Teacher Recommendations

Some colleges ask for teacher recommendation letters, typically from 11th or 12th grade teachers of core courses, and preferably who know the student well. One report suggested that having more than four recommendations was a mistake, and that a "thick file" indicated a "thick student" to admissions personnel. One report, however, was that teacher recommendations were becoming less important as a rating measure, according to one report.There is a report that some colleges are asking for recommendation letters from parents to describe their child:

You might think they do nothing but brag ... But parents really nail their kids. They really get to the essence of what their daughter is about in a way we can't get anywhere else.
-- Deb Shaver, director of admissions at Smith College