<p>Hi all! I'm a bit unclear on whether a letter of recommendation is required to become a finalist. I have filled out my portion of the application and my counselor said that she filled out the school forms but didn't see anything asking for a letter of rec. She said she would be contacted later (possibly after they announce finalists but before they name scholarship winners) if they needed a rec. is this how it works?
Thanks!</p>
<p>I don’t think you need a letter of recommendation. There was no mention of it in the instructions that they provided and my counselor did not say anything about it.</p>
<p>According to NMSC’s Student Guide, this is among the requirements for your application.</p>
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<p>It’s possible that NMSC may have modified this requirement for progression from NMSF to NMF with the online application process, but in D1’s application (and the others I’m aware of) this was done with a Letter of Recommendation. You might want to double check with your GCs how they fulfilled this requirement, and with NMSC to see what exactly will suffice.</p>
<p>There is some kind of letter that is submitted by the school. At our school the counselors submit it with the rest of their paperwork, using info the students’ teachers supply them to flesh out the letter. At others I guess the principal writes it. Perhaps the counselor already did this and didn’t think of it as a ‘letter’ since it was part of a package of things required of him/her. You should check to make sure that part was done.</p>
<p>At our school the counselor used to provide the recommendation letter, but beginning last year required the student to contact a teacher to write the recommendation. The teacher then submits it to the counselor, who includes it with all other school required information.</p>
<p>My student is unclear as to what the requirements are for the recommendation letter and I have not been able to find anything online. She contacted the counselor and requested the specifics so hopefully he will get them to the teacher. My student will check back with teacher later in the week to be sure.</p>
<p>Could we ask a community college professor to write the recommendation?</p>
<p>D.A. (Sorry…couldn’t bring myself to type the full name 
)…I think having a Community College prof write the Rec Letter is a little too much of a stretch. Some schools will delegate the letter to one of the HS teachers and the principal then endorses it, but unless the principal knows the CC prof directly they might not be comfortable with it. Check with your GC and/or principal to see how they plan to handle the Rec Letter and see if they think it’s a viable option.</p>
<p>Sorry about the username. I’ll ask him when we get back from break.
It’s just that I didn’t have good relationships with my teachers.</p>