12/20/2000

Letters of Recommendation to Colleges

Student applications to colleges require letters of recommendation from people who know the applicant's capabilities and can attest to them. But how important are they to admission? What are admission officers looking for? Many students ask high school guidance counselors for such a recommendation. Do guidance counselors know the individual skills and personal attributes of their advisees well enough to provide anything but a boilerplate recommendation?

To answer some of these questions, a colleague of mine, Kate Walton, asked both admissions and secondary guidance professional for their perspectives.

Al Carbone, Associate Dean of Admissions at Quinnipiac University, told Walton that a letter of recommendation can be especially useful if a student is borderline (by their criteria) or when a student has had one bad year and the letter describes the circumstances surrounding it. Carbone looks for information in the letter of recommendation that speaks to competence, promptness and overall character. Also of importance are academic transcripts and SAT scores; high grades and SAT's tend to diminish the importance of the letters of recommendation.

High school guidance counselor Joanne Brogis, PhD, from Torrington High School sees letters of recommendation as extremely important, in order to describe what makes each student different, scholastically as well as personally.

Neal Culhane, guidance counselor at Lewis Mills High School in Burlington, noted that small colleges rely more heavily on the content of letters than large colleges do. Smaller colleges are looking at an applicant's character, motivation and personality, in addition to academic abilities, to determine if the student meets their school's profile.

Culhane takes pride in writing letters that get into "the meat" of who the student is. For example, if a student was doing well in 9th and 10th grades but had a bad 11th and was back on track in 12th, Culhane provides an overview of the circumstances that led to the down year. Perhaps the student was in a bad accident that year and missed four months of school, so the recipient of the transcripts would understand that the student had not been slacking off, but had a legitimate reason for poorer grades that year. Culhane introduces balance into the letters by including a student's shortcomings as well as their achievements.

My daughter's guidance counselor met with her while she was in the 9th grade to encourage her to build up the non-academic side of her record, especially if she wanted to compete for admission to the elite colleges and universities. He told her that participation in varsity sports, leadership in extracurricular groups, achievements in the fine or performing arts, and community service would help her stand out among the thousands of other students who also have high grades and SAT scores. He routinely met with each of his advisees at least twice a year, beginning in the 9th grade, to discuss their course selections and future aspirations, in order to help them prepare well for the future. Getting to know each of his advisees over four years enabled him to write informed and informative letters of recommendation for each of them.

Parents can also contribute to the college preparation process by meeting with their son or daughter's guidance counselor a few times during their high school years (with the student at the meeting, too) to discuss the student's thoughts about the future and contribute toward plans to shape that future. Young people often think more about today than tomorrow, so these periodic meetings can be very useful for everyone involved.

Related Links:

What do colleges look for?

Writing letters of recommendation

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.