Now is the epoch to ask your teachers and advisers for letter of passport. Don’t wait until the lastly minute.
It's offici entirelyy March, which means there are roughly devil weeks of winter remaining and two months of the school year remaining to go—and not long before you'll be fisticuffs up your car and heading to college, possibly for the first time in your life. These next few months are way out to fly by, which means you should start checking things off your college to-do nominate now.
Since we're also in prime scholarship season, we suggest that probing and applying for scholarships be the first thing you do to get position for college. That way you can rest easy knowing that your ground level won't come with a shockingly high student loan bill. And because your teachers, advisers, and mentors go out likely get many requests for letters of recommendation, now's the time to approach them if you want a high-quality, timely response. take in these tips to success bountifuly solicit recommendations.
[Learn more astir(predicate) square offing scholarships.]
1. Avoid relatives: If you're all set to ask your favorite aunt to transfer her bragging into a written letter of recommendation, we plead you—don't! Though she may be your biggest fan, you need some adept who will be taken seriously, and scholarship evaluators will likely wrench out over letters from parents or relatives. Instead, plan on request a trusted teacher or mentor.
2. think of about the subject matter: Though getting a recommendation from a teacher is always better than asking your best friend to write one for you, we suggest you don't just turn to your favorite teacher for a generic letter.
Is the scholarship wedded by your church or place of worship? Think about asking your youth director to write one for you. If the scholarship rewards applicants for their volunteer work, turn to a mentor or adviser at one of the organizations where you volunteer. The akin goes for a scholarship geared specifically toward a certain(prenominal) subject matter or major: Ask a teacher whose expertise lies in the same field.
[Make a financial aid to-do list with these tips.]
Picking a soulfulness who can speak to your abilities for the specific scholarship for which you're applying will pass in a higher quality, more meaningful letter of recommendation.
3. Don't wait until the last minute: Teachers are busy, especially in the spring! A lot of work has to get do before the end of the school year rolls around, and your scholarship letter of recommendation will not exactly be a teacher's highest priority, especially if there are a hundred another(prenominal) students asking for one, too.
Ask as early as possible. By better-looking your teacher or adviser plenty of time to write, you'll be more likely to get a letter that is salutary thought out, organized, and professional—not to mention handed in on time.
4. Ask nicely: This goes hand-in-hand with not waiting until the last minute. If you're rude, ungrateful or if you ask for a letter the solar day before it's due, the mortal you ask is going to be a lot less willing to do you this favor, let solo write nice things about you. If you don't mind your Ps and Qs, you could be flat out rejected or end up with a lousy letter, both things best to avoid.
[Look for these qualities in your recommenders.]
5. Share the nitty gritty details: Once you find the perfect person to ask, make sure you provide all of the important details—and we do mean all of them. That includes: your full name (don't assume that your favorite teacher knows your last name, as many have hundreds of students they teach daily); your complete contact instruction; past classes in which you were enrolled, and/or a brief monitor of the history of your relationship; the center on of the scholarship and what you'd like them to focus on in their letter; and instructions for what needs to be done with the letter, such as whether they should send it back to you, or mail it directly to the scholarship committee.
6. Say thank you: In fact, we recommend thanking your recommender formally, preferably with a handwritten note. You'll likely apply to multiple scholarships over the next distich months, and there's a strong possibility that you'll have to ask this person for another letter of recommendation—if not for a scholarship, than possibly for college applications. It's always best to stay on his or her expert side!
Michelle Showalter joined Scholarship America in 2007 and is an grad of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.
Materials taken from US News
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