<p>My husband has been asked by the high school intern at his office to write a supplemental letter of reference. She is aiming for a smaller state U. H has been impressed with her work and will write a nice letter, but he’s never written a college reference letter before. We aren’t talking Intel science winner to MIT type…but good work ethic, female student in tech area, collaborates, takes on challenges, etc. type kid.
If you have written these letters before, or if you have been on an admission committee and read them, do you have any specific advice about what to say or what to not say?
Also, what would be the best way to send? Student would like to send everything in together, and H has no qualms about her seeing letter, but should it be sealed in some way?
(if all you have to offer is that a student to a less selective U doesn’t need letters, save us all some reading and don’t reply. Yes, it’s probably not necessary, but she’s a great kid and we’d like to do what was asked.)</p>
<p>In my (limited) experience, most letters of recommendation are sent directly to the college by the recommender. However if the instructions are for the student to gather and send all together, I think it wouldn’t really matter if it was sealed or not. Your husband certainly could seal it in a business envelope with ‘recommendation letter for Student Name’; that’s what one of my D’s scholarship apps had her do.</p>
<p>He could still give her a copy of it, unsealed, to read (it makes the kid feel really good to see a glowing reference).</p>
<p>I think you’ve hit the key points in your post–speak to her maturity, her strong collaborative skills, hard work, etc. A specific example would add strength/credibility to the letter. ie, ‘Susan was part of our project x team, and contributed several ideas during our brainstorming sessions that sparked conversation. She has leadership potential.’</p>
<p>Basically, it’s pretty much the same letter you’d write to recommending her to an employer, just maybe skewed more to her potential and her intellect.</p>
<p>If she’s applying via the Common App online, there’s a place for supplemental or other recs (sorry I don’t remember the exact wording) - she could just have the form sent to his email.</p>
<p>If she’s physically sending the hard copy with her application package, the usual format is for the letter to be in a sealed envelope with the recommender’s signature across the sealed flap to show that it has not been opened and read by the student. (Recommender is of course free to give another copy to the student, but that is entirely his choice.)</p>
<p>My son’s outside recommendations were mailed directly to the colleges. My son gave the people writing the letters his date of birth SS# so that they’d be sure to be put in the correct file. I agree that it’s really nice for the student to get a copy of the letter. There is so much stress about the unknowns in this process. </p>
<p>Assuming it’s true, I’d emphasize now reliable the student was, any initiatives they took, and anything that reflects her intelligence. It’s good to be specific. For example, my older son wrote a computer program to analyze data for a professor and the prof explained briefly what the program did.</p>
<p>For very competitive situations, I think the following tutorial is good</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>
<p>For this student’s needs, your Hubby may not need to be as in-depth</p>