How do colleges determine whether your Recommendation Letters and Extracurriculars are legit? I am especially curious about selective colleges.
Anyone?
Why do you ask? Aren’t yours going to be “legit”?
I would think they could easily check as any school related teacher/EC recommendations should come from their school email account. Outside ECs would be more difficult to check but would likely have less weight in their decision.
Yes, of course. I already have two people that I am willing to ask for letters of recommendation. One of them would be the head librarian at my local library, where I work shelving books. The other person I would ask would be the head of my local Boys and Girls Club, as well as the person in charge of the daycare center at the Boys and Girls Club (I took care of children there). @IBviolamom
I think that outside ECs have more weight as there is more of a breadth of activities you can do outside of school than when inside of it. Activities inside of school are more limited as there is a limited amount of things a school can do after school hours. @HMom16
Typically rec letters are from teachers.
But I have heard you can get it from other people, such as club supervisors at school and supervisors at places outside of school. @allyphoe
Anyone else?
You are correct that there may be a wider range of ECs available outside of school. My point was that, you generally can submit no more than 3 recommendations and 2/3 are required to be teachers.
Your first thought for recommenders should be two of your core teachers…one for STEM and one for humanities.
Colleges want to know what kind of student you are…not what kind of library worker you are. If you need a 3rd recommender think about that. Their letters are legit because they go through your GC and are sent directly to the college.
For your ECs, your GC takes a look at your application and they give their recommendation. If you added that you did a church activity nobody would know…but if you said you won the Intel prize the colleges may check.
But realize the most important thing in admissions is GPA and SAT/ACT.
Oh wow, I didn’t know that. So any additional LOCs submitted would be completely disregarded? @HMom16
Is 3 LOCs the limit? @bopper
What does the Common App say?
Remember that just because you think it would be great to have 6 recommendations doesn’t mean that colleges have time to read that for all the applicants.
Good point. I guess I will just have to wait until I fill out the Common App. @bopper
Anyone else?
I think I understand why you asked now that it’s clear you were talking about letters from people other than teachers.
You definitely must have two letters from teachers who can commend you as a student. Perhaps an additional letter from a supervisor or something would be helpful if it stands out in some way and Isnt just your typical “X is a responsible person who does his/her work at the library/daycare with enthusiasm.” I don’t think that would add much.
Good luck!
Thank you! @IBviolamom