recommendations
Within the context of a nationally-representative, highly qualified applicant pool, most students present compelling academic credentials (course selection, grades, standardized testing). Not all of these students, however, can be admitted, and the various shades of excellence between and amongst candidates must be examined closely. In addition to the factors under the control of the student (essays, extra-curricular involvement, interviews), letters of recommendation provide the necessary context for evaluating a candidate's abilities.
Download the 2008 High School Counselor Recommendation Form (PDF)
Download the 2008 High School Teacher Recommendation Form (PDF)
Effective letters of recommendation:
- Provide context, establishing the writer's relationship to the student, giving insight on course expectations, and the student's level of success;
- Provide specificity, which could include, but not be limited to, the candidate's ability to work in abstract and conceptual thought, express him/herself orally, write effectively, read discerningly, and work independently;
- Describe personal qualities of the candidate, which could include, but not be limited to, motivation, integrity, maturity, leadership, capacity for growth, and ability to profit from critical comment;
- Give anecdotal support to what would otherwise be generic support (i.e., proven integrity via an incident in your classroom, capacity to wrestle with abstract ideas as shown in a specific oral presentation before the class, a growing maturity as viewed by a candidate's reaction to constructive criticism);
- Can often "tell a story" which paints a very amiable, human picture of a candidate, one the reader might identify with more easily than if general, unspecified words of praise (platitudes) were listed;
- Can bring to light the memorable aspects of a candidate for an admission committee's deliberations;
- Must be honest.
Prepared by Willis J. Stetson, Jr.
Dean of Admissions, University of Pennsylvania
Writing, when properly managed, is but a different name for a conversation."
— Laurence Stern
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts."
— William Strunk, Jr.