Tell this clueless Junior what schools are matches for him

Chance Me / Match Me
,
23

First decide what you want most from your college (the engineering decision is particularly important), the colleges that are most important to you, and the characteristics about yourself that you plan to emphasize in your own essays. Then work on your ‘cheat sheet’ aka ‘brag sheet’ (our school is likely to have one already but if they don’t there is one on the Common App & others online). Whatever form it takes, the goal is to help the teacher write a strong LoR, so be sure to

  1. tell them why you chose them
  2. indicate schools that you are particularly interested in and why you think they a good fit for you
  3. remind the teacher of specific things that happened in their class, especially as they link up to the traits that you want to emphasize. Any stories/anecdotes, even if small, can add more dimension to an LOR
  4. tell the teacher what you do outside of class that you want to emphasize- if you can draw a link between the two, great, but don’t force it.

Also, don’t try to force becoming ‘close’ with teachers- you will do more for yourself by participating in constructive ways. Let them see you being what you want to be / what you are.

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