application letter for college admissions example

College Application Letters: Cover Letters & Letters of Continued Interest

College application letters.

College application cover letters support your college applications, college resume, and college application essay prompts. In combination with the other elements of your college applications, particularly your college entrance essay, college application letters help establish your “why.” In short, a college application letter is a cover letter for your college applications that describes your background, skills, and interest in the school. When looking at college application cover letter examples, pay attention to the values that they express. College application letters and college entrance essays are similar in that they are exercises in personal branding. When reading college application cover letter examples, pay attention to the messages they convey. 

If you’re wondering how to write a college application letter, CollegeAdvisor.com has advisors who can walk you through every part of the process. If your goal is to get into top colleges, CollegeAdvisor.com can help. We’ll analyze examples of college application letters and discuss the letter of continued interest to help you craft successful applications. 

In this guide, we’ll break down the different kinds of college application letters you may encounter when completing your college applications. We’ll discuss the college application letter and the letter of continued interest, as well as teacher recommendation letters.

If you want to read college application cover letter samples, you’ve come to the right place!

What is a college application letter?

To learn how to write a college application letter, you must first understand its purpose. Do this by checking out college application cover letter examples. College application letters and college resumes serve as introductions for your college applications. Unlike college application essay prompts, there are no specific questions to answer in your cover letter. Instead, include the essential elements of university application letters: your background, what makes you unique, and your reasons for wanting to attend that particular college. In short, what makes you, you .

As you’ll see when reading example college application letters, college application cover letters are not all that different from what you would write in a cover letter when applying for a job or graduate school. The purpose of college application cover letters, college entrance essays, and college resumes is to persuade colleges that you are the strongest candidate for admissions. 

College application cover letters are not the time to be shy, but they’re not the time to be pretentious either. When reading college application cover letter examples, you’ll see that there’s a fine line. Your tone matters. In your university application letters, show your experiences and accomplishments while portraying character traits that colleges value. To get into top colleges, find a balance between being proud of your accomplishments and being humble.

College application letters – Who requires them?

Unlike college entrance essays, college application letters are required by very few colleges. However, the skills you’ll develop by writing university application letters will serve you well as you approach your college application essay prompts. When researching college application examples, you’ll notice that there are optional materials to submit. If you’re serious about your college applications, submit university application letters to show your interest. 

College application cover letters are particularly effective if the college does not have college application essay prompts that ask you to explain why you want to attend the school and/or why you want to study your major. They are even more strongly recommended when applying to colleges that don’t have any supplemental essays. You’ll see many college application cover letter examples that focus primarily on academics, but you can include so much more.

Though university application letters are rarely required, they provide an ideal way to introduce yourself. After all, you’ll notice when reading college application cover letter samples that the goal is to help the admissions committee get to know you as a person. You are more than just your grades and scores.

If you want to get into top colleges that don’t allow you to submit a college resume or don’t provide interviews, you need to take extra steps to earn acceptance. Often, you can repurpose content from college application essay prompts that ask why you want to study your major! The college application essay format differs from that of a college application letter, but they serve a very similar purpose.

Test your knowledge about other aspects of the college admissions process in our quiz below!

What is a letter of continued interest?

A letter of continued interest (LOCI) is a letter you send to a college when you are deferred or placed on the waitlist. So, not everyone will need to write a college application letter of continued interest.

Your letter of continued interest has three primary goals: 

• Reaffirm your interest in the school.
• Provide additional context for your application. 
• Discuss accomplishments on your college resume that have occurred since you submitted your application.

In this guide on how to write a college application letter, we discuss all forms of college application letters in detail. We’ll expand on the above goals to explain the strategies for writing effective letters.

Explaining teacher recommendation letters 

In addition to submitting a college application cover letter and, potentially, a letter of continued interest, your application will also include recommendation letters . These letters enhance your college application entrance essay and build on answers to supplemental college application essay prompts. 

Due to the shift away from standardized testing, other parts of your college applications are inevitably getting more attention in the evaluation process. When assessing your college applications, admissions committees will often rely on letters from your teachers and counselor in place of interviews.

When reading sample college application letters of recommendation, you’ll observe that some are better than others. But, it can be a bit harder to find example teacher recommendations than it is to find college application cover letter examples. To ensure high-quality letters, create a plan well in advance of your senior year. You’ll want to ask teachers to write your recommendations who know you best beyond your grades. The strongest sample college application letters of recommendation speak to both your personal and academic strengths. 

College application sample recommendation letters with the biggest impact typically come from teachers from your core junior year courses – math, science, English, and social studies. If there’s a teacher from your junior year who taught you during your sophomore or senior year too, even better! Teachers who know you through multiple environments – clubs, classes, sports, or other areas – can often do the best job speaking to your growth and achievement over time. 

Choose teachers who know you best

Ultimately, the most effective sample college application letters of recommendation are written by the teachers who know you best. Pay attention to the college application requirements for each school on your list. Note when reading example college application letters of recommendation who the intended audience is. Some schools require math or science teachers for STEM and business majors , while others require English or social studies teachers for humanities majors .

For example, when looking at college application sample requirements, MIT writes “One recommendation should be from a math or science teacher, and one should be from a humanities, social science, or language teacher.” Caltech also requires one math or science teacher evaluation and one humanities or social sciences teacher evaluation. 

Some applicants are tempted to send more letters than the college applications require. However, aim for quality over quantity. If you want to ask another teacher to write a recommendation letter for you, ask yourself what perspective they will bring to your college applications that isn’t already covered in your college entrance essay or other recommendation letters. 

Don’t hesitate to provide materials to help your teachers and guidance counselor write their letters of recommendation for you. In fact, you should! When reading college application sample letters of recommendation, you’ll note that they are specific and provide examples where possible. Some teachers will even have you fill out a standard form to gather information from you. So, by having additional information already prepared, you are helping them tremendously. 

Here are some materials you can provide to help your recommendations augment your college applications:

• College entrance essay
• College resume or a list of your extracurricular activities and awards
• Responses to college application essay prompts.
• A sample college application letter that you’re sending to one of your colleges.
• A few paragraphs about why you want to study your major or pursue your intended career. 
• Key elements of the course you took with them, such as a favorite project or unit. 

When preparing materials to give to teachers, read the instructions given to recommenders by MIT. Even if you aren’t applying to MIT, the information can still be helpful to know. By understanding the process of writing recommendation letters on the teacher’s side, you can see what information will help them write a strong letter for you. 

Don’t wait until you’re submitting your college applications to ask your teachers for recommendations. Some teachers limit the number that they will write, and you want them to have plenty of time to write a quality recommendation. To make sure you have the best recommendations , ask teachers late in your junior year or early in your senior year.

The College Application Letter

As we’ve mentioned, a college application letter is a cover letter for your college applications. It describes your background, skills, and interest in the school. It’s different from both the college application essay format and the letter of continued interest. When reviewing college application samples, you’ll see that your cover letter works together with your college resume and college entrance essay to help admissions officers get to know you. 

Below, we’ll discuss how to write a college application letter and walk through a sample college application letter. But remember, you want your letter to be original! Don’t feel limited by what’s in any examples of college application letters.

Do all schools require a college application letter?

No — few schools actually require college application letters. However, learning to write a strong college application letter can help you in other aspects of the college admissions process. Reading college application cover letter examples can also help you learn how to write for the admissions committee audience. 

One of the ways to learn how to write a college application letter is to read sample college application letters. For instance, the same skills that help you write a strong and concise college application letter will help you in the college essay format, too.

The college application letter – What should I include?

So, you know the purpose of college application letters, but what should you include in them? Reading college application cover letter samples can help you determine this. While the college application essay format lends itself to focusing on one topic or story, college application cover letter examples highlight the importance of covering several different topics.

College application letters should contain the following elements: 

1. school name and address.

You college application letter should follow formal letter formatting guidelines, which include writing the full name of the college or university you are applying to in the upper left hand corner of the letter. Try to be as specific as possible with the address you choose to use.

2. Salutation

A standard salutation is suitable for your college application letter. However, it is a great idea to do your research and use the full name of the admissions officer assigned to your region.

3. Introduction

The best examples of college application letters open strong. Thank the admissions committee for reviewing your application, and introduce yourself. Do you have a unique connection to the school? Can you hook the reader in some way to make them want to keep reading?

4. Explanation of academic interests

Your primary purpose in college is to earn a degree, so notice that in example college application letters most of the space is often devoted to discussing academic plans. Include your intended major and career path, as well as interdisciplinary interests.

5. Discussion of extracurricular interests

The college application essay format may be a place for you to discuss extracurricular involvement, so use this space to elaborate or discuss additional interests. These could be connected to your academic plans, but they don’t have to be.

6. Conclusion

Express your interest in the school! Impactful example college application letters have a clear and brief conclusion that reaffirms your desire to attend and enthusiasm for the opportunity to join the next class of undergraduates. Point to specific classes, professors, programs, organizations, and aspects of the college that pique your interest. No one is going to hold you to your plan, but colleges want to see that you have one.

8. Complimentary Close

Lastly, every good college application letter should include an expression of gratitude alongside your close and your signature.

In the example of a college application letter above, there are a few key details to highlight. The letter is essentially a five-paragraph essay, with one paragraph for each of the five elements. This differs significantly from the college application essay format. In this college application example, the college application letter has clear and distinct sections, and this is very common in college application cover letter samples.

Depending on your interests and plans, you could take a more integrated approach. You’ll read some examples of college application letters that center around a theme or broad plan rather than separated into individual paragraphs.

This sample college application letter is a narrative. The applicant’s goal is to tell her story to the admissions committee. The best sample college application letters paint a picture for the reader and draw the reader into the storyline. Though it can feel like being vivid and descriptive is a waste of your space, “showing instead of telling makes for stronger college applications.

How to format your college application letter?

When reading sample college application letters, you’ll observe that they are formatted very similarly to professional cover letters. Your university application letters should be one page single-spaced. The heading should also be consistent across college application letters. 

• Your full address
• The date you will send the letter
• The admission officer’s name
• The college name
• The college address

Then, open your letter with a salutation. Many examples of college application letters open with “Dear” and are addressed to the admission officer. If you cannot find your regional admissions officer, it is fine to address the letter to the admissions office as was done in the sample college application letter above. Once you write the body of your letter, don’t forget your closing salutation – “Sincerely,” and then your name. 

Once you read several sample college application letters, you’ll understand the best practices. After writing a university application letter for one school, you don’t need to start from scratch for additional schools. Adapt what you have to fit the next college’s context and your specific interests on their campus. 

Being concise is key. Your university application letter should not be redundant. If it exceeds one page, see where information you mention is repeated elsewhere in your application. In your cover letter, focus on the content that makes you as original and unique as possible. Most importantly, don’t forget to proofread your university application letters! 

Can a college application letter help me with other parts of my application?

Think of the college application cover letter as the glue that holds your college applications together. When writing it, think about it as your opportunity to show your best self. After brainstorming the content, you’ll be better equipped to craft your candidate profile into a cohesive narrative and articulate why you want to attend the college.

Though many parts of your college applications will be out of your control by the time you reach your senior fall, the college application cover letter is one that you can control. Use it to elevate your college applications, show interest in your top schools , and make yourself stand out among other applicants!

The Letter of Continued Interest

Another form of college application letter is a letter of continued interest . In sample college application letters of continued interest, you’ll see that the primary purpose is to reaffirm your candidacy for a spot in the next incoming class of undergraduates. 

Though it can feel like a waiting game, the waitlist should not be passive. As soon as you are waitlisted or deferred, begin crafting a letter of continued interest. The best college application sample LOCIs are submitted promptly. Put in the effort to show you’re serious about attending. 

College application example LOCIs should focus on recent updates. Likely, a lot has happened since you submitted your application, particularly if you applied by the early deadlines. Strong college application sample LOCIs convey accomplishments and experiences that either add to previously mentioned ones or provide another dimension to your application. 

Letter of continued interest – When and where to submit?

Learn as much as you can by reading college application example LOCIs, but know that each school’s process for when and how to submit them is different. Additionally, the process may vary based on whether you were deferred to the regular decision round of admissions or waitlisted after the regular decision round. It’s important to follow each university’s directions.

Many schools will request that you upload your letter of continued interest to a portal. Some will request that you email it to an address – typically the admissions office. Others won’t allow you to submit any additional materials. If you’re in doubt, call or email the admissions office and ask. 

What to include in your letter of continued interest?

You’ll notice common trends when reading college application sample LOCIs. Effective college application example LOCIs convey a tone of sincerity, gratitude, and enthusiasm for an opportunity to attend. A strong sample college application letter of continued interest includes four elements. 

First, reaffirm your interest in attending the school if offered the chance to matriculate. Then, discuss relevant developments to your application, such as additional extracurricular accolades and continued academic successes. Sometimes, you’ll see a sample college application letter of continued interest that mentions how a student improved a lower mid-year grade or discusses a new leadership role. 

