How to Get Awesome Letters of Recommendation for College

Letters of recommendation for college are important — and maybe more important than you thought. According to a National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) survey, these letters can be more important than class rank or even extracurricular activities. Some schools, according to the survey, even rank it above the admissions essay in terms of importance.

So it’s important that students make sure these letters of recommendation get done by the right people, at the right time, and with the right information.

Here are my top tips to keep in mind for making sure you get a great letter of recommendation for college and scholarships with the least amount of stress!

1. Pick the Right People

Give some thought as to which teachers would be the best recommenders for you. Ideally, you want recommendations from two or three teachers who:

• Have taught you in a core class (math, English, social studies, science)
• Have taught you recently (e.g., junior year)
• Really know and like you

Can’t find someone who matches all three? (I know it might be difficult due to remote learning.) Pick a teacher who really knows and likes you (and who has taught you as recently as possible in high school).

Letters of recommendation are another piece of your application “puzzle” that will give readers a better understanding of who you are as a person and a learner and how you'll contribute to a campus community. And because that understanding is coming from your teachers — the people who understand you as a learner and a worker, the people you choose as recommenders are important.

While you can ask someone in your potential future major to write your recommendation letter, it doesn't have to be. Truly, the best person to choose is someone who can speak with substance about you. But there are no hard and fast rules.

While you can ask your yearbook advisor or band instructor or football coach for a letter of recommendation, try not to use these as your main letters. Colleges are interested in how you’ll do academically, and letters from core teachers will offer the best insight.

Some colleges and universities, however, also allow recommendations from “other” recommenders. This is a great place to put in your art teacher’s recommendation (after you’ve added your recommendations from core class instructors, of course).

Note: Some schools/majors require recommendations from teachers in specific areas, so make sure you’re aware of any restrictions before picking your recommenders. In fact, in 2024, UT-Austin asked that students not select teachers to provide letters of rec and instead ask others from their community to provide those recommendations.

This 30-minute workshop from the Coalition for College offers some other great information about how to decide whom to ask for a letter.

But what if you're homeschooled? Great question. Obviously, there's some inherent bias if a family member writes your letter of rec. So get creative. Have you taken advantage of other educational opportunities? Perhaps those teachers or professors can be an academic reference. With more schools approaching admissions holistically, you might be able to also ask coaches, mentors, managers to speak to your work ethic and character.

2. Ask Early (and in Person)

When is the right time to start thinking about letters of recommendation? How early is “early”? Let's answer this in parts.

You might start thinking about who you'd like to ask for recommendation letters at the start (or middle) of junior year.

The actual asking can wait until toward the end of junior year, when you'll formally ask these individuals if they'd be willing to write letters for you over the summer (before senior year starts) — especially if you plan to apply Early Action or Early Decision. Some students will wait until the start of senior year to ask. But the more notice you can give your recommenders, the better. At a minimum, make sure you give them four weeks’ notice.

While application portals won’t be open until later in the summer, you want to make sure your recommenders are ready (or you're at least still on their letter-writing radar) when the portals go live. Some teachers write only a limited number of recommendations each year; some have busy summers and don't want to spend it all writing letters. And for whatever reason, some teachers may simply not be comfortable writing a letter for you.

That's why you can't assume your favorite math teacher will be willing and able to write your letter. Asking early will make sure you’ve got your recommenders covered and that your letter is on your teacher’s to-do list.

Of course, it's best to ask a potential recommender in person, but that's not always possible. So if you need to email your request, make sure to do it in a polite, professional manner.

3. Provide Information

Most teachers are familiar with the format and content needed for these letters of recommendation for college and scholarships, but they will need a little information from you to get started. When you talk with your teachers to have them get started on their letters for you, don’t forget to:

1. Thank them in advance for taking the time out of their schedules to write your letter.
2. Give them a list of schools you’re applying to and their deadlines. You may not know this, and that's OK.
3. Request a reasonable date for completing the letters of recommendation. (Having them done by the time your application portals open — around Aug. 1 — is great, unless you need them earlier for scholarships.
4. Provide a copy of your resume detailing all your academic achievements, awards and recognition, and extracurricular activities. The resume helps the teacher personalize the recommendation even further and include important accomplishments. (BONUS: This completed resume will help you a LOT when it comes time to fill out applications!)
5. Share what you’re intending to study and why. What characteristics do you have that are going to make you great in that field of study?
6. Share what you hope to do/be in the future. What will make you successful in that career?
7. Add some personal details. Share a few things that make you who you are outside of school. What hobbies are you into? How do you spend your free time? What five adjectives describe you?
8. Follow up with each teacher by email, including all these details so they're easily accessible by the teacher if needed.

We want your letter to include facts about you that the admission officer won't see anywhere else, like how you interact with others in class, how you solve tough problems, and how you bounce back from setbacks. Every piece of your application should have something new in it, and this is no exception.

Note: For many college applications, the teachers will upload the recommendations directly into your portal after you name that teacher as a recommender. But if you do need to physically mail them, please provide your recommender with a stamped, addressed envelope. Also note that recommenders don’t generally customize their letter to each school; instead, they write and upload one letter that’s disseminated to all schools to which you’ve assigned the recommender.

4. Confirm Your Deadlines

Once you've got everything ready to go, make sure you know (and have confirmed) your deadlines, you convey those deadlines to your recommenders, and you give them plenty of time to complete their letters. Giving teachers plenty of time is especially important if you’re requesting a letter from a teacher who’s known to be forgetful or a procrastinator. (Hey, it happens to the best of us!) You should be able to see in your admissions portal when the teacher has submitted their letter, so feel free to send gentle reminders about deadlines if you don’t see it submitted by the agreed-upon date.

5. Waive Your Right to See the Letters

If your recommender is writing a letter they’ll upload to the Common App, for example, make sure you waive that right (known as “FERPA”) to read the letter. That’s right — you don't want to read the letter. You want your recommender to feel they can be totally honest in their letters (another good reason to make sure you’re only requesting them from teachers who have lots of great things to say about you). Waiving your right to read those letters of recommendation for your college application will let your recommenders do just that. Plus, if you don’t waive your FERPA rights, colleges might assume you’ve read the letters and may not believe they’re objective — and that could be a detriment to your application.

It can work to your advantage to waive your right to see your letters of recommendation for college.

6. Think About Scholarships

If you anticipate needing letters of recommendation for scholarships, have the writers create one letter for admissions recommendations and another they can share with you in PDF form to submit for scholarships.

Note: With many scholarships, it's requested to have at least one academic recommendation and one nonacademic recommendation (e.g., from a boss, a church leader, a volunteer coordinator, a non-school coach).

Check out my list of scholarship resources — applying for them is easier once you have a resume and letters of recommendation!

7. Give Your Thanks

Remember, these teachers didn’t have to write those letters for you. So the least you can do is a handwritten note of thanks to the teachers for taking the time to write your letter. If you'd like, you may also include a small gift or gift card.

Time to Start Asking for Your Letters of Recommendation for College!

The great news is this: there are no right or wrong ways to write a letter of recommendation, but there are more useful and less useful letters. Following these tips will make sure your letter rises to the top. While letters of recommendation aren't make-or-break pieces of your application, they're just one more opportunity to demonstrate how you'll fit in to the campus community

Recommendation letters are an important part of the application process, and with the right prep work, you can make sure your letters help you stand out from the crowd of applicants.

Updated Dec. 5, 2024