'Tis the Season
Suddenly the rush is on. In a yearly ritual of stampeding last-minute finishes, Jeramy, Will, Melissa, and Roberto come begging for a piece of the puzzle. Applying to college can be a harried struggle for sure. I have friends who have shown me boxes of information received from colleges and universities trying to recruit their new crop of students. The race is on. First, sorting through that information is a challenge.
When I was shopping for a house (real estate agents always call them homes) in the past, I was advised to decide what you wanted first, then sort through the houses that met your criteria closest. That same advice is useful for students looking for colleges also, since looking at every school and every piece of information would deserve a degree in and of itself, as well as a deep bank account.
My contribution to the puzzle is the letter of recomendation, either for admission, scholarships, or both. It is game that can create a lot of anxiety. Having sat on admissions committees in the past, I know that these recommendations are usually for sorting out the middling students whose other scores, like the ACT or SAT, aren't great, but good. Most of the decisions revolve around that one score or a few set of scores.
If I can't write a glowingly honest recommendation for a student, I usually suggest that they ask someone else who may know them better, or in whose classes they were more successful. Trying too hard comes through in a recommendation. It would seem after years of the process that writing one of those honest recommendations would be fairly routine. But I have never been able to turn these into a template. Even when trying, I end up rewriting the whole recommendation. So, I have learned to just simply sit down and begin from scratch each time.
The process of describing a student or former student, summing up that person, their life, and essentially their worth as a potential college student is unremittingly unfair. But, needs to be done, it does. Each one is a painful process. Each one requires some real agonizing. Yet, at the end, it is often a pleasure to be able to speak highly of a particular student. Many times, the process leads to getting to know and view that student in new and unexpected ways. I suppose that is why this time of year I still accept that impossible task on an impossible deadline.
When I was shopping for a house (real estate agents always call them homes) in the past, I was advised to decide what you wanted first, then sort through the houses that met your criteria closest. That same advice is useful for students looking for colleges also, since looking at every school and every piece of information would deserve a degree in and of itself, as well as a deep bank account.
My contribution to the puzzle is the letter of recomendation, either for admission, scholarships, or both. It is game that can create a lot of anxiety. Having sat on admissions committees in the past, I know that these recommendations are usually for sorting out the middling students whose other scores, like the ACT or SAT, aren't great, but good. Most of the decisions revolve around that one score or a few set of scores.
If I can't write a glowingly honest recommendation for a student, I usually suggest that they ask someone else who may know them better, or in whose classes they were more successful. Trying too hard comes through in a recommendation. It would seem after years of the process that writing one of those honest recommendations would be fairly routine. But I have never been able to turn these into a template. Even when trying, I end up rewriting the whole recommendation. So, I have learned to just simply sit down and begin from scratch each time.
The process of describing a student or former student, summing up that person, their life, and essentially their worth as a potential college student is unremittingly unfair. But, needs to be done, it does. Each one is a painful process. Each one requires some real agonizing. Yet, at the end, it is often a pleasure to be able to speak highly of a particular student. Many times, the process leads to getting to know and view that student in new and unexpected ways. I suppose that is why this time of year I still accept that impossible task on an impossible deadline.
To whom it may concern: . . .
posted by curtis @ 4:53 PM
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