When reading a sample college application letter of continued interest, remember that colleges are looking for reasons to admit you, so don’t be shy! Offer to answer any questions they have and provide additional info in the conclusion of your letter. 

It’s important to back up your claims with supporting evidence. Strong college application sample LOCIs provide examples and specific details, just as you would in a cover letter or essay. Be vivid and descriptive as you share your story!

However, college application example LOCIs that include overly emotional appeals or merely complement the university are unlikely to be effective. Your letter of continued interest should be all about you. Though it can be difficult to realize this when reading college application example LOCIs, recognize that the content of your letter should fit within the context of the rest of your application. 

The many types of college application letters – Final Thoughts

In this guide, we covered several types of letters associated with your college process – college application cover letters, teacher recommendation letters, and letters of continued interest. Reading sample college application letters, whether they are college application cover letter samples or LOCIs, can help you do your best work. But, remember that every applicant’s college application process is unique. 

Our final tips for writing college application letters:

• Proofread. College application letters with typos or grammatical errors reflect poorly on your effort and candidacy. Use a polished and professional tone in everything you write for your college applications.
• Be yourself. Though this goal can get lost in the requirements, scores, and grades, you should focus on helping the colleges on your list get to know who you are . 
• Follow the requirements. Each college has their own requirements for how they want you to submit materials. Pay close attention to the details for each college as you go through the admissions process. 

CollegeAdvisor.com can help guide you through every step of the college application process. Check out our blog , webinars , or register with CollegeAdvisor.com today. Good luck!

This guide to college application letters and letters of continued interest was written by Caroline Marapese, Notre Dame ‘22. At CollegeAdvisor, we have built our  reputation  by providing comprehensive information that offers real assistance to students. If you want to get help with your college applications from CollegeAdvisor.com  Admissions Experts , click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.

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University Application Letter Example: Free & Effective

In this article, I’ll guide you through a comprehensive, step-by-step process to write an impactful university application letter, including customizable templates to get you started.

Key Takeaways Understand the University’s Requirements: Each university has unique criteria and values. Tailor your application to reflect these. Start with a Strong Opening: Your opening statement should be engaging and reflective of your personality. Highlight Your Academic Achievements: Showcase your academic strengths and relevant accomplishments. Include Extracurricular Activities: Universities look for well-rounded individuals. Highlight your extracurricular involvements. Showcase Your Goals and Aspirations: Clearly articulate your future goals and how the university can help you achieve them. Proofread and Edit: Ensure your application is free from errors and well-structured. Seek Feedback: Before submission, get feedback from mentors or peers. Use the Provided Template: Adapt the template provided at the end of this article to suit your needs.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: research and understand the university’s criteria.

Before you start writing, research the university and the specific program you’re applying to. Understand what they value in their students—is it leadership, community involvement, or academic excellence? This will help you tailor your application to resonate with the admissions committee.

Real-Life Example: When I applied to the University of XYZ for their journalism program, I noticed their emphasis on real-world experience. So, I highlighted my internship at a local newspaper and my role as an editor for my school’s magazine.

Step 2: Crafting a Strong Opening

Your opening paragraph should grab the reader’s attention. Start with a personal anecdote, a unique insight, or a compelling fact about your field of interest. This sets the tone for the rest of your application and gives the admissions committee a glimpse of your personality.

Table: Example Openings for Different Fields

Step 3: Highlighting Academic Achievements and Skills

Trending now: find out why.

In this section, focus on your academic strengths. Mention awards, high grades, or any unique academic projects. Also, include skills relevant to your field of study.

List: Items to Include

• GPA (if it’s a strong point)
• Awards or honors
• Significant projects or research
• Relevant skills (e.g., coding, lab techniques)

Step 4: Extracurricular Involvements

Universities seek well-rounded individuals. Discuss your involvement in sports, clubs, volunteer work, or any other extracurricular activities. Explain how these experiences have shaped you.

Chart: Extracurricular Activity and Its Impact

Step 5: Articulating Your Goals and Aspirations

Explain why you’re applying to this program and how it aligns with your career goals. Be specific about how this university, in particular, can help you achieve these goals.

Step 6: Proofreading and Editing

A well-written application is free from grammatical errors and is well-structured. Take time to proofread your application or use tools like Grammarly. Also, getting a second opinion can be invaluable.

Step 7: Seeking Feedback

Before finalizing your application, get feedback from a teacher, mentor, or someone who has been through the process. They can provide insights and suggestions for improvement.

University Application Letter Example Template

[Your Name] [Your Address] [City, State, Zip] [Email Address] [Phone Number] [Date]

[Admissions Office] [University Name] [University Address] [City, State, Zip]

Dear Admissions Committee,

Introduction: Your Passion and Purpose I am writing to express my enthusiastic application for the [Program Name] at [University Name].

My interest in [Subject or Field of Study] was sparked by [brief personal anecdote or experience that ignited your passion in the field].

This program, renowned for its [mention specific attributes of the program or faculty], resonates deeply with my academic interests and career aspirations.

Academic Background: Showcasing Your Achievements My academic journey thus far has been a blend of diligence and curiosity. At [Your Current or Previous School], I achieved [mention any notable academic achievements, honors, or GPA if relevant].

Particularly, I found my experience in [mention any significant project or research experience], which further solidified my desire to pursue [mention the field of study or research interests]. This experience has equipped me with [mention relevant skills or knowledge gained].

Extracurricular Involvements: Demonstrating a Well-Rounded Profile Beyond academics, I have engaged in [mention significant extracurricular activities], where I developed [mention skills or experiences gained].

For instance, my involvement in [mention a specific activity] helped me hone my skills in [mention relevant skills like leadership, teamwork, etc.].

These experiences have not only enriched my understanding of [mention how these activities tie into your chosen field or personal growth] but also prepared me for the collaborative and diverse environment at [University Name].

Career Aspirations: Connecting Your Goals with the University My goal is to [mention your career or research goals]. I am particularly drawn to [University Name] because of [mention specific courses, faculty members, research opportunities, or campus resources that align with your goals].

I am eager to contribute to [mention any specific university clubs, groups, or activities you plan to engage in] and immerse myself in the vibrant community at [University Name].

Conclusion: Reinforcing Your Commitment and Fit I am excited about the prospect of joining [University Name] and am confident that my background and aspirations align well with the ethos of your institution.

I am eager to bring my passion for [Subject or Field of Study] to your esteemed program and look forward to the opportunity to contribute to and learn from the diverse and talented community at [University Name].

Thank you for considering my application. I am looking forward to the possibility of contributing to and growing within the [University Name] community.

[Your Name]

NOTE: This template is a starting point. Adapt it to suit your style and the specific requirements of the university and program you are applying to.

Writing a university application can be a transformative journey of self-discovery and reflection. By following these steps and using the provided template, you’re well on your way to creating an application that not only stands out but also truly represents who you are.

Your Feedback Matters!

Did you find this guide helpful? Do you have any specific strategies that worked for you in your university applications?

Share your experiences and suggestions in the comments below – your insights could be invaluable to others embarking on their application journey!

Related Posts

• 3 Proven University Application Letter Templates
• Sample Letter Of Interest For University Admission: Free & Effective
• Email To University Asking For Admission Status: The Easy Way!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

Q: what should i include in my university application letter to stand out.

Answer : In my experience, including a personal anecdote that highlights your unique qualities and aligns with the university’s values can really make your application letter stand out. It’s not just about listing achievements; it’s about telling your story in a way that resonates with the admissions committee.

Q: How can I make my university application letter more personal?

Answer : I’ve found that researching the specific program and faculty at the university and mentioning how they align with my academic interests and career goals adds a personal touch to the application letter. It shows the admissions committee that you’re genuinely interested in what they offer and not just sending a generic letter.

Q: Is it necessary to mention my academic achievements in my university application letter?

Answer : Absolutely, mentioning your academic achievements is crucial, but it’s equally important to contextualize them. In my letters, I always connect my achievements to broader personal goals or experiences, giving the admissions committee a sense of who I am beyond the numbers.

Q: How long should my university application letter be?

Answer : From my experience, keeping the application letter to about one page is ideal. It’s long enough to cover essential aspects of your profile and motivation, yet concise enough to maintain the reader’s interest and respect their time.

Q: Can I use the same application letter for multiple universities?

Answer : While it’s tempting to use the same letter for efficiency, I always tailor my letters to each university. Personalizing the letter to reflect how I resonate with each specific institution’s ethos and offerings significantly increases the impact of my application.

Q: How do I address a gap in my academic or professional journey in my application letter?

Answer : I’ve addressed gaps in my journey by framing them as periods of learning and growth, highlighting how the experiences gained during the gap contribute to my academic and professional aspirations. This shows resilience and a proactive attitude to the admissions committee.

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Published In: Letters

Writing a College Application Letter (Samples & Examples)

Writing a great college application letter can be one of the most challenging prose pages that one has to put together in their high school career. On the one hand, it is just but a simple single-page document, but on the other, how do you talk about the things you need to talk about without boring the reader? A well-written college application letter will give you an edge among the thousands of applicants sending in their applications for the same college. A well-drafted college application letter should highlight your academic achievements, extracurricular, athletic, and community service achievements that will help you stand out during the highly competitive selection process.

What is a College Application Letter?

A college application letter is a letter used in several academic applications that college students need to undergo. It is usually a requirement of the academic institution where the student is currently attending. The letter can also be used for other special functions that the applicant would like to undertake.

How to Write a Great College Application Letter

Read the instructions carefully.

It is said that starting an application letter is usually the most challenging part. You may think that it is redundant that we mention that you need to go through the instructions carefully, but with all the stress and excitement that characterizes this period, you need to be keen on this.

If you fail to follow the application guidelines, you may come off as someone who won’t follow simple instructions of the university’s program. The page and word count limits are usually included in the instructions for a reason, and you should be able to organize your submission by following the set guidelines.

Go through the instructions several times and gather your notes before creating an outline to organize your application letter and decide what message you would like to send.

Do some research

Before writing your application letter, it is important that you do some research about the institution and their preferred candidates. By doing so, you will be able to tailor your application to fit their preferences, thereby increasing your chances of being selected.

Include your contact information

 When writing, make sure to include your contact details. Use your professional email and provide a phone number that is always active to not miss out on any important communications.

Confirm the recipient’s contact information

When doing your research, also make sure to find out the correct address to send your application. You don’t want to go through the trouble of drafting your application to send it to the wrong address. The contact information is usually included in the instructions, but if not included, you can check the college’s website or contact the institution directly to find out to whom you should address the letter.

Create a great subject line

To make sure that the recipient clearly understands your letter’s purpose immediately, they start reading it and explain it in a few words. For example, you can write something like “Application for an intern position at ABC college.”

If you are sending the letter via mail, make sure to include such wording in the subject line.

Introduce yourself

Start your application letter with a compelling introduction. Although great writing may be hard to achieve, it is always possible to do so if you are smart about it. Introduce yourself properly as this will determine if the reader continues to read your document or if they will throw it in the trash. The recipient will only spend a few minutes reviewing your essay, so you have to start your introduction with a great introduction about yourself that will keep them engaged.

Tell the recipient about your education

Since you are a recent graduate or student, your educational background is your key asset. Make sure to properly highlight this at the very beginning of your application letter. Tell the recipient what you studied along with where and when you will be graduating if applicable.

Explain why you are the best candidate

Colleges are always looking for authenticity and quality thinking, so you should not try to shape your application around ideas or phrases that people have used several times before, but base it on your genuine beliefs.

In one or two paragraphs, explain to the recipient why your education and skills make you the best candidate. If you have already gained any relevant experience through summer jobs or interviews, you can also mention it in your application.

Include a call to action

End your application letter with a call to action- ask the recipient for an interview and direct them to review read your portfolio or resume. You can also be proactive and inform the recipient that you will be following up with an email or with a call to schedule an interview.

 Show gratitude

Conclude your application by expressing your gratitude to the recipient for their time and consideration. After finishing your letter, make sure to sign it professionally.

 Check your grammar and spelling

Even though you can write conventionally, spelling and grammar still need to be correct. Go through your letter and make sure that it is free of any grammatical errors before submitting it.

What Should Be Included in Your Application Letter

Regardless of the recommended length, your college application letter should show evidence that you performed due diligence concerning the selected college. You don’t want to include any irrelevant information or that you “think” should be included. Conduct your research and lay down the facts. You can visit the college website and look at local news to find out what is happening on campus.

