Note:  This is  part 9 of the transcript of the information contained in the video from VanderbiltUniversity about Applying for College – an Insiders Guide for Getting Into a Good College and it’s about getting admitted to college.

For the previous segment click below:

Getting Admitted to College: How Many People Decide if You Get In?

How many people see your application and have a say in whether is gets through?  Interesting to hear…

How do I choose who should write my letters of recommendation?

We want somebody who can talk about the applicant, who has seen their maturation over a period of time that can tell us the inside of their character, their background, their experiences. Then if it’s a Math teacher, a Science teacher, may be how they took on a particular research project, how they handled that, how they led the group or what have you versus kind of the, well a very good person. The good person does not cut it. So it is who really can talk about you, not who is the most important person you know that can write a letter.

Hopefully you’ll have a teacher or two that has seen your work in several classes. Or maybe there are a group of teachers that know each other and they talk about the students (in a good way) and you’re one that they talk about.  Maybe you have an adviser that knows you and also talks to your other teachers and can make a fair assessment about you in regards to schooling.

— The next article contains Tips from and Admission Insider!  You’ll want to read that. — The last segment of the transcript offers some tips for getting into college.

One trick that business people know is to write the letters of recommendation yourself for the person so they can easily sign and submit.  Maybe this isn’t quite appropriate in high school, however, you could certainly mention a few things you want your recommender to know or remember about your.

Finding the right people to write your letters of recommendation and write the correct stuff is quite important.