<p>I'm getting 2 nonteacher recommenders to send recommendation letters to some colleges. However, how should they identify that it's me?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What kind of information do they need to provide for the college to know that it's me (name, address info, phone, school, etc.)?</p></li>
<li><p>Where should I put this information? On a seperate sheet of paper inside the envelope? Directly in the letter? Outside the envelope?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Somewhere, anywhere, in or on the package the school needs to be able to find your full name, your high school, your date of birth, and if you have anyone at your school with the same or similar name, also include your home address. If the teacher hands you the finished recommendation in a sealed envelope with teacher’s signature across the flap, you can do a brief transmittal letter to the school identifying yourself and put your letter with the unopened recommendation letter into a bigger envelope and mail it. </p>
<p>If the teacher or the school is going to mail the recommendation directly, you should provide him or her with a stamped, addressed envelope and the school’s form, if there is one. It’s up to you how to handle the identification information. Some options are (1) give the teacher a written request that tells them exactly what identifying information needs to appear in the recommendation, (2) give the teacher a form (possibly the school’s pdf form from the website) to fill out and pre-fill the personal information blanks, (3) provide a transmittal letter from you to the school that the teacher will then enclose in the same envelope with the recommendation, or (4) make a label/sticker that the teacher can peel and affix to the recommendation with the indentifying information on it.</p>
<p>Wow thanks. That’s really helpful! Appreciate it.
So you think it’d be ok if i just wrote all that information directly on the outside of the mailing envelope before giving the stamped envelope to my nonteacher recommender?</p>
<p>From the perspective of getting the information through to the school so they can identify you, yes, putting it on the outside of the envelope will work. But, there are concerns about identity theft that crop up, especially if you include your birthdate on the outside of the envelope. From that perspective, it’s safer to have anything other than your name and address inside, rather than outside the mailing.</p>