Sound structure

An application letter should be both formal and professional. Structure your application letter in business letter format, and include your contact information, your name, title, date, and address of the recipient. Also, make sure to use a proper salutation, e.g., “Dear Application Committee,” alternatively, if you already have their name and title, you can use “Dear (their last name)”

Even college application letters, although formal, can showcase a person’s personality, passion, and sense of humor. Just as college application essays are meant to add color to the applicant’s back and white representation, so too can the college application letter tell a little more about the applicant. Choosing a single area from your application on which t expound tells the recipient what you consider important.

College Connection

When writing your application, you should highlight how you see yourself fitting in on the college campus. Legacy students may speak to their family’s pride in their family’s rich history at the college. Others with political affiliations might refer to their intentions of becoming active student leaders. And athletes might talk about their previous high school success and how they expect to contribute to their college teams.

College Application Letter Samples

Every student wants to stand out and be chosen for a position at the college of their choice. With thousands of students sending in their application letters each day, you have to make sure that your letter is perfectly crafted to give you a competitive edge. This is where we come in! Our college application letter templates are simple, unique, and impressive, and they are beautifully crafted to help you stand out. Choose and download our free and premium templates to help you in your writing.

Your college application letter will serve as a shortcut through the pile of thousands of papers sent in by applicants each day. The letter is not a synopsis of your transcripts, nor is it a prompt of your resume. Rather, it is a cover letter that introduces you as an applicant and offers the recipient a glimpse into your potential fit at the college. Make sure that you are meticulous with your writing and that everything is as it should. You don’t want to send a letter that is half baked and expects to stand out. Take your time and draft a great letter. We wish you nothing but luck in your application.

Related Documents

College Application Cover Letter Examples

As a college instructor and communication expert with extensive nonfiction and educational writing experience, Mary shares tips and advice related to a wide variety of topics.

Learn about our Editorial Policy .

When you are applying for college admission, it's important to do everything possible to make sure your application really stands out. Sending a cover letter in support of your application materials can be a great way to capture admissions officers' attention in a positive way while also giving them a chance to learn a bit about your personality and unique circumstances.

Example Cover Letter Templates for College Applications

You can use a cover letter whether you are applying via the Common Application or if you are submitting an individual admission packet. Choose the sample letter below that best fits your needs and adjust it to convey key highlights of why you should be considered for admission. To access each letter, simply click the image. It will open as an editable PDF file that you can customize, save and print. This guide for Adobe printables can be of assistance if you need help with the documents.

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Sample Cover Letter for College Application Packets

If you are submitting a school-specific applicant packet, include the letter with all of your other materials (such as your application form, essay, and application fee).

Example Cover Letter to Pair With the Common App

If you are using the Common App, also known as the Common Application, you may still want to send an individualized cover letter to the schools that you're most interested in attending. Consider sending your cover letter to each school's admissions representative at the same time you complete your Common App, or even a few days before.

Writing Your College Application Cover Letter

While the samples here are great starting points, you will need to adjust them to focus on your specific situation. You will need to include:

• Why you want to attend this particular school
• What your academic interests are
• How the school is a good fit for your academic interests and long-term goals
• How your background and future interests make you a great candidate to consider
• Any special connections you have to the school (i.e., do you have relatives who graduated from the school?)
• Details on how the other components of your application packet will be received
• A specific request to consider you for admission
• Details on how to contact you

Stand Out to College Admission Officers

A well-written cover letter can be a terrific add-on to your college application package. Not everyone will think to send this kind of document, so it just might help you stand out among the other applicants. Of course, a poorly written letter can have the opposite effect. So, be sure that your letter follows an appropriate business letter format, really presents you in a positive light, is well-written, and error-free .

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How to Write a College Interest Letter

Last Updated: April 10, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Stacy Blackman . Stacy Blackman is an Admissions Consultant and the Founder of Stacy Blackman Consulting (SBC), a company that specializes in consulting individuals who want to earn Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees. SBC offers a video series, runs live and virtual workshops, and has a publishing arm, with 25+ e-guides covering different aspects of the MBA admissions process. Stacy has professional experience working in private equity at Prudential Capital Group, launching Stryke Club, and evaluating businesses as a Resident Entrepreneur at idealab!. She earned a BS in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 498,402 times.

A college interest letter, also known as a letter of intent , a statement of interest, a statement of purpose , or a personal statement , is required by many universities and graduate or professional programs as part of the admissions process. Writing an effective letter involves researching information about the program you wish to attend, as well as reflecting on your own background, accomplishments and future goals. Each educational institution has its own format for the interest letter that must be followed closely. However, there are some general guidelines that will help you write an effective interest letter.

Laying the Groundwork

• Review the course catalog. Familiarize yourself with the institution's academic or professional focus. Take note of classes that appeal to you and areas in which you already have a solid foundation. You might want to refer to some of these aspects in your letter.
• Take note of the exact name of the college or program you are applying to. You don’t want to mention “X University Law School” if the name is actually “X University School of Law.”

Stacy Blackman

Our Expert Agrees: As you research, feel free to reach out to current students, alumni, and professors to ask about the general culture of the school, like if the program is competitive or collaborative or if there are certain specializations the school caters to. Then, tailor your application to show how you can succeed in the school's culture.

• For example, some colleges request both a cover letter and a personal essay. Some graduate and professional programs require multiple, separate written statements, including letters of interest, statements of qualifications, diversity statements, etc.

• The terminology used to refer to the interest letter varies widely. However, most colleges and programs will provide specific directions to you about what the document should contain, which you should use as guidelines as you compose your letter.

• Reflect on your achievements. Now that you are familiar with your desired program, consider your past achievements that align well with the program. Academic, employment, volunteer and extracurricular activities may all apply. For example, if you are applying for a graduate program in teaching, you might mention your preschool teaching experiences, childhood education courses completed, and any volunteer teaching you did at your local community center.

• What contribution or impact will studying at this particular college or program have on my academic development?
• What are my career goals?
• What steps and training are necessary to attain these goals?
• How will I use what I learn in this program to achieve my goals?

Making an Outline

• Consider what interests you most about your field. Is there a particular problem or challenge you want to tackle?
• When did you realize that you wanted to pursue this field?
• What challenges have you faced and overcome?

• Draw on the information you gathered in your research. Use the program facts you gathered, as well as your reflections about your accomplishments and goals, to formulate a few clear and concise introductory statements about your interest in the program and its alignment with your goals.
• Avoid lengthy discussions of the program’s qualifications, such as “Z Business School is the nation’s top business school and has stellar resources in such-and-such.” The program is aware of their own qualifications; they want to know about yours.
• Consider developing a “hook” for your introduction. You could begin with a statement that piques the reader’s interest, such as “I haven’t always known I wanted to do X. In fact, I thought for a long time I wanted to do Y.” Remember: personal anecdotes can be great for introducing who you are and what you value, but don’t let your introduction become your life history.

• Describe your qualifications in terms of your academic experiences, your personal traits and skills, and your recent and current activities. Relate any responsibilities or experience to skills that will be useful in your program.
• Discuss your area(s) of interest. While you should not be too broad in this discussion -- don’t say you want to study simple “American history,” for example -- they should also not be overly narrow. Instead, they should show that you are familiar with problems and challenges in your field. Elaborate on what you want to do during your program of study.
• Describe your future goals in concrete detail where possible. Then, demonstrate how the skills you expect to develop in your program will contribute to your achieving these goals.

Developing Your Letter

• Writing confidently doesn’t mean you have to be arrogant. Simply using clear, declarative sentences such as “I plan to study such-and-such in order to pursue my career goals of such-and-such” allows you to project confidence without arrogance or condescension.

• This also applies to ideas. You may wish to become an English professor because you love reading, but many other people also love reading. What distinguishes you?

• If you’re having a hard time transitioning between paragraphs, they may not be in a workable order. Figure out the central idea of each paragraph and switch things around as necessary to achieve a logical progression.

• For example, a goal statement for a medical school application might read like this: “Attending X Medical School will provide me the training in forensic psychiatry that I need to achieve my career goal of working as a psychological profiler for the FBI.”

• For example, if applying to a graduate degree in history, you could mention a professor whose research interests you and with whom you’d like to work.
• For an application to medical school or a graduate program in the sciences, you might mention particular resources or laboratories that will support your research goals.

Formatting Your Letter

• You may be requested to include a header with your name and email address, along with a page number, on each page of the statement.

• Read your letter aloud. This will help you catch awkward phrases and missing or incorrect words.

How Long Should a College Essay Be?

Sample Interest Letter

Community Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.bestcustomwriting.com/blog/how-to-write-a-letter-of-interest-for-grad-school-10-steps
• ↑ https://alis.alberta.ca/look-for-work/how-to-identify-your-accomplishments/
• ↑ https://wts.indiana.edu/writing-guides/how-to-write-a-thesis-statement.html
• ↑ https://rossieronline.usc.edu/blog/10-tips-on-how-to-write-a-statement-of-purpose-for-graduate-school/
• ↑ https://zety.com/blog/letter-of-interest
• ↑ http://grad.berkeley.edu/admissions/apply/statement-purpose/
• ↑ https://penlighten.com/how-to-write-letter-of-intent-for-college
• ↑ https://site.uit.no/english/writing-style/letters/

About This Article

To write a college interest letter, place the date at the top left of the document and include the name and address of the program below the date. Next, open with a salutation like "Dear" followed by the name of the committee or individual who will receive your letter. Then, write clear, concise paragraphs about your personal qualifications, previous experience, future goals, and why their program will help you achieve them. Finally, end the letter with a pleasant closing and proofread it carefully. For tips on writing style and tone, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Tips for Writing an Effective Application Essay

Find the right college for you.

Writing an essay for college admission gives you a chance to use your authentic voice and show your personality. It's an excellent opportunity to personalize your application beyond your academic credentials, and a well-written essay can have a positive influence come decision time.

Want to know how to draft an essay for your college application ? Here are some tips to keep in mind when writing.

Tips for Essay Writing

A typical college application essay, also known as a personal statement, is 400-600 words. Although that may seem short, writing about yourself can be challenging. It's not something you want to rush or put off at the last moment. Think of it as a critical piece of the application process. Follow these tips to write an impactful essay that can work in your favor.

1. Start Early.

Few people write well under pressure. Try to complete your first draft a few weeks before you have to turn it in. Many advisers recommend starting as early as the summer before your senior year in high school. That way, you have ample time to think about the prompt and craft the best personal statement possible.

You don't have to work on your essay every day, but you'll want to give yourself time to revise and edit. You may discover that you want to change your topic or think of a better way to frame it. Either way, the sooner you start, the better.

2. Understand the Prompt and Instructions.

Before you begin the writing process, take time to understand what the college wants from you. The worst thing you can do is skim through the instructions and submit a piece that doesn't even fit the bare minimum requirements or address the essay topic. Look at the prompt, consider the required word count, and note any unique details each school wants.

3. Create a Strong Opener.

Students seeking help for their application essays often have trouble getting things started. It's a challenging writing process. Finding the right words to start can be the hardest part.

Spending more time working on your opener is always a good idea. The opening sentence sets the stage for the rest of your piece. The introductory paragraph is what piques the interest of the reader, and it can immediately set your essay apart from the others.

4. Stay on Topic.

One of the most important things to remember is to keep to the essay topic. If you're applying to 10 or more colleges, it's easy to veer off course with so many application essays.

A common mistake many students make is trying to fit previously written essays into the mold of another college's requirements. This seems like a time-saving way to avoid writing new pieces entirely, but it often backfires. The result is usually a final piece that's generic, unfocused, or confusing. Always write a new essay for every application, no matter how long it takes.

5. Think About Your Response.

Don't try to guess what the admissions officials want to read. Your essay will be easier to write─and more exciting to read─if you’re genuinely enthusiastic about your subject. Here’s an example: If all your friends are writing application essays about covid-19, it may be a good idea to avoid that topic, unless during the pandemic you had a vivid, life-changing experience you're burning to share. Whatever topic you choose, avoid canned responses. Be creative.

6. Focus on You.

Essay prompts typically give you plenty of latitude, but panel members expect you to focus on a subject that is personal (although not overly intimate) and particular to you. Admissions counselors say the best essays help them learn something about the candidate that they would never know from reading the rest of the application.

7. Stay True to Your Voice.

Use your usual vocabulary. Avoid fancy language you wouldn't use in real life. Imagine yourself reading this essay aloud to a classroom full of people who have never met you. Keep a confident tone. Be wary of words and phrases that undercut that tone.

8. Be Specific and Factual.

Capitalize on real-life experiences. Your essay may give you the time and space to explain why a particular achievement meant so much to you. But resist the urge to exaggerate and embellish. Admissions counselors read thousands of essays each year. They can easily spot a fake.

9. Edit and Proofread.

When you finish the final draft, run it through the spell checker on your computer. Then don’t read your essay for a few days. You'll be more apt to spot typos and awkward grammar when you reread it. After that, ask a teacher, parent, or college student (preferably an English or communications major) to give it a quick read. While you're at it, double-check your word count.

