Information you should give your referees

Fiona has done a write up about who should write your recommendation letter. Now I will elaborate on what you should tell your referees. Both my referees were school teachers who had taught me at some point of time when I was in year 5 and 6.

First off, you should give your referees a summary of what you have done, CAPs, earned. Here is where a detailed CV will come in handy. Next, you should prepare answers to some questions the college counselor would have for everyone (see below for details). I emailed to my referees my answers to those questions. I also gave them copies of my US Common Application essay (I detailed my CCA, Chinese orchestra), and the essay I wrote for UCAS. One referee asked for samples of a piece of work I did. Besides, I sent essays on certain accomplishments I considered significant, checked up the links and everything the referee had to do in order to submit their recommendation, and gave my contact details in case they wanted to ask me for anything I missed out. Unless you and your referee were unusually close, they are unlikely to remember everything you have done, so it’s best to have a convenient list of information about you for them to refer to. It’s not as much writing as you may think; many essays can be modified to suit applications to different colleges.

Questions for you to answer
1. What have you accomplished in the last 4 years to prove you should go to a good university?
2. What makes you unique?
3. You all graduated after completing an advanced research project. What did you do? Elaborate.
4. Not everything will fit in your application. What are some of the things left out?
5. Why don’t you have all As in your transcript? (Top American High School students generally have perfect or near perfect GPAs)

When you are applying, remember that there is a time and place for everything, and this is not the time to be humble. When it comes to college applications, you’re up against tens of thousands of bright, determined, diligent students of excellent character. If you don’t show the admissions officers how you stand out among the crowd, the place might just go to someone else who could do it better than you. Be proud of what you have done, and don’t shortchange yourself.

After you have made your choices, your referees would probably like to know about them, so update them when you can.