It is that time of year, or rather, of your life. The time when all of your hard work, sleepless nights, and commitment prevails; when you submit your college application. The Class of 2018, the current seniors, are racing to pull together every last detail of their applications, whether it be the their common app or their supplemental essays.
The application itself is one of the most important things an individual will create in his or her high school experience; it exists to be a near-perfect representation of the best parts of that person—accomplishments, extracurriculars, grades, and all. However significant the application may be to a senior’s admission into a college, there are many controversies on whether certain aspects of the application are as important to one’s admission as others, such as the letters of recommendation.
One of Great Neck North’s English teachers, Mr. Gilden, feels that while, “[he imagines] that some colleges value [letters of recommendation] more than others, most colleges care about what teachers think of their students.” A teacher can give a college the insight of what a student is truly like in the classroom, serving a different purpose from the rest of the application, which shows the end results of the student’s hard work over the years, rather than the details of the hard work.
Mr. Gilden does not “think that a great letter of recommendation can necessarily lift the student who is not otherwise qualified to get into the school, but [he] think[s] the letters can confirm what a school is thinking about a student, and might push somebody over the edge and into the acceptance if the letter is strong.” While the letters may not be the main point of an application, one can be sure that they will be taken seriously, and can help to confirm positive thoughts about an applicant.
The pressure is on for seniors to string together the final pieces of their applications. A student will often find difficulties in deciding the proper teacher to submit a letter for him or her. The letter stands as a representation of who that student is, how a teacher views the student, and most likely how the student will commit to his or her college courses.
When asked whether or not it was a stressful challenge to select teachers to write her letters of recommendation, Senior Jessica Rothstein remarked that for her, “…it wasn’t very stressful to find teachers [because, for her] it’s really important to have close relationships with teachers, so for [her] letters of recommendation [she] just selected the teachers who could really speak to who [she] was”.
Forming a bond with teachers is incredibly important and stressed to students by many people, such as one’s guidance counselor, as it entails how genuine a letter can feel towards a college, and can pertain to characteristics otherwise unknown to teachers that a student is not as close with.
Students such as Senior Tatiana Sameyah acknowledge this, in that “college recommendation letters are important because in the aspect of being a student, nobody knows you better than your teachers.”
Current juniors beware—recommendation letters should come from teachers that had a student for his or her junior or senior year; now is your time to form some bonds!
To the Classes of 2020 and 2021, you should not feel that there is pressure on you to make a bond with your current teachers for the sake of recommendation letters, but know that becoming closer with a teacher through asking questions and demonstrating effort can only better your in-class experiences.