Writing essays for college admission can be daunting, but it doesn't have to be. A well-crafted essay could be the deciding factor─in your favor. Keep these tips in mind, and you'll have no problem creating memorable pieces for every application.

What is the format of a college application essay?

Generally, essays for college admission follow a simple format that includes an opening paragraph, a lengthier body section, and a closing paragraph. You don't need to include a title, which will only take up extra space. Keep in mind that the exact format can vary from one college application to the next. Read the instructions and prompt for more guidance.

Most online applications will include a text box for your essay. If you're attaching it as a document, however, be sure to use a standard, 12-point font and use 1.5-spaced or double-spaced lines, unless the application specifies different font and spacing.

How do you start an essay?

The goal here is to use an attention grabber. Think of it as a way to reel the reader in and interest an admissions officer in what you have to say. There's no trick on how to start a college application essay. The best way you can approach this task is to flex your creative muscles and think outside the box.

You can start with openers such as relevant quotes, exciting anecdotes, or questions. Either way, the first sentence should be unique and intrigue the reader.

What should an essay include?

Every application essay you write should include details about yourself and past experiences. It's another opportunity to make yourself look like a fantastic applicant. Leverage your experiences. Tell a riveting story that fulfills the prompt.

What shouldn’t be included in an essay?

When writing a college application essay, it's usually best to avoid overly personal details and controversial topics. Although these topics might make for an intriguing essay, they can be tricky to express well. If you’re unsure if a topic is appropriate for your essay, check with your school counselor. An essay for college admission shouldn't include a list of achievements or academic accolades either. Your essay isn’t meant to be a rehashing of information the admissions panel can find elsewhere in your application.

How can you make your essay personal and interesting?

The best way to make your essay interesting is to write about something genuinely important to you. That could be an experience that changed your life or a valuable lesson that had an enormous impact on you. Whatever the case, speak from the heart, and be honest.

Is it OK to discuss mental health in an essay?

Mental health struggles can create challenges you must overcome during your education and could be an opportunity for you to show how you’ve handled challenges and overcome obstacles. If you’re considering writing your essay for college admission on this topic, consider talking to your school counselor or with an English teacher on how to frame the essay.

Related Articles

University Admission Application Letter (with Samples & PDFs)

I have listed sample templates to help you craft an effective and professional university admission application letter.

Also, I would like to point out that you can also download a PDF containing all the samples at the end of this post.

Successful Application Letter for University Admission

First, find the sample template for university admission application letter below.

To, The Admissions Committee, [Name of the University], [Address of the University], [City], [State], [Postal Code]

Subject: Application for Admission to [Name of the Course]

Respected Sir/Madam,

I, [Your Full Name], resident of [Your Address], am writing this letter to show my keen interest in applying for the [Name of the Course] at your esteemed university for the academic year [Year].

I have recently completed my [last educational qualification] from [Name of School/College] with an aggregate of [Your Percentage/CGPA], and I am eager to further my studies in the field of [Field of Study]. I believe that studying at [Name of the University] will provide me the right knowledge, skills, and exposure to excel in this field.

I am particularly drawn to the [Name of the Course] at [Name of the University] because of its reputation for providing high-quality education and its focus on practical learning. I am confident that this course will help me achieve my academic and career goals.

Enclosed with this letter are my mark sheets, certificates, and other required documents. I kindly request you to consider my application and provide me with an opportunity to prove my potential and contribute to the university.

I am looking forward to being a part of your esteemed institution and assure you that I will put in my best efforts in all my endeavours.

Thank you for considering my application. I am eager to hear from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

[Your Full Name] [Your Contact Information] [Your Email Address]

Below I have listed 5 different sample applications for “university admission application letter” that you will certainly find useful for specific scenarios:

Crafting a Persuasive University Application Letter to Showcase Leadership Skills

To, The Admissions Committee, [University Name], [University Address].

Subject: Application for Admission to [Desired Course Name]

I, [Your Full Name], a student of Class XII from [Your School Name], am writing to express my keen interest in applying for the [Desired Course Name] at your esteemed university. I believe that my strong leadership skills, coupled with my academic accomplishments, make me an ideal candidate for this course.

I have consistently excelled in my studies, but more importantly, I have taken the initiative to lead and guide my peers through various activities. As the Head Boy/Girl of my school, I’ve learned to inspire and motivate my fellow students, organize events, and address issues efficiently. These experiences have honed my leadership abilities and have taught me how to balance my academic commitments with extracurricular responsibilities.

I played a pivotal role in initiating a ‘Clean Campus Drive’ in my school, where I led a team of students to maintain cleanliness and fostered a sense of responsibility among them. This initiative not only improved the school environment but also instilled a sense of community and teamwork among the students.

Moreover, I represented my school at the [Local/State/National] Leadership Summit, where I had the opportunity to interact with other young leaders and share innovative ideas to improve our communities. This experience broadened my perspective and reinforced my desire to lead and make a difference.

If given the opportunity to join [University Name], I assure you that I will bring these leadership qualities to contribute positively to the university community. I am eager to leverage my experiences to participate actively in student-led initiatives and further develop my leadership skills.

I am confident that [University Name] is the perfect platform for me to grow not just acadically but also as a leader. I humbly request you to consider my application favorably. I look forward to the opportunity to be a part of your esteemed institution.

Thank you for considering my application.

Yours Sincerely, [Your Full Name], [Your Contact Information].

Writing a Compelling University Application Letter Highlighting Athletic Achievements

To, The Admissions Committee, [Name of the University], [Address of the University]

Subject: Application for Admission and Highlighting Athletic Achievements

I hope this letter finds you in the best of health and spirits. I am [Your Name], a student from [Your School Name], [Your City], intending to apply for the [Course Name] at your esteemed university.

Academically, I have consistently performed well, securing a GPA of [Your GPA] in the previous year. However, I am not just a diligent student in the classroom, but also a passionate sportsperson. I believe my athletic achievements will contribute to the vibrant sports culture at your university.

Over the last few years, I have been an active participant in athletics and have had the honour of representing my school at various district, state, and national level competitions. In the recent [Name of Sports Event], I clinched the gold medal in [Name of the Sport], making my school and family immensely proud. Additionally, I was also the recipient of the prestigious [Name of the Award] given for outstanding performance in sports.

My commitment to sports has not only honed my physical abilities but has also helped me develop leadership skills, team spirit, and resilience. I believe that these qualities will not only aid me in my academic pursuit but also contribute to the overall diversity and vitality of your university’s student community.

I am enthusiastic about bringing the same dedication and spirit to your esteemed university and contributing to its athletic teams. I am certain that the comprehensive education and diverse opportunities provided by your university will help me grow, both acadically and athletically.

I am hopeful that you will consider my application favourably. Thank you for considering my application. I am looking forward to the possibility of becoming a part of your prestigious university.

Yours sincerely, [Your Name] [Your Contact Information]

Articulating Academic Excellence in a University Admission Application Letter

The Dean of Admissions, [University Name], [University Address], [City], [State], [Pin Code]

Subject: Application for Admission

Dear Sir/Madam,

I, [Your Name], am writing this letter seeking admission to the [Course Name] course at your prestigious institution for the academic year [Year]. I have recently completed my [last academic degree/course] from [Your School/College Name] in [City, State].

I have always been passionate about [subject(s) related to the course], and I am confident that my academic achievements reflect this. I have consistently maintained a high academic standing in my schooling years, ranking in the top [percentage/rank] of my class. My teachers have commended me for my dedication and commitment to learning, which is evident from my grades and participation in various academic competitions.

Moreover, I have been an active participant in various extracurricular activities that have helped me develop a holistic understanding of the world. I have led [mention some leadership roles], worked on [mention any projects or initiatives], and engaged in [mention any community service or volunteer work]. These experiences have taught me the importance of teamwork, leadership, and responsibility, and have fuelled my desire to further my learning.

Your institution, with its exemplary faculty and state-of-the-art facilities, stands as the ideal platform for me to deepen my knowledge and broaden my horizon. I am particularly drawn to the [mention specific aspects of the course or university that attract you], and I am confident that these will provide the right environment to nurture my academic and personal growth.

I am committed to maintaining my academic excellence and contributing positively to the university community. I am hopeful that I will be given the opportunity to bring my passion, dedication, and academic prowess to your esteemed institution.

Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the possibility of contributing to and learning from the [University Name] community.

Yours Sincerely, [Your Name] [Your Address] [City, State, Pin Code] [Email Address] [Phone Number]

Tailoring a University Application Letter to Highlight Community Service Experiences

The Admission Committee, [University Name], [University Address], [City, State, Zip Code]

I hope this letter finds you in good health. I am [Your Name], a student of [Your School Name], seeking admission to your esteemed university for the upcoming academic year.

I am writing this letter to express my keen interest in the [Course Name] program at your prestigious institution. I have always been intrigued by [Subject Name], and I am eager to explore this field under the guidance of the accomplished faculty at [University Name].

During my time at high school, I have actively participated in various community service programs that have not only enriched my life but have also enhanced my understanding of society and its needs. I was a part of the ‘Clean-Up Drive’ in my local community, where we focused on maintaining cleanliness and educating people about the importance of hygiene.

In addition, I volunteered in the ‘Joy of Giving’ initiative, aimed at providing essential supplies to underprivileged children. This experience truly humbled me and made me realize the value of giving back to society. I believe these experiences have shaped me as an individual and have taught me the importance of empathy, teamwork, and leadership.

I am certain that these experiences will enable me to contribute to the diverse community at [University Name]. I am eager to bring my commitment to service and dedication to learning to your campus, and I look forward to the possibility of contributing my skills and experiences to your distinguished institution.

Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the possibility of discussing my application with you further.

Yours faithfully,

[Your Name] [Your Contact Information]

Penning a University Application Letter Expressing a Deep Passion for a Specific Field of Study

To, The Admissions Office, [University Name], [University Address],

Subject: Application for Admission in [Specific Field of Study]

I, [Your Full Name], a resident of [Your City Name], am writing this letter to express my deep interest in applying for the [Specific Field of Study] program at your esteemed university for the academic year [Year of Admission].

My passion for [Specific Field of Study] was kindled during my school years, when I found myself fascinated by [Mention something specific about the field that fascinated you]. Since then, my curiosity and interest in this field have only grown. I have spent countless hours learning and honing my skills, and now I aspire to take this passion forward and delve deeper into this field at a university level.

Your esteemed university, with its excellent faculty, state-of-the-art facilities, and a rich history of producing exceptional talent in the field of [Specific Field of Study], is my dream institution. I am especially drawn to the [mention a specific aspect/feature of the university’s program that appeals to you], which I believe would greatly enhance my learning experience and provide me with a holistic understanding of the subject.

I have consistently excelled in this field during my school years [mention any achievements, awards, or recognition received]. I am confident that my dedication, coupled with the guidance of the exceptional faculty at [University Name], will equip me with the necessary skills and knowledge to contribute positively to this field.

I assure you of my utmost commitment and dedication towards my studies, and I am eager to make the most of the opportunities offered at your prestigious institution. I am hopeful that you will consider my application favorably.

Thank you for considering my application. I am looking forward to the opportunity of being a part of [University Name].

Yours Sincerely,

[Your Full Name] [Your Contact Information]

How to Write University Admission Application Letter

Some writing tips to help you craft a better application:

• Start with your personal information including your full name, address, the date, and the recipient’s address.
• Open the letter with a formal salutation, addressing the admissions committee or specific admission officer, if known.
• Introduce yourself, your current educational status and the program you’re applying to.
• Describe your academic interests, why you chose this university, and how it aligns with your career goals.
• Highlight your academic achievements, extracurricular activities, and any relevant work or volunteer experience.
• Explain any gaps or anomalies in your academic record, if applicable.
• State how you could contribute to the university and its community.
• End with a strong closing statement expressing your enthusiasm and gratitude for being considered.
• Include a formal sign-off, your full name and signature.
• Proofread your letter multiple times for any grammatical errors, spelling mistakes or typos.

Related Topics:

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• Application for Address Change
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• College Application

College Letter of Intent Sample

A college letter of intent sample is a great way to learn and practice how to craft a strong letter. An expertly crafted letter of intent can help improve your chances of getting accepted into the programs you’re applying to. While not every school will require one, it’s essential to know what it takes to write one in case you have to. In this article, we explain the importance and purpose of a college letter of intent and the steps you need to take to write one. Then, we provide an example you can use to start a college essay in this format.

>> Want us to help you get accepted? Schedule a free strategy call here . <<

Article Contents 14 min read

What is a college letter of intent.

