Recommendations: Counselor Tips
How to write effective college recommendations
Letters of recommendation provide you with the opportunity to convey a student's character and personal qualities that test scores and grades alone don't reveal.
The value of counselor recommendations
Counselor recommendations play a pivotal role in the application process. According to data from a 2006 report by The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), a majority of colleges and universities rank counselor and teacher recommendations (after grades, test scores, and written essays) as most important in determining which academically qualified students they would choose for admission.
So, when all else is equal between two applicants, a recommendation from you can pull a lot of weight. And for students with mediocre or low scores on college admissions tests, your honest assessment of their potential success in college can tip the scales in their favor.
According to Terry Cowdrey, dean of admissions at St. Lawrence University in New York, candidates who can be most helped by a compelling recommendation include:
- Merit scholarship candidates at any college
- Borderline admissible candidates at any college
- Competitive candidates at the most selective colleges
The more history your school has with a college, the more important your letters become. In sorting through candidates from your school, colleges rely on your candor to help the admissions staff make accurate and fair assessments of applicants.
Collecting information
If you work in a large school or are new to your school, you may have to write letters for students you don't know very well. Solicit information about students:
- Have the student complete a self-assessment (.pdf/80K).
- Ask the student's teachers to fill out a teacher information form (.pdf/72K).
- Ask the student's parents or guardian to complete a questionnaire (.pdf/72K).
Putting it all together
A clearly written and informative assessment brings the student to life for the admissions staff who read it.
- Start with an image for the reader that the body of your recommendation develops.
- Wherever possible, include anecdotal information and specific references.
- Provide an overview of the student, including his academic, extracurricular, and volunteer activities.
- Show not only that a student has succeeded in high school, but also how he has stood out in some way
- Explain why you think a student is a good match for a particular college. This is especially important for early decision candidates and for borderline candidates.
- Discuss the student's personal life if it is relevant to his academic record. For example, if a student has experienced a tragedy that may have affected his grades during a semester, you may reveal that in the recommendation (with permission from the student's family and abiding by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA).
- Conclude with a paragraph that conveys the strength of your endorsement.
For more guidelines on writing an effective letter, print out recommendation Dos and Don'ts, adapted from the College Board's College Counseling Sourcebook.