<p>I need to get two letters of recommendation from my community college. I've had the same English teacher for about two years now, and he basically knows all there is to know about me, so I just asked him if he could write the letter and didn't give him any additional information. However, while my precalculus teacher knows some about me (that I want to major in philosophy, that I probably had the top grade in her class, that I'm very analytic, etc.), I've only had her for one class, so her knowledge is somewhat limited.</p>
<p>For my precalculus teacher or any other teachers whom I don't know too well, what exactly should I say in addition to asking for the letter of recommendation? Should I send her a list of elements describing my education or goals and whatnot?</p>
<p>Also, if I still haven't finalized a list of colleges I want to apply to, would it be fine to tell my professors to hold on to my letters until I know which colleges they need to send them to? Or how does this work?</p>
<p>For one of my recs, I picked a teacher who was a really good friend of mine. I did really well in his class (though honestly I slept through many of the lessons), but he didn’t know much about me outside of Physics. Still, I knew he liked me alot, which is why I chose him.</p>
<p>I asked him for a recommendation, he sais sure. All he asked was what I was majoring in. I told him I would bring him some information in case he wanted to use it.</p>
<p>I brought him my 1 page resume (includes awards, ECs, work history, skills, etc), a college essay I wrote about why I chose engineering, and my personal statement. Finally, I included a list of colleges I was thinking of applying to, just to give him an idea of the caliber of schools. That kind of information can be extremely helpful. It ensures that the rec and your application are on the same wavelength. Don’t want the two documents to be describing different people!</p>
<p>And like you, I did not know exactly where I was applying when I requested all of my recommendations. When I asked for the letters, I said my applications wouldn’t be finished for about a month, and that I would come to them with labeled envelopes and such around that time. No need to ask for the letter and immediately give them envelopes to send off.</p>
<p>A one-page resume including academic qualifications (grades, test scores, rank), extracurriculars, and awards can be helpful. If there are any assignments on which you scored particularly well, attach those as well.</p>