Final Summer - Then 'D-Day'

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I’ve just created my account here on college confidential after having been an avid reader of the site’s forums for ages. I am a rising senior in high school and the impending deadlines of early admission will soon be fast approaching.</p>

<p>In this final summer that I have to grasp at anything possible to boost my chances of getting into a few prestigious schools, I am looking for guidance from the community. I have a mediocre ACT score that I will be improving upon during the upcoming test date so that shouldn’t be a huge issue. My extracurricular are decent but I really am looking for a clincher and a good use of time for this summer.</p>

<p>Also, it has come to my attention that I should probably begin to prepare for application season because of early admission being at the forefront of the school year. I have an academic resume readily available to give out to my recommendation candidates so they have a full idea of what I have done but when and how would I get their letters? I have looked on my colleges website and can’t easily find information about where the recommendation letter templates/questions are located; where would I retrieve those?</p>

<p>Thanks for reading this and thanks in advance for your replies! Hopefully I haven’t burdened anyone with my extremely unorganized post.</p>

2

<p>It’s likely that most of your target schools are using the Common Application. There will be the rec letter templates. As far as content goes, try to find teachers who can produce this:</p>

<p>[Writing</a> Recommendations | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/writingrecs]Writing”>How to write good letters of recommendation | MIT Admissions)</p>

3

<p>Start asking teachers for recommendations as soon as possible; giving them the summer to prepare them will work to your advantage because they’ll have more time to write the letter and will appreciate that you’ve given them that time. You always want your recommenders to be writing their letters while in a good mood.</p>