It is once again that time of year for high school seniors to apply to their colleges. With the diverse arena, where students are applying for community colleges, trade schools, and top universities, where students are shooting for the stars with the likes of Harvard and Stanford, there are many things that college applications consider when evaluating students. One of the crucial elements that universities, especially private universities, require is letters of recommendation from teachers.
Letters of recommendation are obtained from “recommenders,” including people who you have worked with and supported you in your life. The most ideal and common “recommenders” are the teachers and counselors who have watched you grow and mature throughout your high school journey.
Providing insight into what kind of person you are from different perspectives to the admissions officers is a powerful tool for college applications, and sometimes, it could make or break an application. Many of the seniors line up to acquire their letter of recommendation from the teachers and counselors they know.
“I’ve asked my old teachers here: Mr. Garcia, Ms. Alves, Ms. Koenig, and I’m going to ask Mrs. Rouchon. I’ve had my counselor give me a letter of recommendation, too,” senior Adrian Tristan said.
Though it might be beneficial for the students, the teachers and counselors have been given the burden to write letters of recommendation. With roughly half the population of students in high school being juniors and seniors, teachers will have to write hundreds of letters. Some teachers in previous years have rushed through the deadline to write every single student a letter for their college application.
“There was one year I had close to 40 students who asked me to write a recommendation letter. I don’t think I have ever felt that much stress,” Spanish teacher Mrs. Claudia Reynolds said. “I did make them [in] time, but it did take a lot of pressure on my family time and on the weekends to finish up.”
The huge influx of requests that comes rushing in during application season is one of the most stressful things for both students and teachers. With college applications for many universities opening relatively simultaneously, students would often ask around the same time, causing a long queue of hopeful Bulldogs.
“I think the fact that just most of the kids tend to ask all at one time can be somewhat stressful because you know you have to get them all done,” U.S. History teacher Luis Urena said.
Reputation also plays a part for students when choosing which teachers to ask for a letter of recommendation from. Teachers who are more approachable and establish great relationships with their students are likely to be asked the most. On the opposite end, teachers who are less approachable and less connected with their students are less likely to receive a request to write a letter of recommendation from their students.
“A big part of the application is what grade I got in my classes; that’s what really determined what teachers I did ask,” Tristan said. “Some teachers keep themselves kind of closed off to interacting with people and having a genuine connection to students, while others actually want a connection with students and have a friendship between them.”
Some teachers apply rules and regulations in place to help manage letters of recommendation, an example being to schedule a request ahead of time. Unfortunately, some students are not able to earn a letter of recommendation since they asked beyond the scope of the rules.
“I continue to tell students now, if you need a recommendation letter, I need at least a month ahead of time,” said Reynolds. “Unfortunately, I was not able to help a student because that student did not talk to me, and my students need to know the heads up.”
To efficiently write letters of recommendation to battle against the stress, teachers took it upon themselves to have a strategy when writing these letters. Teachers have developed an effective template to swiftly display all the distinct features of a student in just one letter.
“Usually, you figure out a method to write them all. You usually have a template, and then you just kind of fill in the blanks with things that are unique to that student,” Urena said. “If you remember a few standout characteristics of that student, then you mention those in the letter. That’s my formula.”
Despite the great number of students requesting a letter of recommendation from teachers, many teachers still appreciate writing these letters out to the colleges. Given the importance of letters of recommendation to certain colleges and institutions, teachers highly encourage students to obtain one.
“Don’t be afraid to ask the teacher to bother them a little, because letters of recommendation go a long way,” said Urena.
