, a boss who knows how hard you work, or a student group adviser that discusses your leadership skills.

The point is, your recommendations should say good things about you. I advise you to be bold. Ask these people, “Will you write me a GOOD recommendation?” You should be prepared that some of them will respond, “Well, I can write you a TRUTHFUL recommendation.” That’s usually code meaning you did something in the past to really tick off that person. This situation leads to recommendations with lines like, “Jenny’s not a bad student, but she toilet papered my house freshman year.”

Not helpful — at least to you. I find those hilarious.

So, to recap: Recommendations — think quality, not quantity. And if you toilet paper houses, try to avoid those teachers as you’re likely on their naughty lists. In the meantime, I’m off to the store as the three giant inflatable holiday penguins populating our yard cry out to me for more company.

Be seeing you.

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