Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Can I Write a Letter of Recommendation to Colleges for My Student??


Part of the college application process involves asking for letters of recommendation from school counselors, teachers, and other people who know the student well.

Homeschool students often run into the problem of who to ask for a letter of recommendation.  If students have been involved in co-op classes, dual credit classes, music lessons, or community service, they should have plenty of choices for letters of recommendation.

Can you, the parent/teacher/counselor write a letter of recommendation for your own child? 

Yes, you can, in some cases.

I have written several letters for my high school senior this year. It was a little strange at first writing a letter telling how awesome my son is, but I figured out how to give a balanced (hopefully objective), view of my student.

 I have used the following basic outline to write my letters.

1. Check with the school or scholarship program to make sure they will accept a letter from the parent as the teacher/counselor recommendation.

2.  Be as objective as possible.

3.  Don’t repeat the transcript or resume’ in your letter of recommendation

4.  Tell a story or two that demonstrates strong points of your student - characteristics that might not be obvious by looking at the resume’ or transcript.

5. Tell why your student would be a good fit for the college you are writing the recommendation for.

In my letters I have included a statement that indicated I was trying to be objective even though I am the parent/teacher. 

Don’t be intimidated by writing a recommendation for your own child.
But, don’t embellish the facts, either.


Have you written letters of recommendation for your student?







3 comments:

Carol said...

I've not had to write one yet for my daughter, but have been mentally prepared just in case. My son applies to college next year so I might have to then. I appreciate your posting your outline.

We are fortunate that the kids can find dual credit professors, bosses, and 4-H leaders to write letters of recommendation.

karentrina said...

I never needed to write a counselor recommendation until my fifth child applied to college. I honestly don't remember what my other students did or if they never needed a 'high school counselor' recommendation. We also had plenty of other people to ask for recommendations, but technically, I am the high school counselor, so I have now written 3-4 letters in the past couple years. Glad my thoughts on the matter were helpful.

Unknown said...

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