Admission Letter of Recommendation

Submitting good college admission letters of recommendation is an essential part of the application process. They are one of two areas (the other being the college admission essay) where your personality can most shine through in your college application. It is important that you select appropriate writers for your recommendations and that the recommendations describe your strengths to the admissions officers.

The best college admission letter of recommendation will be written by someone who can speak directly about your strengths and the qualities of your character. The college admissions officers will want to see letters of recommendation that come from people who know you very well. It is better to select someone who really knows you than to select someone who is famous or influential but barely knows anything about you. Admissions officers will be able to detect if you selected a recommender solely for their name. Assuming they are actually in a position to write about your character and accomplishments, then you should also consider the writers credibility in the eyes of the admissions officers. A college admission letter of recommendation from a person directly associated with your selected major or your leadership roles will carry more weight than just a general recommendation.

Admissions officers will look into your college admission letter of recommendation for clues to your personality. The letter should communicate your academic ability or your mental aptitude and desire to learn. The letter should also communicate that you are a serious and mature student who will excel in college, and leadership roles should also be included if the writer has firsthand knowledge of them. A letter of recommendation that shows that you are well rounded and expresses the best qualities of your character will go a long way toward helping your application feel more real to the admission officers. The admissions officers need ways to differentiate you from the thousands of other applicants, and a letter of recommendation may be able to accomplish this. The recommendation letter is also a place to include interesting personal attributes or strengths that do not relate directly to your academic career or your leadership abilities. These additional aspects will allow the reviewers to see that there is a real person associated with the test scores and transcripts.