How does an ideal letter of recommendation look like?

[buchvecny]

<p>I am in the process of getting letters of recommendation from my teachers and my guidance counselor this month. They are extremely generous and basically told me that they fully support my decision to study in USA and will write very pleasant letters for me. However, they have no idea, what they should write about in the letter. Neither do I. Could you give me some tips?</p>

<p>First for the letters from teachers.</p>

<p>Second for the letter from the guidance counselor.</p>

[jgraider]

<p>A lot of schools and the common app have a specific teacher recommendation and counselor recommendation form that they should fill out</p>

[smorgasbord]

<p>[MIT</a> Admissions | Info For Schools & Counselors: Writing Evaluations](<a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/schools/writing_evaluations/index.shtml]MIT”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/schools/writing_evaluations/index.shtml)</p>

<p>And, as someone said in another thread,

The type of anecdotes that admissions is looking for in your Letters of Rec are ones that show that the teacher genuinely likes you for who you are, and shows their perspective on what your presence in their lives means to them. A Letter of Rec isn’t a list of your achievements written by someone else, it’s looking for an outside perspective to show the person other people think you are, since the rest of the application is about who you think you are.</p>

<p>As for a resume, many teachers request it, but you should ask them not to draw from it unless they’ve actually been an influence in that part of your life. If you’ve volunteered at the soup kitchen every day for the last twelve years, it’s quite an accomplishment, but it still doesn’t belong in the letter unless the teacher has seen you there, or been affected by or helped you in it in some way.

</p>

[b_r_um]

<p>“XYZ is the most (talented/hardworking/attentive) student I have taught in years!”</p>