A college letter of intent is a document that states who you are, what your interests are within the context of the program, and how you intend to add value to the school and program. Note that the content can be similar to that of various  college essay topics . A letter of intent may be required at various educational levels, including undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate programs; for higher-level admissions processes, you may need to create a letter summarizing your research background and how you intend to produce valuable research for the school. Undergraduate letters should focus on your best academic and personal qualities; it should explain who you are along with your goals in college and in your career. If you’re applying for a graduate or post-graduate program, you may review a  research interest statement sample ,  which is exclusively for research and typically contains graphics and more detail.

For example, for certain programs, such as the Bachelor of Education, St. Thomas University requires a  letter of intent and resume  as part of the application. The letter of intent should include information about why the applicant wants to apply to the program; this should focus on strengths and why you think you can have a positive impact in your field. You can discuss how some of your experiences connect with the program you're applying to and the career you’re building. The admissions committee wants to see how your experiences taught you important skills that apply specifically to the program and your prospective career path. For undergraduates, it’s important to focus on volunteer endeavors with a measurable impact, work related to your career aspirations, your best extracurriculars for college , internships, and  top summer programs for high school students  you may have attended.

A college letter of intent is often mistaken for a personal statement; this is understandable because they share many of the same features. The main difference is that a personal statement is more about your personal background and experiences, while the letter of intent is geared toward your academic background, resume, or extracurricular experiences. Additionally, colleges in the US that use the  Common App Essay will require a personal statement, not a letter of intent, with a specific prompt and length that is similar to the requirements of a letter of intent. This is why it’s important to know the differences, starting with the content:

When writing a letter of intent, it’s important to be specific with your examples and not repeat information from your other materials. In your personal statement, you will discuss what inspired you to want to apply to the school and program and what appeals to you about it specifically. A letter of intent may address this as well, but you will have to be more detailed; you can mention aspects of the curriculum or experiential components to help ground your answers. A letter of intent should also be written in the format and tone of a business letter; a personal statement should be written in essay format. You should follow the instructions on the university or college website to make sure you meet all the requirements before submitting.

How to Write a College Letter of Intent

Writing a college letter of intent requires an extensive review of your various academic and non-academic experiences; you will also need to consider the school you’re applying to and what the program offers. Lastly, you will need to connect your goals with the school’s values and program outcomes. Schools want to know that you’re a student worth investing in; a letter of intent is your chance to convince them that you’re a candidate who will succeed in the program, contribute to the community, and become a leader in your career.

Here are the main steps involved in writing a persuasive college letter of intent:

1. Research

Your first step should be to research the school and program to which you’re applying. You need to know the specifics about what the school’s values are, what the program offers, and the research and teaching strategies/directions. The best way to find out about a school’s values is to locate its strategic plan and mission statement. The strategic plan will contain information about the school’s developmental priorities, for example, increasing diversity and making education more accessible to certain disadvantaged groups, or perceived challenges with steps the school will take to overcome them. You should be familiar with a school’s strategic plan so that you can align your own goals with theirs. If anything about a school’s mission resonates with you, highlight it so that you can mention it in your essay. If you’re also writing a  college diversity essay , make sure you don’t repeat any information.

Your research should also include information about the program’s curriculum and overview. Before writing any material, establish that you understand what appeals to you about the program. The first place to look is at the curriculum; for instance, the Wharton School of Business MBA curriculum offers a variety of fixed and flexible courses, each with its own defined purpose and underscored outcomes. Study each course individually; let’s say you value the ability to customize your studies with a large inventory of electives – then you might discuss this in your letter of intent. Start by compiling a series of professional goals and corresponding components of the curriculum. Also consider elements that fall outside of the curriculum; for example, Duke Law School offers an experiential learning component that includes clinics and labs. Your research should also underscore aspects of the school’s community or non-academic offerings.

You need to document your academic history if you’re going to discuss it in some detail in a letter of intent. For undergraduate programs, you can discuss your experience profile within the context of school instead. For example, if you did a high school internship or took part in various extracurriculars or volunteering experiences, these are important to discuss in your letter of intent. You can also focus on your academic accomplishments, such as the honor roll or any subject awards. You won’t have room to discuss every aspect of your academic accomplishments, current standing, and future goals, as the document is typically around 1 to 2 pages long or 400–800 words. You will need to sift through the most significant information and choose certain aspects that will emphasize your competence and academic readiness.

To decide what experiences from your academic history you want to include in your letter of intent, you should select based on how the experience aligns with the program and school. Your research will be guided by the question “what experience-based activities are offered at this school and program?” You might find that a school offers certain lab experiments, internships, practicums, or field exercises that you think will enhance your learning experience significantly. If you studied abroad in high school, you might appreciate the opportunity to do so during your undergraduate studies.

3. Create a Rough Outline

The next step is to create a rough outline of your college letter of intent. First, you must know how to structure it; some schools will have specific letter of intent formatting requirements. Take Ottawa Law, for example; they require Times New Roman 12-point font, single-spaced, 2 cm minimum margins, and approximately 500 words or a maximum of 2 pages of content. Not every school will state formatting requirements directly; if you’re applying to such a school, note that the above formatting requirements are generally standard for this document. Once you have the formatting requirements in order, you can start writing an outline.

The purpose of an outline is to guide the production of your first draft and ensure that you include all the necessary elements. This will make it easier to connect ideas and establish a hierarchy of information in an organized fashion. The content isn’t the only aspect of the letter you need to get right; to impress admissions, you also need to make sure your letter is formatted and organized correctly. By creating an outline first, you can check that you have fulfilled these basic requirements before focusing on the content itself.

Editing the letter is an important but often overlooked step. You will need to read through the document carefully to make sure there are no grammatical or syntax errors; you will also need to complete a line edit to make sure the information is organized and cohesive. You should be prepared to “kill your darlings” – this means you should be prepared to remove information that is tangential or without purpose, even though it might be interesting or meaningful to you. It can help to read your letter out loud; this is a great way to scan the document for readability and pacing. You can often locate places where you could add or subtract a comma or a semi-colon. You could also have someone read the document for you; ideally, you will want to have someone with experience crafting a successful letter of intent read through the letter and provide suggestions for improving it.

College Letter of Intent Sample for St. Thomas University Bachelor of Education

Dear Members of the St. Thomas Selection Committee,

I am writing to express my interest in the Bachelor of Education Program at your institution. I believe that St. Thomas University’s emphasis on a cross-disciplinary approach to teaching and learning is an innovative and important means of ensuring an inclusive educational environment for students of all ages and backgrounds. I also believe that having two field placement programs at different grade levels will allow me to practice core teaching concepts and theories learned in the classroom so I can become a strong teaching professional.

I earned my high school diploma from Westside High School. I was the valedictorian of my graduating class and the winner of the humanities award for demonstrated excellence in family studies, social science, and philosophy. I also graduated with honors. My career goal is to become a middle school educator; as I believe my two strongest subjects are philosophy and English, I think a role in which I specialize in only one of two subjects would suit my interests and strengths the most.

During my senior year of high school, I volunteered as a tutor with a local tutoring service. My primary duty was to grade tests and written compositions for Grade 2 math and English students. I have also tutored students at various levels ranging from Grade 1 to 12; subjects for older students included philosophy, math, science, and English. My supervisor, Jane Hart, was a teacher at a private school; as part of my training, she taught me about some of the teaching principles that I would need to succeed as a tutor and grader. One of these teaching principles was to use dialectic to allow students to figure out the right answers on their own, rather than being told or shown directly. I believe this is such a powerful strategy because it introduces students to a tool they can use to develop and practice their critical thinking skills and improve their answers in the future. This teaching principle, in my estimation, strongly resonates with St. Thomas’s determination to create teachers that challenge and inspire their students.

To fulfill my community service hours, I took charge of a fundraising group, comprised of about twenty students from all grade levels at my high school. I was responsible for organizing events, hosting meetings, and brainstorming fundraising ideas. As one of the leaders of this group, one skill that I developed was public speaking. Not only was I in charge of speaking to the students in the fundraising group, I also occasionally did speeches in front of the school for recruitment and presentations demonstrating our efforts. This experience taught me that it takes more than just confidence to stand up in front of a crowd; you must also captivate them. I learned early on that if I was going to recruit more members, I would have to get better at engaging with the audience. One method I used to get my audience’s attention was to have them participate in a quiz or game that demonstrated the purpose of the presentation. This allowed me to engage with them and hold their attention for longer.

I’ve also learned a lot about what it takes to become a strong educator through my experience as someone who needed extra help in one of my Grade 10 classes. I was having trouble grasping the concept of factoring and graphing the quadratic equation, so I asked my teacher to occasionally spend some time after class to help me practice. After I had attempted a variety of questions and still had trouble understanding what to do, the teacher decided to explain by going back to an earlier concept that we covered at the start of the class. What I discovered was that I needed to refamiliarize myself with an earlier concept to revise my understanding of the concept I was having difficulty grasping. This was an important realization for me as I continued volunteering at my local tutoring facility where I was teaching students with a variety of strengths and weaknesses in different subjects. Oftentimes, going back to more basic concepts was the most effective course of action.

My experience working as a tutor and volunteering with a fundraising group at my high school has taught me a great deal about how to inspire and motivate students. I now understand that teaching and learning is not a linear process; rather, it requires an adaptable and compassionate framework to be effective. I would be honored to join your school and continue to build these skills as I pursue my goal of becoming a middle school teacher.

I am eager and ready to learn. Thank you for your time and consideration, and for giving me the opportunity to become a member of your community.

Jude Gardner

Dear Members of the University of British Columbia Admissions Committee,

I am writing to inform you of my interest in the Master of Psychology program at the University of British Columbia. I have submitted my application with the necessary documentation.

I very much support the school’s recent strategic aim of developing a stronger campus community by installing the Psychology Students’ Association (PSA). I am convinced that an effective non-academic outlet for productive discourse in the field of psychology will provide a more enriching learning experience; I also believe that providing students with a means of self-advocacy will empower us to collaborate and create better research opportunities for psychology students.

I currently hold a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from X University. I graduated with a cumulative GPA of 3.80, and I was on the Dean’s list and honor roll for eight consecutive semesters. I was also a member of the Undergraduate Student Association for Psychology and an active volunteer at the school’s outreach center for domestic abuse survivors.

I’ve been a keen observer of human behavior since I was a kid; my mother was a social worker, and I was often brought along on her various community service projects. There was one particular instance where we were meeting some members of the homeless community who were being welcomed into a newly built shelter my mother’s organization helped fund. I was twelve at the time; my mother explained to me that many of the homeless individuals she knew in the program were either currently suffering from addiction or were at some point during their lives but had recovered. This was the moment I began to think about the flexibility of the human mind, as well as the accessibility of mental health programs for marginalized individuals.

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When I wasn’t studying or contributing to student groups, I was participating in research projects with my psychology professors. I was a member of the Psychology Research Experience Program for the last two years of my undergraduate studies; I worked on two significant projects that influenced my decision to pursue research in a similar field in graduate school. The first project was an investigation of the disparate nature of implicit vs explicit attitudes. We used the implicit association test (IAT) to evaluate implicit bias scores and self-reports for explicit attitudes. The results revealed interesting differences between behavior and overt beliefs and values; in my future research, I would like to explore this distinction further and work on refining more accurate measures of this difference. The second project studied the effects of diverse leadership and the perception of representation in media. Both projects align with recent research directions at the University of British Columbia; the wide range of faculty members express research interests in behavioral neuroscience, health, and other subjects. I share the faculty’s determination to understand the relationship between human perception and health outcomes for different groups. To learn from, and possibly pursue research, with such a well-rounded group, is an opportunity I would be incredibly grateful for.

Moreover, exploring social learning categories and the manifestation of subconscious feelings through complex behavior is an exciting prospect offered by your program. Some of the electives include courses that pertain to my particular research interests: culture and identity, gender, and health. I believe that a strong foundation in statistics is also important, which is why I am thrilled about pursuing advanced learning in multivariate statistical analysis, in addition to other analytical methods.

In addition to my demonstrated interest in human perception, my experience as a human resource worker has enabled me to learn a great deal about human behavior. I know that there is still a lot more I can learn; after I graduate, I hope to work as a project officer for mental health and addictions to improve health outcomes in society through social service initiatives. I believe my background in human resources and my passion for improving society through a deeper understanding of human psychology has prepared me for your program.

I am ready to continue my education to pursue my goal of working with government bodies to provide better access to mental health resources. Thank you for taking the time to review my application; I hope to have the opportunity to become a member of your outstanding community.

Priti Teegan

We hope these guidelines and examples give you a good idea of how to approach a college letter of intent for either undergraduate or graduate studies. Of course, any other documents you are required to provide must also be well written and include all the necessary information to reflect your qualities and why you are a strong candidate for your chosen program; consider using a college advisor to help with the rest of your application.

A college letter of intent is a document you send as part of your application to some university programs. Your statement should include why you think you’re a strong candidate for the program based on your background, research interests, and what the program and school offer.

