Electronically Signed Letter of Recommendation for College Made Easy

Electronically signed letter of recommendation for college

hey guys welcome back to the channel in this video we're going to be talking about which teachers you should ask for a college application recommendation as well as when you should ask them what you should say and how you should go about the entire process to be the most successful so if you're curious about those tips stay tuned the first type of reference that you're going to need is an academic reference and you're actually going to need anywhere from two to four of these so your application should tell you how many you need and honestly if you're applying for colleges and later going to apply for scholarships then you can even use these same people and they can just tweak their letter a little bit so my recommendation would be to start with people in the core subjects so your English math science and history teachers now that's not to say that you can't get someone else from a different discipline but I would consider what type of college you're applying to and what their expectations are some students want to diversify their portfolio a little bit and so they ask should they get a humanities reference and a stem reference so humanities would be English or history and stem would be the math and sciences and there is a benefit to this I think if you're trying to offer a diverse outlook then it can help but I don't think you absolutely have to so if you're applying to a top school it might be better to have one of each because let's say your strengths are in stem it would still be beneficial to show that you have engaged with the humanities and so forth and perhaps that teacher could speak to different elements of your academic background and your class participation and so forth so I think there are times when it is appropriate but I don't think it's necessary for everyone so if you're trying to diversify your portfolio a little bit then I might consider asking one like English history teacher and one science or math teacher but if you're like really strong in let's say biology and math and you want to ask both of those teachers if they can speak to your abilities then honestly in most cases that's also absolutely fine the next question that students often ask is do I need to ask a current teacher so you're going to be applying for colleges most likely as a senior and so if you had a teacher as a junior that you really connected with that would be a good option if you've had a teacher for more than one year that could also be an option but you don't have to use a teacher just because you had him or her two years in a row now if you're a senior and you've only had that teacher for a couple months it might not be the best option because that teacher might not know you as well another thing that students sometimes ask is well what about like my freshman English teacher if you have kept a relationship with that person and they can speak to your abilities that I would say maybe but to be honest I typically recommend that students look at their teachers who they had in their junior year and perhaps their sophomore year and freshman year to be honest like you've grown up a lot since then and so unless there's like extenuating circumstances as to why that teacher should write your recommendation letter usually you want it to be a bit more current than that so when choosing an academic reference the advice that I think trumps all the other advice that I've given is choose who knows you best who is going to give you that glowing recommendation who is going to tell the college's characteristics about you that are not present on your resume who's going to talk about the type of learner that you are and how you participate and how you lead and what type of presence you are in the classroom and who's going to talk about your work in a way that makes it exciting and interesting and so forth so who do you have that connection with I think the answer to that is the most important thing because that should be who you lean towards in most cases as far as who to ask because it's usually pretty obvious when someone is writing a recommendation letter for a student that they don't really know or they don't really want to recommend because you can only fake things so much and so just like a good research paper or a good analytical essay has specifics and it you want someone who's gonna give this the specifics about you and who's going to talk about you in a way that is not already present elsewhere in your application so choose who knows you best because that person is going to have a stronger narrative about you than someone who does really you know you got well next type of reference is a character reference and I would say students need at least one if not two of these and you might not use both of them in the same application but I still would try for two just in case and so a character reference is someone who can speak to who you are as a person outside of school so are you responsible can they depend on you are you punctual are you kind compassionate polite all those things so usually kids ask let's say like a coach if you've had a coach not your coach might also be a teacher which is fine students sometimes will ask their priest or any other like religious official at their church and the GOG mosque whatever it is and so if you're involved in like youth groups and stuff that might be something to consider is asking a person who knows you through that employers if you have a job or if you did research or something and worked for someone maybe you were like a babysitter or a tutor or something over the summer it can even sometimes be a family friend though I sort of caution students about that one because it's kind of like a weird line but you want someone who knows you outside of school in a non-academic setting who can attest to your character or some college applications and also scholarship applications you might need a recommendation letter from your counselor this is very common so if you're not very familiar with who your counselor is it's okay they've probably done a million of these before and so I would just find out which person you should ask if you don't have a relationship with any particular counselor because I know a lot of schools have more than one but just be prepared that this might be something that you're asked for but it's actually pretty common so don't be intimidated if you don't know your counselors super well they will still help you through the process next big question the tackle is when to ask for a recommendation letter now as a teacher I have been given an entire summers notice and I've been given three hours notice so if you know the teacher is going to be super busy either writing other recommendation letters or just because they're super busy in general you want to give them probably at minimum two weeks and maybe a month or so I don't think an entire summer is necessary though I have had students ask me at the end of their junior year and I do appreciate the notice so that is an option especially if you're going to be applying early decision or something and you need that recommendation letter a lot sooner then I would try to give a bit more notice but at the same time usually two weeks is sufficient one week is even you know not that bad it's just nice to be respectful of that person's time and so you want to give them some notice and once that person has written a letter of recommendation for you most people save the file because they have to type it up and then they can change it later so I have had students ask me hey can you like print me another recommendation letter I found this scholarship and the deadline is today and like that's not a huge deal so if it's an initial letter and you have not asked them for one in the past then I would say give them at least one to two weeks notice and just be very kind when you ask them and be respectful of their time and so forth so once you've decided who you want to ask for a letter of recommendation what do you say to the person one key phrase that you're going to want to say is could you write me a strong recommendation letter you want to emphasize the word strong in there somewhere because if they don't think they're a good fit to write your recommendation letter it gives them a way out because