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Requesting Recommendations

Teacher Recommendation		Counselor Recommendation
Please be considerate and give at least 3 weeks lead time for teachers to get your letters of recommendation completed. Many teachers may want folders/packets like the ones you bring to your counselor. Inside the folders they may want a copy of your student resume (an example is available on the SRVHS Counseling web site), listing many details about you. While perhaps not all of this information will be used in a letter or recommendation, it should help a teacher to recall things about you. Make sure that you also include addressed and stamped envelopes for each college to which you are applying. Keep in mind that you should choose teachers who know you, respect you, and will write positive things about you. If you feel a teacher has little to say about you or even worse, will say something negative, pick someone else. Also, be sure to ask the teacher in a way in which he or she can politely decline. Try to talk to your teacher when he or she has a few minutes to spare and ask if "You would consider writing one of my recommendations." You might add something like, "I don’t want to put you in a spot if you’d really prefer not to do this." Give the teacher a way out. If your teacher says something like, "I’d like to help you but maybe someone else knows you better," take the hint and ask someone else. Teachers who write recommendations get no extra compensation for their work, other than the warm and fuzzy feelings associated with doing a good deed. They’re good people doing this personal favor to help you. A nice touch on your part would be to send each teacher a thank-you note or do something to let them know how much you appreciated their efforts. Everyone likes to feel appreciated. Teachers are no exception.		Over the years, SRVHS’s counselors have come to know many admission officers. The admission officers put considerable weight on what the counselors say since they know we can’t afford to lose credibility by writing a totally inaccurate recommendation. You can expect your recommendation to be positive, yet honest. To provide the most helpful recommendation possible, your counselor needs as much information as possible. A Counselor Recommendation form lists a number of questions. The more information available about you, the easier it is for your counselor to include anecdotes to support your application. Most applications have something called a "Secondary School Report" or "Counselor’s Report." Once you’ve decided for certain that you will be applying to a particular school, you should fill in your name, sign the waiver statement, and give it to your counselor (even if it tells you to give it to the principal). This form usually asks for an assessment of your motivation, academic promise, and integrity. An official copy of your transcript, along with a profile which describes Singapore American School, will also be attached to the report. If you’ve been involved in a discipline problem at SRVHS, perhaps you’re worried about whether this will be reported to a college. The SRVHS counselors use a "don’t ask-don’t tell" policy. In other words, if a college does not ask about suspensions or disciplinary issues, we assume they don’t want to know and do not volunteer the information. If a college does ask, however, we will answer the question honestly. A mistake, even a fairly serious one, can often be seen as a learning experience and may have no negative impact at all on your admission decision. If you are concerned about your past disciplinary record you should certainly discuss it with your counselor. If your counselor will report this kind of information, it is important that you also be honest and up-front about it in your application. Give your counselor plenty of time to write your recommendation. The earlier in your senior year that you provide the needed forms, the less likely it is that your counselor will be buried in recommendations. Perhaps it shouldn't be this way, but the fact is that recommendations written early in the senior year are usually better than those written in December. If you ask your counselor to write a recommendation one day before the deadline, don't expect a recommendation commenting on how organized you are!