Not all schools will require a letter of intent, but some, particularly for graduate or post-graduate programs, will. Visit the website of the school to which you’re applying to find out about the admissions requirements.

A letter of intent is typically more detailed and focused on your background and the program. A personal statement is an essay you write to introduce yourself and justify your interest in the program.

Typically, a letter of intent should be between 400 and 800 words, or 1 to 2 pages. The font size should be 12, Times New Roman. Content formatting requirements vary by school, so check the admissions page for the school you’re applying to.

You should have an introduction, main body, and conclusion. Your introduction can include a brief overview of your background and the purpose of the letter; the main body should be a detailed account of what appeals to you about the program using information about their research interests and yours; the conclusion should reinforce your determination to enroll in the program.

You should research the school and program; find out what appeals to you about the curriculum and brainstorm ideas on how you can connect your background with what they offer.

Consult the faculty pages of the relevant department to determine what their research interests are. You can also find the school’s most recent publications in their school-specific journal if they have one.

You should create an outline to minimize edits; once you have the first draft, read through the document for grammar and content consistency. You can also ask a qualified professional from college essay review services to revise your letter and provide suggestions.

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Sample Application Letter for College Admission

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An Application Letter for College Admission is a document that individuals can use when they want to apply for a college program of their interest. The purpose of the document is to express the applicant's desire to study the particular education program . With this application letter, an individual can emphasize how much they would like to study in an educational institution of their choice. A sample Application Letter for College Admission can be downloaded below .

Generally, individuals use these types of letters to introduce themselves to the admission committee, therefore, it can include several parts:

• Information About the Addressee . You can start with designating the name and address of who is supposed to receive the letter.
• Introduction . Here, you can state which educational institution you would like to study in, and the study program that you would like to attend.
• Information About the Applicant . In this part, you can provide information about your education, skills, and other details.
• Contact Details . At the end, you can add your contact information in case the receiver of the letter would like to get in touch with you.

There are no strict rules in regards to what should be included in your letter, therefore, you can add other parts to it.

Haven't found the sample you're looking for? Take a look at the related templates below:

• College Appeal Letter Template ;
• College Rejection Letter Template ;
• Letter of Intent for College Template .

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20+ Sample College Application Letters – PDF, DOC

College application letters are used in various academic applications when college students request an entrance or transfer. It may be a requirement of the academic institution where they currently attend or it can also be used for special functions that the college or university student would like to undertake. Whether it’s nursing, engineering, architecture, accounting, or medical students, application letters are prominent in college enrollment processes.

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• A college application letter is used by a student who would like to enroll in a learning institution. Most of the time, it is one of the requirements for enrollment which is why it is essential to be done.
• A college leave application letter is written by a student who will have a temporary absence in the course that he or she is currently studying due to valid reasons.
• A college admission application letter is used by a student who would like to apply for an academic slot for a specific course offered by a school. You may also see Academic Letters
• College scholarship application letters are written by students who would like to get a scholarship grant—be it from the high school template, a government institution, or any other entity offering education assistance.
• College workshop application letters are created by students who want to be a part of a specific academic workshop that will be conducted within the premises of the institution.
• College application reference letters are written by the references of a student applicant so that there will be a supporting document that may be used either for admissions, enrollment, or other special academic functions.
• College withdrawal application letters are used to formally announce the decision of the student to not push through with his or her college studies in the academic institution where s/he is currently attending.

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• The skills, talents, and other competencies of the graduate may be helpful in the operations of the business.
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• The field of study that the applicant can teach
• The kind of teaching commitment that the applicant can provide to the academic institution
• It can be used to apply for a part-time job. You may also see Admission Letters .
• It can be given to the management of the school so they can provide a student assistant job function to the student.

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Letter of Recommendation for College Application (Guide and Sample)

3 sample letters of recommendation for college admissions.

Bonus Material: College Letter of Recommendation checklist

Applying to competitive universities this coming fall? Perhaps you’ve already put in the hard work on your grades, test scores, and even your college essays. But you want to make sure that you also do everything you can to improve the quality of your letters of recommendation. 

Many students think of these as something they have no ability to affect, but the truth is you can do a lot to improve your letters of recommendation . And it matters: having stand-out letters of recommendation can set you apart from other applicants. 

At PrepMaven, we’ve guided thousands of students to acceptances at elite universities. Over that time, we’ve developed a proven system for navigating college admissions. In this guide, we’ll cover 3 sample letters of rec, discuss what makes a good letter of recommendation, and explain what you can do to ensure you have one. 

Below, you can download a sample letter of recommendation so you know what kind of work it takes to get one. In the meantime, keep reading to learn more about how you can maximize your chances of acceptance by improving your letter of recommendation. 

Download PrepMaven’s College Letter of Recommendation Checklist

Jump to section: 3 Sample Letters of Recommendation for College How Can You Improve Your Letters of Recommendation for College? How Much Do College Recommendation Letters Matter? What Makes a Good Letter of Recommendation for College? Who to Ask for College Recommendation Letters When to Ask for College Recommendation Letters Next steps

3 Sample Letters of Recommendation for College

Let’s start by taking a look at 3 excellent sample letters of recommendation, each of which we’ll break down briefly. Look at these letters carefully, and think about what you can do to ensure your letters look like this. 

Sample Letter 1

Dear Admissions Committee,  As Lila’s eleventh grade AP Language teacher, I’m eager to take this opportunity to convey what makes her such an exceptional student and classmate.  Her academic record in my class speaks for itself, but what I’d like to highlight is the uniquely passionate and incisive nature of her class contributions. I still remember (though this was last year) a class discussion of Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser . While many students contributed meaningfully, I still distinctly recall Lila’s vociferous and insightful argument that Dressler’s character embodied everything wrong with the acquisitive, me-first mindset of deregulated business. Not everyone agreed, of course, but the energy behind her contribution sparked an intense class discussion that was one of the best of the year. Perhaps no less important was Lila’s openness to hearing other students’ opinions, even ultimately allowing her own perspective to change. That moment is indicative of what Lila brings to the classroom environment daily: passion, insight, and open-mindedness.  While I would’ve been thrilled to hear that Lila plans to study English in college, I’m equally impressed by how detailed and invested she is when she speaks about her plans to major in Economics. When she spoke to me about the importance of understanding rhetoric and narrative when looking at economic crises, it became clear to me that she’s the kind of student able to seamlessly integrate her interests into the study of the things that fascinate her.  Even though I’ve taught countless students, I can say that few have made such an impact on the energy and depth of classroom discussion as Lila has. I’m confident that any university will benefit from her presence as a thinker, writer, and peer.  Sincerely, ———-

There are three key things to notice with this first sample. 

• First, it references a specific way that the student had an effect on the life of the classroom.
• Second, it connects that instance in class with who Lila is overall as a student and thinker. 
• Third, it connects both of these elements with who Lila will be in college, and with what she wants to pursue. 

Combining these three factors is what makes an excellent letter of recommendation. It shows the college that this student really had an impact on the class and the teacher. Importantly, it goes far beyond the generic letter of recommendation, standing out from the rest. 

Sample Letter 2

Dear Admissions Officers,  From the first week of my AP Biology class this year, it was clear how much Sanjit loved the material. During each of our class discussions, he’d raise questions that went beyond just clarification, connecting our subject matter with real-world issues he’d been following. While most students were content to take notes and answer the questions I posed, Sanjit was always looking to explore the links between what was in the textbook and what was happening in the wider world, whether in politics or in new studies on human health and longevity he’d been following.  What most impressed me beyond his drive and desire to explore was how committed he was to helping other students find that same passion. During our labs this past year, Sanjit always prioritized helping his group members–and even the members of other groups–fine-tune their experiments. Indeed, during especially complex labs, I’d often find myself helping one group while another turned to Sanjit for assistance.  He never did this to show off or prove something: what Sanjit exuded was a real passion and love for the material. In our class discussions, labs, and optional after-school review sessions, he constantly sought to use what we learned as the foundation for broader, more systemic explorations, even mentioning his desire to conduct independent research over the next summer.  It really is a pleasure to hear that Sanjit plans to continue pursuing his talent for biology and to follow that talent all the way to medical school. While I’m not sure if his plans will change, I can attest to the fact that he entered my class already dedicated to exploring how he can make an impact on human health, and that I’ve rarely seen students so capable of bridging the gap between the textbook and the real world.  Wherever he goes, whatever he does, Sanjit will make an incredible contribution to the classroom and the lab.  Sincerely,  ——-

This second letter addresses each of the same three things as the first: specificity, character, and bigger picture. 

While the focus may be different, the ultimate upshot is clear: Sanjit is a student who impressed his teacher so much that she remembers specific ways he went above and beyond in the class. 

Note that it isn’t just about what Sanjit does for himself: the letter makes a point of showing how Sanjit was always there to help other students (without being a know-it-all or teacher’s pet). 

Sample Letter 3

To whom it may concern,  Hearing that William plans to study French was tremendously gratifying. While I’m happy anytime one of my students plans to continue their French study at the college level, William was a special case. From what I know of his academic success, he excelled in most subjects, and I know he was quite torn between what field he really wanted to pursue. I never push my students one way or another, but I can tell you that William is the kind of student who will profoundly change every French class he enters.  His language ability is, of course, fantastic, but that isn’t what makes him a great French student. During our classes, he showed a real fascination with the history, culture, and especially literature of Francophone countries. While most students saw the books and poetry we read in AP French as ways of learning the language, William always wanted to explore the texts themselves. In particular, he was fascinated by how the study of French language was connected with the history of French colonization. Reading The Stranger by Camus, William was the only student in class to quickly see the text’s connections to the French occupation of Algeria. He quickly became interested in the complexities inherent in speaking the language of an occupying country, and threw himself into research outside the classroom that he’d frequently integrate into our discussions.  The short essay he wrote on our final exam was one of the best I’ve read in twenty years of teaching, especially in his ability to explore sophisticated and nuanced ideas in a foreign language. It’s clear to me that William doesn’t just have the technical facility to learn and study French language and culture: he has that rare creative instinct that allows him to make wholly original contributions to the field.  Sincerely,  —

You can certainly see the pattern by now: specificity, character, and big picture all come together to paint a picture of this student as a uniquely intelligent and capable scholar. 

You might notice that every one of these letters ends by articulating that this student isn’t just smart : they’re driven, they’re original, and they stand out from the rest of the intelligent students these teachers have had. 

If you want a letter like one of these–and you should–you might be wondering how you can possibly affect what your teachers write about you. The good news is that you can : read on below to see how you can help your teachers improve the letters of recommendation they write for your college applications. 

How Can You Improve Your Letters of Recommendation for College?

You might think this sounds strange: after all, you’re not writing your letters of recommendation, and in most cases you won’t even see them. 

So, how can you do anything to improve them? It all has to do with what information you give to your letter of recommendation writers. 

Many students think that just politely asking a teacher for a college letter of recommendation is where the process begins and ends. But if you don’t give your teacher specific information, you’re very likely to get a generic letter of recommendation. 

It’ll probably say nice things: that you’re a good student, that you excel in class, that you’re dedicated and always pay attention, and so on. 

Can you imagine how many times college admissions officers at large universities or elite colleges read phrases like that? (Hint: too many!) No matter how positive the letter is, it needs to be unique and specific if you want admissions committees to remember a word of it!

So, what can you do to help your recommendation letter writers produce better letters? Give them some personal, specific information! 

• Ask your teacher to sit down for a short conversation before they begin writing your letter. Yes, it could be awkward, but we guarantee you that it’ll pay off! 
• Were there concepts that really stood out to you? 
• Did they help you overcome a challenge?
• Did they open your eyes to something new that stuck with you? 
• Did their class influence your choice of major or career?
• If not, did the class affect how you see yourself as a student and thinker?
• Can you find a connection between your major and the teacher’s class?

Not only will your teacher love hearing this (flattery always works!), but it’ll give them ideas for things they could mention in their letter. Instead of just talking about what a good student you are, they can draw on specific examples that you bring up in your conversation. 

Another option is to simply send the recommendation letter writer a short email where you describe why you’re asking them for a letter and what you gained from the class. 

The more specific you are, the easier it’ll be for them to write you a great letter!

How Much Do College Recommendation Letters Matter?

The key to a strong college application is understanding the 3 pillars of a successful college application . In a nutshell, these are the three key elements by which admissions committees will evaluate you: 

• Academic achievement
• Extracurricular distinction
• Character and personal qualities

While these overlap a little bit, here’s an easy way to understand them. 

Academic achievement is conveyed by your grades, test scores, and the rigor of your curriculum. 

Extracurricular distinction is conveyed by your achievements in the various activities you’ve been involved with. 

Character is conveyed in your essays and letters of recommendation. 

Often, it’s character that makes the difference between a good application and a great one–especially at top tier universities like Ivies!

Note that the letter of recommendation is not there to highlight your academic achievement. Why? Because college admissions committees already have your grades and transcript! 

