College Recommendations

In some ways taking the SAT and ACT represent the easiest component of the college admissions process. It is predictable, and controlled with very specific timetables. The rest of the college application process on the other hand can at times feel chaotic, unorganized and unpredictable. It is my hope that the guidelines below will serve as gentle reminders of ways to streamline the process of obtaining letters of recommendation.

Do:
- Ask for teachers for letters of recommendation at the end of your junior year.
- Ask teachers humanities and math/science disciplines
- Touch base with those that agreed to write letters for you at the very beginning of senior year.
- Provide two lists to the teachers writing letters, one list of Common Application schools and of non-common application schools. (Please use this spreadsheet to organize your envelopes forms etc. Print the form and include it when you hand me your materials inside a file folder with your name written on the tab)
- Follow up with me in person or via email approximately 2 weeks before deadlines.
- Track the your materials as they are received by the colleges or universities.
- Alert me to any potential problems.

Don't
- Wait until the middle of November to ask teachers for recommendations.
- Give your materials to me or other teachers in chunks.
- Give me envelopes with no postage or return address
- Confuse follow up with pestering. As a general rule asking once is usually sufficient.
- Give up or get too frustrated when you encounter a setback during the process. Take a day to feel sorry for yourself, wallow in your misery and then develop a plan to overcome the setback on day two.

Below is a list of students that I have agreed to write recommendations for as of 09.19.08

Anthony Mangano
Dominic Scarpulla
Melissa Brito
Melissa Margolis
Danielle Bennon