<p>I know that getting a Letter of Recommendation may not matter to colleges as much as my SAT/ACT scores and a few other factors, but every little bit counts! I haven't exactly asked my sources yet, because I am not completely sure who and how I should go about doing this. I know that I should ask as soon as possible, but I want to make sure that I get a good person to do this. Are there any specific teachers or people that I should look for who will most likely give me a postive evaluation? And what kind of information should I bring them before starting?
I've also heard about an option to waive my right to access the letter. Would that be something that would be beneficial?</p>
<p>You are right that you need to get this taken care of ASAP, especially if you are applying anywhere early decision or you are applying for scholarships with a Nov. deadline. You need to give your teachers plenty of time to write the letters. (I’m assuming you are a senior in high school).</p>
<p>Has the guidance department at your high school indicated what the process is? In many cases the teachers write the letters and they are kept in a dossier in the guidance office, which sends them out with your transcripts to the colleges to which you apply.</p>
<p>No one can tell you whom to ask because we don’t know what kind of relationship you have with your teachers or what your academic interests are. Ask a teacher who knows you well enough to write a letter stressing your particular academic abilities and personal qualities. The better the teacher knows you, the more compelling the letter will be. The relationship with the teacher matters more than the subject, but the teacher should be able to speak to your academic potential. Ask at least one teacher in a regular core classroom subject (math, English, history, sciences, etc.). The other letter could be from a teacher in a niche area (music, athletics, computer/IT, etc). if it makes sense considering your college interests.</p>
<p>I would urge you to waive the right to see your recommendations. Ask teachers you trust to write you a good one. Generally teachers will decline to write letters if they cannot write a positive one (or if they feel they lack enough knowledge of a student to do so). Keep in mind that teachers expect to be asked and you should not feel awkward doing so. It is the system.</p>
<p>Only you know who is best to ask. It should be someone in whose class you performed well (an A, hopefully) and someone who can speak about your potential to succeed in college. I had an English teacher, a history teacher, and my calculus/physics teacher write my recommendations - so I had a recommender from each area (just because my math teacher also taught physics. He was an engineer). I went to a regular public high school, so there was no dossier service; I had to go ask myself and manage that whole process.</p>
<p>Most students waive their right to access the letter - it helps the teacher write a more candid letter.</p>
<p>My kids waived their rights to see the letters, they felt the colleges would trust them more that way. One teacher showed the letter to my kid and from what he told me it couldn’t have been better. (I thought he was nuts to ask this teacher - he’d gotten a B+ in pre-calc but he loved the teacher. And he was right the teacher wrote that while my son hadn’t gotten the best grades in class he’d actually demonstrated more mathematical thinking than the kids who remembered which formulas to plug in. My kid rederived them for every test.) We discovered who not to ask by accident the year before when the GC asked for two teacher recommendation to help her write her letter. My son picked his orchestra teacher for one - reasoning that he’d had him for two classes eight years running. It couldn’t have been a more generic boring letter if you tried. I was glad we knew to avoid him! If there’s a teacher who asks for a lot of work from you to write the letter, the chances are good the letter will be detailed. My son’s other letter was from his APUSH teacher. He asked students to hand back a copy of a graded paper, remind him what their AP and class grades were, say what their favorite textbook was and why, and what they thought they’d study in college and why. Your GC may know who generally writes more interesting letters if you are trying to narrow down the possibilities.</p>
<p>Good advice. But look at the colleges’ web sites to learn if they have special requirements. And, a good basic combo is one from math or science and a second from humanities. </p>
<p>It’s not always how much the teacher “loves” you, but how well they can write the rec. Agree with mathmom; some teachers are blah. Sometimes, it’s their unfamiliarity with what adcoms need to hear.</p>