Recommendation Letters

Recommendation letters are a time consuming process requiring a great deal of thought and time. As you begin to narrow down the list of schools where you will be applying, it is important to determine if you are going to need a recommendation letter from a teacher (or two). Most of the Ohio schools - Ohio State, Ohio University, BGSU, Kent State, etc. do NOT require teacher recommendations.

If you are applying to schools that need teacher recommendation letters, it is very helpful and beneficial to the teachers if you can give them as much time as possible to write your recommendation letters. That means, if you know now that you are definitely going to be applying to a school which needs a teacher rec letter, then I would like for you to ask the teachers in the next two weeks if they would be willing to write a letter on your behalf, allowing them to have the entire summer to write your letter. After you ask the teacher, you will want to provide them with information that can help as they write your letter. We have several handouts in the senior information drawer in the counseling and career center and in the Shared Files are on PrepHQ that you can use for this purpose.

If you are not sure yet if you will be applying to schools which require recommendation letters, then wait to request letters because they are very time consuming so you don't want to ask teachers for letters that might not be necessary.

Feel free to stop in and see me if you are having trouble trying to determine if a college requires recommendation letters so that I can help you figure it out. Also, if it is going to be needed, I would also love the option of meeting with you this spring about your recommendation letters so that I have the summer to write my letter for you too.