Ann Velenchik, Wellesley College Dean of Academic
Affairs and Associate Professor of Economics,
offers advice from the perspective of a Board of Admission
reader on how to make your letter of recommendation
a more useful contribution to your students’ application
dossiers.
She says: “We want to admit students who are going to succeed
and thrive here at Wellesley. We’re trying to find evidence in a
student’s background that she has the academic preparation,
character skills, study habits, and whole package of things that
make somebody able to come to a reasonably high pressure
environment, succeed, thrive, and be happy here.”
According to Professor Velenchik, each student’s application
contains two types of information: (1) objective (test scores,
transcripts, school activities, lists of activities) and (2) narrative
(counselor report/letter, teacher letters, and the student’s essay
and other written elements of the Common App). She anticipates
that she’ll get an objective data-driven view of each student and
then go into the narrative to understand more of the data by virtue
of the narrative’s context, richness, and perspective. We hope
you’ll find the following tips to be useful:
• Provide context.
Counselor letters provide context to a student’s list of ac-
tivities, make it more robust, and help admission readers
understand where the student really leads and shines, as well
as where she has invested herself. For example, when other
people at the school talk about a student, what things are as-
sociated with her? If you have a student who’s a fencer and
that’s what everybody says, and it’s one of 10 things on her
list, the counselor letter makes me find out what her priorities
and passions really are, what she’s really engaged in, and
how she is as a person.
• Add something new.
That’s really important. Frequently letters from counselors and
teachers say the same thing. They all list the students’ activ-
ities, so now I don’t know anything that I didn’t know before.
I understand you cannot control the teachers, but if we can
help them to understand that if what they bring to the party is
different, we can get a broader perspective. The best situation
is where every piece draws on the writer’s specific expertise
and experience with the student.
• Encourage teachers to provide academic examples and
insights. Teacher letters can provide broader and deeper
understanding of academic performance than grades alone.
Concrete examples and anecdotes are more helpful than
quantitative measures, adjectives, or generalizations. Tell me
about a term paper, an exam, or a presentation in which a
student excelled. When she participates in class, what is that
participation like? Is she the kid who asks the question that
everybody else is thinking about but nobody else has dared
to ask? Is she the one who turns the conversation in different
ways? Does she always have something to say? Highlight
areas of particular strength and explain gaps or weak spots in
her record. We’re less interested in the narrative of what her
grades are than in how much she challenged herself.
• Discuss intellectual attributes and personal qualities.
I want that very specific context of “this is how I know her.”
What is her mind like? What is she passionate about
intellectually? How does she think? How is she creative? Is
she articulate? Is she a leader? Show us evidence of why
she will thrive here. Give us examples of what her peers think
about her. We want to hear about intellectual attributes. Is she
an incisive thinker or solid writer? Does she have a dynamic
personality? Academic strengths and skills are more telling
than lengthy descriptors of her work ethic. All Wellesley stu-
dents are conscientious and diligent; that’s assumed, so it’s
not terribly useful information.
• Avoid gender bias in language and content.
Frequently letters to Wellesley refer to a student as “polite.”
“Polite” is a minimum requirement of college success, but
tells us nothing about intellectual power or force of personality.
While female students are often described as “polite,”
“helpful,” “cheerful,” or “cooperative,” male students almost
never are. My son is at an all-boys’ school and his college
counselor tells me they never describe a student as polite.
Take a moment to think about such adjectives and whether
they offer anything beyond the bare minimum.
• Don’t tell us what we already know. For example, “Susie
expects to graduate in June,” an explanation of what precalculus
is, information we can find in the school report, or a duplication
of the lengthy list of a student’s activities that she has already
provided isn’t helpful. However, substantive information on her
participation or perspectives from coaches, faculty, or peers is.
If she has a particular strength or had a lousy 10th grade, an
explanation would be helpful.
• Share, but not unnecessarily or overly.
If a student has overcome obstacles or dealt with family turmoil,
that’s enough information for now. She may talk about it in
her essay or elsewhere in her application. If she has confided
in you that she had a brief depressive episode, but it didn’t
affect her academic record, it’s not essential to share. And it
may also be inappropriate if the student doesn’t know you’re
divulging such information.
• Remember that letter length is not related to letter quality.
Don’t feel your recommendation needs to be a tome. We’re
looking for vivid language, specific examples, insights, and
context; nonetheless, it can be brief.
Tips (from an expert!) for writing
eective college recommendations
