To The Letter

Admit It! If you’re a teacher or a guidance counselor, chances are you’re taking a break from writing letters of recommendation to read this blog just as I’m taking a break from reading letters of recommendation to write this blog.  And, Admit It! If you’re a student, you might really fret over which teachers to ask for recommendations.  Letters of recommendation are tricky things.  As someone who’s read them and written them, I know that it’s often difficult to express in words all you want to share with us about a student.  As a reader, I can tell you that the best letters really can enhance how we as an Admission Committee view the student.  The good letters help us to see who that student will be in a W&M classroom, in a W&M residence hall, as a W&M campus leader.  The not-so-good letters help us see nothing at all.  While I in no way claim to be an expert on writing recommendation letters, I do claim to be somewhat of an expert on reading them.  In my eight years as an admission officer, I estimate I’ve read somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 letters of recommendation.  So as you complete your writing and I gear up for my reading, I thought I might offer some examples of the good and the not-so-good.

Which recommendation would you rather read (note that the names have been changed to protect the admitted and denied)?  And students, which recommendation would you prefer to be submitted on your behalf?  The one that starts with “Donna is among the most exceptional young people I have ever encountered in my professional career of more than 30 years” or “Billy is a scholar, an athlete, and a committed public servant.”  The former is more attention-grabbing don’t you think?  What about “Sally is a mature young woman with concern for others” versus “I have known Mark for two years , and in that time I have found him to be courteous and intuitive.”  To be honest, neither is terribly enthralling.  Now compare all of those to “Sarah is a dynamic classroom presence, a true ‘outside-the-box thinker’ …whose twin joys are: trying out new theories and approaches, and debating the merits of her and others’ interpretations of diverse issues and problems”.  This particular recommendation went on to tell us that Sarah is “one of the sharpest, most thoughtful, most multiculturally-aware individuals on our campus.” Want to read more about Sarah don’t you?  So did we.  We were also intrigued by a reference letter for Thomas who has a “gentle and powerful intellect” and “is the student for whom faculty will want to call first dibs on as their lab/research assistant, or to co-author an academic paper.” This particular recommender goes on to ask if there is a Thomas fan club page on Facebook.  If so, the recommender wants to join.

Recommendations are often awash in descriptive nouns and adjectives, some far more overused than others while some far too underutilized.  Students, would you rather be described as punctual, bright, hardworking, responsible, and mature, or as erudite, dynamic, or impactful?  While the first set of descriptors is likely accurate, they often do little to distinguish you from the other wonderfully punctual, bright, hardworking, responsible, and mature students in our pool.  Descriptors like go-getter, intellectually curious, and constantly engaged tend to catch our attention while others like erudite, dynamo, dynamic presence, and gregarious tend to have us putting paper to pen to share these assessments with our colleagues in our applicant notes.  Students, pick the teachers who can refer to you as gregarious, as a catalyst for discussion and as an original thinker rather than those who will describe you as determined, driven, and active.

So students as you pick which recommenders to speak on your behalf and counselors and teachers, as you sit down to write on their behalf, don’t tell us about your driven, kind, polite student, tell us instead how they are a budding scholar, a magnetic and charismatic leader, or a bridge-builder.  Don’t tell us that they earned an “A”, show us how.  Feel free to use the B, I, and U features in Word to grab our attention and focus us in on key phrases or adjectives.  Tell us that they inspire you, that they are the reason you went into education,  that you hope your son or daughter brings someone like them home one day.  Make us see them through your eyes and help us to Admit It!, I mean them.

Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ’09
Senior Assistant Dean of Admission