Letters of Recommendations, often referred to as just LOR’s or recommendations, make up a big factor of college applications every year, and while different colleges assign importance to these differences, they hold a considerable amount of weight with almost all examiners – thus, making them a make-or-break of your college application.
Therefore, it is of utmost importance to remember these points while getting recommendations. The questions then, that all aspiring applicants need to introspect on, are: What can I do to make sure my letters of recommendations are considered authentic and reach my desired college on time? What are the potential pitfalls that could prevent me from doing so? Well, the first mistake you should see avoiding is waiting till the last minute to contact your employer/teacher/institution head to get the letter of recommendation. Understand that the said person might need time for reflection in order to come up with a holistic, descriptive, and credible LOR, and one that doesn’t look sloppy and rushed. Make sure you get your LOR’s well ahead of time so they’re ready to send off when the time comes.
Next, if possible, avoid getting all (2-3 LOR’s are recommended for a competitive college application) your recommendations from your teachers. It is highly advisable to get one from the principal of your high school, and at least one from your employer (if you worked under an NGO or any other commercial firm) as they will both add a lot of distinction and perspective to your image that the recommendations create.
Finally, it’s of paramount importance that, to make all your efforts count, you send your LOR’s off to the different colleges you applied to ahead of time. Along with this, it’s also very crucial that you provide the colleges with appropriate reference and contact information for each of your LOR’s. LOR’s are just as integral to your profile as your academics and standardized testing scores. So it’s up to you to make them count by keeping the aforementioned pointers in mind, but not necessarily restricting yourself to just these.