it can be really awkward if a teacher says to you well maybe another teacher knows you a little bit better or maybe one of your current teachers can do a better job then take the hint because you want a glowing reference and so there is technically a difference between writing a recommendation letter and writing a strong recommendation letter so you might consider using that phrasing and as far as like how to approach the person do you ask in person do you ask via email I think either is fine it depends on your relationship with the person and also your access to that person I have students who might not be able to see me except for in between classes and so out of respect for that situation they just send me an email and it's totally fine and then I can reply to it at my leisure and it's less stressful and it's also probably less stressful on them but the same time I have students who want to you know ask me in person and tell me about it and give me some materials that we'll talk about later and I don't mind that either so it I don't think that part matters but just kind of be like I guess cognizant of the situation like do you have the time to approach the person face to face or is an email more appropriate and you know just regardless always be polite and also just as a tip for a teacher like try not to drag out the process if you do it in person cuz a lot of students are like really nervous they're like um well I was wondering since you had me you know and like you just you know they're asking for recommendation letter and you're just like spit it out already so like it's okay to be firm and like not abrupt but it's okay to just come right out and say I really value your opinion and you know I'm applying to college is pretty soon so I was wondering if you think I could ask you for a strong recommendation letter is that something that you have the time for right now something like that obviously perhaps a little bit more eloquently but like you don't need to beat around the bush like they know that you're a senior and they're going to be expecting to be asked for recommendation letters so it's not like this big surprise or something and also please don't think it's a burden because some kids are like oh I'm so sorry to bother you like you're not a bother it's my job like it's okay I know you're trying to be polite but like if you're asking a teacher for a recommendation letter like while it's appropriate to be courteous like you're not a bother like it's part of their job so just FYI as far as what you need to give the person there's a few things now some schools have forms where they ask you to fill all of this out and those can be super helpful but the person is going to need to know how the recommendation letter is going to be done is it electronic and it's gonna be received in their inbox is it that you need a copy of the letter in order to submit with your application do they need to send the letter somewhere so they need to know to whom they should address the letter is that a certain college is it a certain committee that kind of thing so that kind of like a dress and salutation information is important and also it's important to give the person a concrete deadline so when do you this received by when is the application do those kinds of things and if they don't turn it in like whether it's electronic or they don't give it back to you within a couple days of the deadline if you've given them let's say two weeks notice and you haven't heard from them and it's due in two days it is okay to follow up very politely and I would also say to have somebody on deck just in case it falls through the other thing is that you should also include a resume now I would remind the person what you want them to emphasize because you don't want them to just reiterate your resume and like take bullet points and put it into paragraphs because that's not telling anything new about you but you could say something like you know you once wrote on my personal narrative sophomore year that it was one of the best essays that you've ever read and so I was hoping that maybe you could highlight that in my recommendation letter or something like that you know so kind of queue them in on like what you want them to emphasize because some teachers you know they actually want to be guided as far as what you need them to say and so forth so it is okay to kind of tell them to a certain degree like what you would like them to emphasize and so forth some teachers will even ask students to read it before they submit it other times it's very confidential and so just kind of keep that in mind and so forth like don't be bugging them to see it and ask them what they wrote if you're gonna trust them to write the letter then trust them to write the letter but at the same time I have had a couple students where I'm like okay I know this is a big deal so please make sure I'm emphasizing what you need me to emphasize so just kind of like don't be surprised if they don't tell you anything about it but don't be surprised if they ask for more information or clarification they're just trying to do a good job for you so let's just go ahead and conclude with some other tips that will help you throughout this process the first thing that you need to know as far as extra information is that you're probably going to be asked at some point to waive your right to view the recommendation and this is totally normal so don't be intimidated it doesn't mean they said something bad about you just click it it's a sign of trust move on other things if you're asking someone outside of school for let's say like a character reference especially if it needs to be mailed in you should give them an envelope with a stamp already provided if you're asking a teacher usually schools will pay for the stamps and usually they have school stationery and school envelopes so I think the envelope and stamp thing is more applicable to somebody who doesn't work for your school and it's just a sign of like just politeness and ease because honestly stamps are not super expensive but they're kind of like annoying if you don't have them and so you don't want to make the person go to the post office or the store or something to buy a stamp so give them that as like just a courtesy make sure that your references are aware of deadlines like I said and politely follow up if you have concerns I think a thank-you is appropriate but I don't think need to buy the person like a gift or anything but just a something like especially if it's electronic and you just get a notification that so-and-so has submitted your reference just say like hey I just received an email saying that you submitted my reference thank you so much for taking the time to do this you know and if you're going to be asking the person for multiple references you can I think wait till the end and do that but it's also really nice to just like get a thank you because it just kind of shows that you even though you know it's something that the person was willing to do for you you're not taking it for granted so even if you you know are just saying a quick thank you in the hallway to somebody if so means a lot and if you get the scholarship or if you get into that school tell the person who recommended you because they actually do care it is nice to know when this stuff has worked out well for the student so just kind of keep those things in mind as well thank you guys so much for watching I know the college application process can be really intimidating and honestly some students have never had to ask anyone for a letter recommendation before the college application process so it can be a bit nerve-wracking but your teachers want you to be successful and so we want to tell colleges and scholarship committees all the good things about you so hopefully that eases some of the stress a little bit and hopefully these tips were helpful to you as you and bar on that stage of the college application process if this video was helpful please don't forget to Like and subscribe turn the notification belt on because I'll be doing other test prep and college application videos and please don't hesitate to leave me a comment below with your tips for the recommendation process in case there's anything I forgot that could help somebody as they're going through this so thank you guys so much and until next time happy writing