As you get ready to head back to school for your senior year, now is a great time to start thinking about which teachers you'd like to have write your letters of recommendation, if you haven't done so already...

Recommendations are an important part of the college application, and in the Office of Admission, we use recommendations to get a sense of your academic strengths and weaknesses that might not show up on your transcript, and also to get a sense of things like your work ethic, your attitude, your presentation skills, and even your personality. And that means that you shoould think carefully about who you want to ask to write your letters of recommendation.

So, who should you choose? Firstly, you want to ask teachers who know you well - they will obviously do a better job of conveying who you are in their letters of recommendation than teachers who don't know you very well. These might include teachers you have had in the classroom multiple times - a history teacher who taught your sophomore class and is now teaching your senior class, for example. They also could be teachers you have had in multiple settings (both inside and outside of the classroom) - your English teacher who is also your student newspaper advisor or your math teacher who is also your soccer coach. These teachers have seen you progress academically, and also know you as more than just a student inside of the classroom because they have worked with you as a coach, advisor, or mentor.

One other thing to keep in mind: the teacher who you received the best grades from is not necessarily the teacher you will receive the best letter of recommendation from. Let me give you an example...

A student who received a C+ in his Pre Calculus class junior year might not think that teacher would be the best to write a recommendation for him. But, even though that C+ might be the lowest grade on his transcript, it might also be the class he worked the hardest in - he really worked to bring his grade up from even lower than a C+ during the 1st quarter to the B/B- level during the second semester of the year. The student attended all of the teacher's extra help sessions, completed additional assignments, went to tutoring, and really worked during the year to improve his grade, even though Pre Calc wasn't his strongest subject. That Pre Calculus teacher could write a fantastic recommendation about this student's work ethic, drive to improve, and level of responsibility - even though the final grade doesn't necessarily show all of that. Something to keep in mind when you're thinking about who you'd like to write your recommendations...

When you do decide on the teachers you'd like to ask, remember to do so politely! Also, be sure to let them know the deadlines of the colleges you're applying to, and where they should send their recommendations when they have completed them (some high schools will have the guidance or college counseling office collect all of the teacher recommendations for a student and mail them in one packet). Finally, be sure to thank your teachers for taking the time to write recommendations on your behalf - a thank you note is always a nice gesture!