Instead, the recommendation letter should highlight your personal attributes. What kind of student and classmate are you? How do you contribute to the intellectual life of a school? What makes you the kind of person a professor would want to have in their class?

For a successful college application, it’s crucial that all three pillars come together. Because character is primarily conveyed in your essays and recommendation letters, you don’t have many opportunities to really convey this to elite college admissions committees. 

The data bears this out. By looking at the Common Data Set for elite universities, we identified how elite colleges like Princeton prioritize letters of recommendation. 

Each school ranks the elements of a college application in one of four categories: 

• Very important
• Not considered

At Princeton, for example, the letters of recommendation are considered “very important,” just like test scores and grades!

At Yale, letters of recommendation are also considered “very important,” whereas standardized test scores are only “considered.” 

At Dartmouth, letters of recommendation are, once again, considered “very important.”

Are you picking up on the pattern yet? It might be easy to think of college recommendation letters as a tiny part of your application, but nearly every elite university considers letters of recommendation a very important part of your application! 

What Makes a Good Letter of Recommendation for College?

So, with all that in mind, we can now identify a little more precisely what makes a good college recommendation letter. 

A compelling letter of recommendation for college:

• Avoids generic phrases and claims. 
• Uses specific examples to explain how you stood out in the class. 
• Focuses on your character, not your grades. 

The criteria for a strong letter of recommendation are simple, but in our experience, the vast majority of recommendation letters fail this test!

You won’t be able to see your recommendation letter, but you can affect what information your letter writer uses. Make sure to give them the kind of detailed, specific information that aligns with those three bullet points, focusing on instances where you really demonstrated your character in the class. 

If you want to read a sample of an excellent recommendation letter, take a look at the link below: it’s short, simple, and effective! 

Who to Ask for College recommendation Letters

Our advice here is simple, but serious. 

First, make sure you ask two teachers for your academic recommendation letters, then ask a third person to write your non-academic recommendation letter (which most schools also accept). 

This third recommender can be a bit more flexible: a supervisor at work, a sports coach, or the coach of an extracurricular activity you’re involved with are all great options. 

For the two academic recommenders, pick teachers who know you best. These should be teachers you’ve had recently: don’t pick a teacher from freshman year, since that really won’t be telling college admissions committees much about your character now. 

You should also pick teachers in subjects that align with your planned area of study. If you’re going all in on a STEM field, you’re best off picking teachers whose letters can support the narrative of you as an exceptional scientific and mathematical thinker. 

If you’re more humanities focused, you’ll definitely want one letter from a teacher whose class was writing-intensive. For the second letter, you might want to think about what complements your overall story. Don’t just go for another humanities class: think about what other interests drive you, and pick a teacher who can speak to that passion. 

More than anything, however, the critical question is which teachers can best speak to your personal attributes now . Pick those teachers, speak to them, and you’ll be likely to get a great recommendation letter like the one in our free sample here . 

When to Ask for College recommendation Letters

The earlier, the better! It’s as simple as that. Once you’ve settled on your recommenders and had your conversations with them, ask them to draft your recommendation letters. 

You should do this before the summer break after your junior year. You’ll want your recommendation letters done by the end of summer. Once this pushes on into the fall, your letter-writers will be flooded with requests, and the quality of your letter will suffer. 

Speak to your teachers before summer vacation, and set a clear deadline while being respectful. Make it clear that you’ll be applying to programs early, and you’d really appreciate the letter being done by the end of the summer. 

In most cases, the teachers will appreciate this themselves. If a teacher tells you that’s impossible, make sure to respect their decision, and simply ask what timeline works for them. 

In general, however, set the end of summer as the deadline for your recommendation letters. 

If you’re already thinking about your college recommendation letters, that means you’re taking the college application process seriously. That’s great, but have you done everything you can to maximize your chances and perfect your application?

For a college application to work, every element of your academics, extracurriculars, and character has to come together. If your test scores, grades, or college essays are weak, you’ll need to put in the work to improve them. 

There’s no better way to do so than by working with one of our expert tutors. Our tutors range from exceptional undergraduates at Ivy League universities to graduate students with years of tutoring experience. 

Once you know what you need help with, we’ll pair you with the best tutor for your needs. All you have to do is contact us. 

In the meantime, read over the free sample letter of recommendation below, and take notes on what makes this so effective. 

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Letter of Recommendation Examples for College Applicants

Admissions pros highlight what makes a recommendation letter stand out.

College Recommendation Letter Examples

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To help applicants and recommenders know what colleges are looking for in recommendation letters, some schools provide examples on their admissions website.

Recommendation letters can serve as powerful testimonials about a student's accomplishments, and the most effective letters demonstrate a candidate's potential for greatness, according to college admissions officers.

The best person to write a letter of recommendation is someone who knows the applicant well and can describe that person's journey in detail, says Kristen Capezza, vice president of enrollment management and university communications at Adelphi University in New York.

Ask for a recommendation letter from the teacher with whom you have the strongest rapport, Capezza suggests – not just someone who gave you a high grade. "That, to me, makes for a more powerful letter, because it will be more personalized and less generic."

Strong relationships shine through in letters and can help in situations where grades are poor, says Denard Jones, lead college counselor at Empowerly, a college admissions consulting company. Jones previously worked in college admissions at Elon University in North Carolina and Saint Joseph's University in Pennsylvania.

"Some of the best recommendation letters I’ve read over the years actually came from where a student might have had a lower grade than just an A," he says. "The reason being was the teacher knew that student and was able to go through and talk about the time they struggled and how they worked through the processes to overcome mastery of a new subject."

Similar to personal essays , recommendations should add to a student's application rather than repeat information, experts say. Admissions officers want to hear the story behind students to understand them holistically. For example, learning about a creative project a student participated in or the fact that the basketball player also starred in the school musical are examples that provide deep context, Jones says.

To help applicants and recommenders know what colleges are looking for in recommendation letters, some schools provide examples on their admissions website. Arizona State University provides this template , which shows how to format the letter as well as the type of content that should be included.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology also provides a breakdown on how to craft a strong letter, with several example letters and critiques on what makes them effective or ineffective.

College admissions pros also offered U.S. News insights on outstanding recommendation letters they've read during their careers.

Recommendation Letters That Swayed Admissions Officers

Admissions officials note that various types of recommendation letters can help a student's admissions odds. Those include letters that explain difficult personal circumstances, showcase remarkable achievements or reveal a student's personality.

Effective recommendation letters help admissions officers imagine how a student could contribute to their class, Capezza says.

"Reading about stories of perseverance, tales of transformation or simply honest accounts of the student's dedication to learning and the community help me to visualize the student as a future member of our community – and that visualization can be the turning point for a difficult admission decision," Capezza wrote in an email.

Challenges Faced and Overcome

Sometimes recommendation letters explain extenuating circumstances that clarify why a student's academic performance was subpar during a particular period in high school, says Skye Telka, admissions counselor at Sora Schools, a virtual private middle and high school. Telka previously served as a college admissions counselor for Warren Wilson College , a liberal arts school in North Carolina.

For instance, she once received an application from a student who performed exceptionally well in her freshman and sophomore years, but faltered in her junior and senior years.

The letter explained that the student's mother was critically ill, and the student had assumed the responsibility of parenting her own siblings, becoming her family's caregiver. Because of this letter, the Warren Wilson admissions committee accepted the student despite her lackluster grades, Telka says.

She also recalled admitting a student who had struggled in mathematics until eventually being diagnosed with dyscalculia , a learning disorder that affects a person's ability to do math.

"This letter of recommendation was important in not only revealing the student’s intellectual capacity, adaptability, and persistence, but also helped further contextualize their academic journey," Telka wrote in an email. "Especially in light of a global pandemic and some of the knowledge loss or academic irregularities associated with that, a clear and dedicated passion can really win over an admissions committee in the review process. Such passions are weighed heavily when it comes to shaping the incoming class."

This letter example from MIT shows how a school counselor provided context about a student's difficult life outside of school and previous struggles in the classroom.

Jane is an outstanding young woman whose academic record may not fully reflect her ability. Her parents were divorced during her junior year, and, for several years before that, her home situation had been in turmoil with a great deal of fighting between her parents. Her father has an alcohol problem, and Jane certainly endured a great deal of emotional distress. The fact that she has been able to do as well as she has done given the circumstances says a lot about her. Now that the home situation has stabilized, her performance has improved. I believe her senior year grades are a much better reflection of her ability.

The anonymous critique provided on the MIT admissions website says some may wonder if it's appropriate for recommendation letters to include such personal details. It is, the critique explains.

"We appreciate anything that gives us insight and perspective into a student’s performance and the environment," the critique reads. "Comments about problems that a student has experienced will help us understand the context in which they have accomplished whatever they have achieved. The extent to which they have dealt with these problems is useful to know as well."

These types of letters can be particularly valuable in cases where a student is less eager to share the details on their own, Jones says.

Information about a student's difficulties can not only mitigate deficits in an application, but also increase scholarship opportunities, Jones says. He adds that if a recommendation letter is especially compelling, the admissions committee might offer a student a scholarship or a spot in the honors program.

Abilities and Passions

Admissions officers say there are some recommendation letters that convey a student's strong interest in and aptitude for a specific academic discipline. Telka says she was amazed by a recommendation letter for a prospective agriculture student that was written by the student's employer at an apple orchard. The student had worked to revive a nearly extinct heirloom apple variety by planting it in various places.

"Because I had such context of what they had already achieved, it allowed me to reach out to faculty on campus (and) reach out to a couple of endowed scholarship opportunities," Telka says.

Another example from MIT shows a student interested in journalism who took on leadership responsibilities for the school newspaper and yearbook.

As business manager for the paper and co-editor of the yearbook the past two years, Mary has done an outstanding job. She personally brought the town’s business community from the view that the school newspaper was a charitable organization to the realization that the paper is a direct pipeline through which advertisers can reach students. She also took the initiative to set up the advertising rate schedule for the paper that produced enough revenue to expand coverage from a four-page paper, so that it is an eight-page and often twelve-page paper. Her work as photographer for both publications has been equally outstanding.

"Lots of specifics here give us a very clear impression and help us to know why that impression is held," the critique reads. "We have evidence of her newspaper directives and overall character."

When a student says he or she is strongly committed to a specific field or a particular type of community service , it is a plus if that statement is corroborated by a third party in a recommendation letter, Telka says.

It's also helpful when recommendation letters highlight a student's unusual interests. "We like to see nuggets of authenticity and anything that makes the student stand out," she says. "Clubs, extracurricular activities or anything else that makes a student unique. For example, we had one student who founded the juggling club at their high school. That sticks with you."

Strong Character

A recommendation letter may also offer insight into a person's character. Capezza recalls a letter she received about a student in a military family who had moved across the country. Written by a high school counselor , the letter described how the student had adjusted to the various places he moved.

"Throughout it all, the student was able to show upward trajectory in the grades and the types of classes being taken, but it also spoke to the student's ability to adapt to new situations," Capezza says. "No matter how overwhelming and daunting it was, the student was up for a new challenge and really learned to become his own self-advocate, and it was just a story of transformation by way of circumstance."

The following example, provided by college admissions consulting company IvyWise, describes a high-performing student's character.

Ashley’s teachers say she is an organized student who is not afraid to ask questions when she is uncertain about a skill or concept. She also works well in group settings, always making sure all members are actively involved in the work, instead of simply taking over, as many of her similarly high achieving peers are wont to do. She is also extremely goal-oriented; once she sets her mind to completing a task or project, she pursues it in earnest until it is done, regardless of any obstacles that pop up along the way. Far from the ruthless competitor, however, her peers characterize her as a compassionate friend, someone that everyone feels comfortable opening up to.  

This section of the letter "backs up the things the committee will likely see in her other recommendations and essays and provides a qualitative understanding of who she is as a student and a member of a school community," says Carolyn Pippen, master college admissions counselor for IvyWise.

A Strong Introduction and Conclusion Help

Like any piece of writing, it's important for a letter of a recommendation to immediately grab the attention of the reader. Though students don't necessarily have control over how a letter is written, experts say having deep relationships and offering anecdotes can help recommenders craft a more compelling letter.

"Experienced readers glance at the opening and concluding sentences before deciding if the letter is worth reading," he says. "A good anecdote is far more effective than even the most carefully chosen list of adjectives."

Jones provided an example of a teacher's recommendation for a fictitious student that demonstrates this well.

Introduction

One of my professors used to remind us daily of a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Nothing great has ever been accomplished without enthusiasm.” ... Jack epitomizes this quotation because he displays enthusiasm and energy toward everything he commits. Whether it be his intense dedication to academics, his devotion to making sure his customers are happy, his role as a lead in our Future Business Leaders of America club, or his overall school spirit, Jack puts forth every effort to produce the best possible results. He seems to live a fearless life. I have witnessed this first-hand.

