My feedAdmissions Advice
2
@CarlyR
2 answers, 8 votes
 • 3 months ago •
Admissions Advice

Recommendation Letters

I'm a little bit stuck on how to ask for recommendation letters. I have plenty of people I can ask, but I'm not sure how to word the email. Are recommendation letters sent directly to the school, or do you get them and then send them in? Also, how many recommendations letters would I usually need? It would be incredibly helpful if someone had an outline or example email, but any advice is welcome!

?
2
4

Earn karma by helping others:

1 karma for each ⬆️ upvote on your answer, and 20 karma if your answer is marked accepted.

1 answer

0
@sOmEoNe
13 answers, 53 votes
 • 3 months ago

1. DO NOT EMAIL THEM! ALWAYS ASK IN PERSON!

I'll give you a few templates below. Admissions letters will be uploaded to the CommonApp by your teacher, either through Naviance (if your school uses it) or some other software. The letter will be sent through them, so after you ask there is nothing for you to do except keep an eye on your commonapp for the rec letters to appear. make sure to thank them after you ask them. I wouldd reccomend asking 2 STEM, 1 Humanities/Lang, and 1 other. Finally, make sure you have someone from outside school adcademics (sports coaches, mentors, etc.) to let your personality shine through.

When asking for a rec letter, add a brag sheet. ONLY GIVE THEM THIS AFTER THEY SAY YES:

blog.prepscholar.com/how-to-craft-a-stellar-brag-sheet

Here is how you should request one:

blog.prepscholar.com/how-to-request-a-letter-of-recommendation

Best of luck!

--Arpit

0
[🎤 AUTHOR]@CarlyR3 months ago

Thanks for the info! Problem is my best reference is entirely impossible to ask in person as he lives in another country, haha. Can you clarify what a brag sheet is? I feel pretty clueless as a first generation student.

@sOmEoNe3 months ago [edited]

That's totally fine! Emailing is sometimes a necessity, but call if you can. A Brag Sheet basically gives your reccomended some info about you, your achievements, plans, awards, etc. Think about it this way: When someone reads your application, and you talk about something (let's say research), but none of your reccomenders talk about it at all, they are more likely to think you're lying. You basically prove to the reader that you aren't lying or exaggerating your Extracurriculars. Good Luck!

@councilapprove3 months ago [edited]

Start with a polite greeting and a brief introduction, reminding the person of your relationship and context. geometrydash-3d.com

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools

Your chance of acceptance
Duke University
UCLA
+ add school
Your chancing factors
Unweighted GPA: 3.7
1.0
4.0
SAT: 720 math
200
800
| 800 verbal
200
800

Extracurriculars

Low accuracy (4 of 18 factors)
Add more factors ›

Community Guidelines

To keep this community safe and supportive:

  1. Be kind and respectful!
  2. Keep posts relevant to college admissions and high school.
  3. Don’t ask “chance-me” questions. Use CollegeVine’s chancing instead!

How karma works