| Some people who write letters of | | | | - Sincerely, |
| recommendation for our children may not be | | | | - Recommender's Signature |
| aware of the standard format of a | | | | - Recommender's Typed full name |
| recommendation. The college will want to know | | | | - Recommender's Title or position |
| about the person giving the recommendation - | | | | If possible, it is optimal to get the letter into that |
| their name, title, contact information, etc. In | | | | format. Look on each college website, because |
| general you're looking for something that looks like | | | | sometimes they have specific requirements for |
| this: | | | | recommendations, like "in a sealed signed |
| - Recommender's name | | | | envelope" or "mail separately" or something. The |
| - Recommender's address | | | | recommender will have to physically sign the |
| - Today's date | | | | letter. |
| - Dear College Name (OR To Whom it May | | | | You won't get to necessarily review the letter of |
| Concern), | | | | recommendation before it get sent to the college |
| - Paragraph One is identifying the student, and | | | | so it is critically important to choose a |
| how the recommender has come to know the | | | | recommender who (a) knows your child well and |
| student. | | | | (b) is a great writer. If either one of these is |
| - Paragraph two is specific evidence of character | | | | absent, the letter of recommendation will come |
| traits that the recommender knew from contact | | | | up short. Having someone who has an in-depth |
| with the student. Include knowledge, maturity, or | | | | knowledge of the student is worthless if they |
| any project or job completed. | | | | don't know how to construct a proper sentence! |
| - Paragraph three is about work skills in general | | | | Even more important, however, than getting a |
| that the student has displayed. | | | | great letter of recommendation is preparing your |
| - Paragraph four is where it actually states "I | | | | student so they are worthy of a great letter of |
| highly recommend....." | | | | recommendation! |