<p>My school doesn't have a career counselor, so as per the official websites, I should contact my school principal for LORs. I am probably the first student from my school to apply for an undergraduate program in the states. My principal will most probably tell others about it too....most of em have never heard of it before. Do you think this would affect my chances or increase my competition significantly??? Also, do most of the applicants from india apply themselves or through schools ???</p>
<p>LOL. Almost the same here. I’m pretty sure it’s common amongst Indian applicants who don’t come from “feeder schools” or places where applying is a trend. From personal experience, I think this just makes your work harder. It has little to no bearing on your admission chances. Expect to have to educate them a lot though! Generic LORs are so much more common in India and do a great deal of harm in the admissions process. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Chanakya,
Same was the case with my daughter. First student from school- and a non feeder school</p>
<p>Some things I did for her (if your school is open and willing to look at it)</p>
<p>School profile: I collected statistics from the net on CBSE, collected school’s achievements from school day speeches (principal’s reports), made some comparisons and returned to school. The school used this for any university that requested a school profile</p>
<p>LOR: Very hard. I printed samples from MIT web site (they are really good; articulates clearly what is right and what is not adding value) and handed them over to the 2 teachers in 11th grade summer and requested them to think along the same lines. However, I’m not sure if the submitted LORs were specific to the student or generic. (we don’t get to see these; they are uploaded or sealed and posted)</p>
<p>Essays: Better to start early as CBSE curriculum has done very little to promote this kind of writing…you will need 3 to 4 revisions (minimum) before you feel satisfied.</p>
<p>Hope this helps… Also, in hindsight, I feel writing AP in 11th summer could have helped. (My daughter did not write any)</p>
<p>^Just to add on. The MIT sample LORs are great. I gave them to my teachers as well and it really gave them an idea of what is expected. I haven’t read my LORs either but I’ve assured they weren’t generic. Also, my school did an internal spell check. I think like the letters were all sealed and sent to a random English teacher or something who smoothened out mistakes. I didn’t request this or anything but a staff member told me that this had been done. I thought this was a nice touch and you might want to request it. Not all Physics teachers are going to have great grammar. To the point where it’s understandable, I guess it’s fine.</p>
<p>Good to know there are others who feel like me too. Thanks to both of you!!!
Firefliesdance: from which school in India are you from??? Where are you attending this fall ??? Can you post the link to those MIT samples here ???
Sramas: where is your daughter attending now ???
My teachers have REALLY terrible English. Would it be wrong if I ask them to print two copies of the LORs and give before sealing them.
Do teachers mind it if we offer to take her opinion, then create the file ourselves while keeping the teacher’s views intact and then getting a signature???
Any other tip or precautions I should keep in mind as I am a sophomore now???</p>
<p>I don’t know firefliesdance’s school but she will be attending Cornell. Srama’s daughter, I think, will be attending Princeton.</p>
<p>Here is what you asked for: [Sample</a> Recommendation Letters](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/writingrecs]Sample”>How to write good letters of recommendation | MIT Admissions)</p>
<p>For the rest of your doubts regarding the LORs, read [url=<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/about_mit_recommendation_lette]this[/url”>About MIT Recommendation Letters | MIT Admissions]this[/url</a>] post by Matt McGann, the Director of MIT Admissions. Read every line carefully!</p>
<p>If you still have questions after reading that post, then post them here and we will be happy to answer.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot</p>
<p>Bump!!! !!’’!’!</p>
<p>You should request the teachers much in advance for the LORs.</p>
<p>It makes it easy if you write your accomplishments in a bullet form on a single sheet and hand it over to your concerned teachers, as they would know little about you outside of their class. It also makes it easy for them to get started.</p>
<p>The teachers you should pick should be ideally your current subject teachers in whose class either you are doing very well or have had the opportunity to rise above a challenge. And it would be great you share a rapport with them as well.</p>
<p>I’m not sure about other schools, but at my school, my teachers asked me to write the LORs myself. Be prepared for that eventuality because it’s a widespread practice here. In the end, my mom and my aunt wrote the letters (because if I really did write them myself, they would have looked suspiciously similar to my essays 
)</p>
<p>Khione : which school are you from ??? Where are you studying now???</p>
<p>Bump 10 characters</p>