The letter goes on to explain how Jack started his own lawn care service as a 10th grader and was managing more than 20 properties by his senior year. It also explains that Jack spent time working alongside his mother at a medical treatment center to help restore a decades-old barn that would help a local farm rebuild its revenue stream.

The conclusion should summarize the letter and tie everything together, Jones says. This example, written from the perspective of a school counselor for the same fictitious student, demonstrates that well, he says.

Jack is well-rounded – academically sound, athletic, and a leader. He has an entrepreneur's outlook, spirit, and risk-taking calculus. Life is more than what's happening for him today or next weekend – he is a strategic, forward thinker who enjoys planning for the future. He wants the next part of his journey to be in an environment where he can stretch himself, try different things, and confidently spread his wings. I am happy to give my full recommendation for admission to Jack Wright!

"A brief summary of the student's accolades will leave the reader with a positive feeling," Jones says.

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Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, my successful harvard application (complete common app + supplement).

Other High School , College Admissions , Letters of Recommendation , Extracurriculars , College Essays

In 2005, I applied to college and got into every school I applied to, including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT. I decided to attend Harvard.

In this guide, I'll show you the entire college application that got me into Harvard—page by page, word for word .

In my complete analysis, I'll take you through my Common Application, Harvard supplemental application, personal statements and essays, extracurricular activities, teachers' letters of recommendation, counselor recommendation, complete high school transcript, and more. I'll also give you in-depth commentary on every part of my application.

To my knowledge, a college application analysis like this has never been done before . This is the application guide I wished I had when I was in high school.

If you're applying to top schools like the Ivy Leagues, you'll see firsthand what a successful application to Harvard and Princeton looks like. You'll learn the strategies I used to build a compelling application. You'll see what items were critical in getting me admitted, and what didn't end up helping much at all.

Reading this guide from beginning to end will be well worth your time—you might completely change your college application strategy as a result.

First Things First

Here's the letter offering me admission into Harvard College under Early Action.

I was so thrilled when I got this letter. It validated many years of hard work, and I was excited to take my next step into college (...and work even harder).

I received similar successful letters from every college I applied to: Princeton, Stanford, and MIT. (After getting into Harvard early, I decided not to apply to Yale, Columbia, UChicago, UPenn, and other Ivy League-level schools, since I already knew I would rather go to Harvard.)

The application that got me admitted everywhere is the subject of this guide. You're going to see everything that the admissions officers saw.

If you're hoping to see an acceptance letter like this in your academic future, I highly recommend you read this entire article. I'll start first with an introduction to this guide and important disclaimers. Then I'll share the #1 question you need to be thinking about as you construct your application. Finally, we'll spend a lot of time going through every page of my college application, both the Common App and the Harvard Supplemental App.

Important Note: the foundational principles of my application are explored in detail in my How to Get Into Harvard guide . In this popular guide, I explain:

• what top schools like the Ivy League are looking for
• how to be truly distinctive among thousands of applicants
• why being well-rounded is the kiss of death

If you have the time and are committed to maximizing your college application success, I recommend you read through my Harvard guide first, then come back to this one.

You might also be interested in my other two major guides:

• How to Get a Perfect SAT Score / Perfect ACT Score
• How to Get a 4.0 GPA

What's in This Harvard Application Guide?

From my student records, I was able to retrieve the COMPLETE original application I submitted to Harvard. Page by page, word for word, you'll see everything exactly as I presented it : extracurricular activities, awards and honors, personal statements and essays, and more.

In addition to all this detail, there are two special parts of this college application breakdown that I haven't seen anywhere else :

• You'll see my FULL recommendation letters and evaluation forms. This includes recommendations from two teachers, one principal, and supplementary writers. Normally you don't get to see these letters because you waive access to them when applying. You'll see how effective strong teacher advocates will be to your college application, and why it's so important to build strong relationships with your letter writers .
• You'll see the exact pen marks made by my Harvard admissions reader on my application . Members of admissions committees consider thousands of applications every year, which means they highlight the pieces of each application they find noteworthy. You'll see what the admissions officer considered important—and what she didn't.

For every piece of my application, I'll provide commentary on what made it so effective and my strategies behind creating it. You'll learn what it takes to build a compelling overall application.

Importantly, even though my application was strong, it wasn't perfect. I'll point out mistakes I made that I could have corrected to build an even stronger application.

Here's a complete table of contents for what we'll be covering. Each link goes directly to that section, although I'd recommend you read this from beginning to end on your first go.

Common Application

Personal Data

Educational data, test information.

• Activities: Extracurricular, Personal, Volunteer
• Short Answer
• Additional Information

Academic Honors

Personal statement, teacher and counselor recommendations.

• Teacher Letter #1: AP Chemistry
• Teacher Letter #2: AP English Lang

School Report

• Principal Recommendation

Harvard Application Supplement

• Supplement Form
• Writing Supplement Essay

Supplementary Recommendation #1

Supplementary recommendation #2, supplemental application materials.

Final Advice for You

I mean it—you'll see literally everything in my application.

In revealing my teenage self, some parts of my application will be pretty embarrassing (you'll see why below). But my mission through my company PrepScholar is to give the world the most helpful resources possible, so I'm publishing it.

One last thing before we dive in—I'm going to anticipate some common concerns beforehand and talk through important disclaimers so that you'll get the most out of this guide.

Important Disclaimers

My biggest caveat for you when reading this guide: thousands of students get into Harvard and Ivy League schools every year. This guide tells a story about one person and presents one archetype of a strong applicant. As you'll see, I had a huge academic focus, especially in science ( this was my Spike ). I'm also irreverent and have a strong, direct personality.

What you see in this guide is NOT what YOU need to do to get into Harvard , especially if you don't match my interests and personality at all.

As I explain in my Harvard guide , I believe I fit into one archetype of a strong applicant—the "academic superstar" (humor me for a second, I know calling myself this sounds obnoxious). There are other distinct ways to impress, like:

• being world-class in a non-academic talent
• achieving something difficult and noteworthy—building a meaningful organization, writing a novel
• coming from tremendous adversity and performing remarkably well relative to expectations

Therefore, DON'T worry about copying my approach one-for-one . Don't worry if you're taking a different number of AP courses or have lower test scores or do different extracurriculars or write totally different personal statements. This is what schools like Stanford and Yale want to see—a diversity in the student population!

The point of this guide is to use my application as a vehicle to discuss what top colleges are looking for in strong applicants. Even though the specific details of what you'll do are different from what I did, the principles are the same. What makes a candidate truly stand out is the same, at a high level. What makes for a super strong recommendation letter is the same. The strategies on how to build a cohesive, compelling application are the same.

There's a final reason you shouldn't worry about replicating my work—the application game has probably changed quite a bit since 2005. Technology is much more pervasive, the social issues teens care about are different, the extracurricular activities that are truly noteworthy have probably gotten even more advanced. What I did might not be as impressive as it used to be. So focus on my general points, not the specifics, and think about how you can take what you learn here to achieve something even greater than I ever did.

With that major caveat aside, here are a string of smaller disclaimers.

I'm going to present my application factually and be 100% straightforward about what I achieved and what I believed was strong in my application. This is what I believe will be most helpful for you. I hope you don't misinterpret this as bragging about my accomplishments. I'm here to show you what it took for me to get into Harvard and other Ivy League schools, not to ask for your admiration. So if you read this guide and are tempted to dismiss my advice because you think I'm boasting, take a step back and focus on the big picture—how you'll improve yourself.

This guide is geared toward admissions into the top colleges in the country , often with admissions rates below 10%. A sample list of schools that fit into this: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, MIT, UChicago, Duke, UPenn, CalTech, Johns Hopkins, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Brown. The top 3-5 in that list are especially looking for the absolute best students in the country , since they have the pick of the litter.

Admissions for these selective schools works differently from schools with >20% rates. For less selective schools, having an overall strong, well-rounded application is sufficient for getting in. In particular, having an above average GPA and test scores goes the majority of the way toward getting you admission to those schools. The higher the admission rate, the more emphasis will be placed on your scores. The other pieces I'll present below—personal statements, extracurriculars, recommendations—will matter less.

Still, it doesn't hurt to aim for a stronger application. To state the obvious, an application strong enough to get you Columbia will get you into UCLA handily.

In my application, I've redacted pieces of my application for privacy reasons, and one supplementary recommendation letter at the request of the letter writer. Everything else is unaltered.

Throughout my application, we can see marks made by the admissions officer highlighting and circling things of note (you'll see the first example on the very first page). I don't have any other applications to compare these to, so I'm going to interpret these marks as best I can. For the most part, I assume that whatever he underlines or circles is especially important and noteworthy —points that he'll bring up later in committee discussions. It could also be that the reader got bored and just started highlighting things, but I doubt this.

Finally, I co-founded and run a company called PrepScholar . We create online SAT/ACT prep programs that adapt to you and your strengths and weaknesses . I believe we've created the best prep program available, and if you feel you need to raise your SAT/ACT score, then I encourage you to check us out . I want to emphasize that you do NOT need to buy a prep program to get a great score , and the advice in this guide has little to do with my company. But if you're aren't sure how to improve your score and agree with our unique approach to SAT/ACT prep, our program may be perfect for you.

With all this past us, let's get started.

The #1 Most Important College Application Question: What Is Your PERSONAL NARRATIVE?

If you stepped into an elevator with Yale's Dean of Admissions and you had ten seconds to describe yourself and why you're interesting, what would you say?

This is what I call your PERSONAL NARRATIVE. These are the three main points that represent who you are and what you're about . This is the story that you tell through your application, over and over again. This is how an admissions officer should understand you after just glancing through your application. This is how your admissions officer will present you to the admissions committee to advocate for why they should accept you.

The more unique and noteworthy your Personal Narrative is, the better. This is how you'll stand apart from the tens of thousands of other applicants to your top choice school. This is why I recommend so strongly that you develop a Spike to show deep interest and achievement. A compelling Spike is the core of your Personal Narrative.

Well-rounded applications do NOT form compelling Personal Narratives, because "I'm a well-rounded person who's decent at everything" is the exact same thing every other well-rounded person tries to say.

Everything in your application should support your Personal Narrative , from your course selection and extracurricular activities to your personal statements and recommendation letters. You are a movie director, and your application is your way to tell a compelling, cohesive story through supporting evidence.

Yes, this is overly simplistic and reductionist. It does not represent all your complexities and your 17 years of existence. But admissions offices don't have the time to understand this for all their applicants. Your PERSONAL NARRATIVE is what they will latch onto.

Here's what I would consider my Personal Narrative (humor me since I'm peacocking here):

1) A science obsessive with years of serious research work and ranked 6 th in a national science competition, with future goals of being a neuroscientist or physician

2) Balanced by strong academic performance in all subjects (4.0 GPA and perfect test scores, in both humanities and science) and proficiency in violin

3) An irreverent personality who doesn't take life too seriously, embraces controversy, and says what's on his mind

These three elements were the core to my application. Together they tell a relatively unique Personal Narrative that distinguishes me from many other strong applicants. You get a surprisingly clear picture of what I'm about. There's no question that my work in science was my "Spike" and was the strongest piece of my application, but my Personal Narrative included other supporting elements, especially a description of my personality.

My College Application, at a High Level

Drilling down into more details, here's an overview of my application.

• This put me comfortably in the 99 th percentile in the country, but it was NOT sufficient to get me into Harvard by itself ! Because there are roughly 4 million high school students per year, the top 1 percentile still has 40,000 students. You need other ways to set yourself apart.
• Your Spike will most often come from your extracurriculars and academic honors, just because it's hard to really set yourself apart with your coursework and test scores.
• My letters of recommendation were very strong. Both my recommending teachers marked me as "one of the best they'd ever taught." Importantly, they corroborated my Personal Narrative, especially regarding my personality. You'll see how below.
• My personal statements were, in retrospect, just satisfactory. They represented my humorous and irreverent side well, but they come across as too self-satisfied. Because of my Spike, I don't think my essays were as important to my application.

Finally, let's get started by digging into the very first pages of my Common Application.

There are a few notable points about how simple questions can actually help build a first impression around what your Personal Narrative is.

First, notice the circle around my email address. This is the first of many marks the admissions officer made on my application. The reason I think he circled this was that the email address I used is a joke pun on my name . I knew it was risky to use this vs something like [email protected], but I thought it showed my personality better (remember point #3 about having an irreverent personality in my Personal Narrative).

Don't be afraid to show who you really are, rather than your perception of what they want. What you think UChicago or Stanford wants is probably VERY wrong, because of how little information you have, both as an 18-year-old and as someone who hasn't read thousands of applications.

(It's also entirely possible that it's a formality to circle email addresses, so I don't want to read too much into it, but I think I'm right.)

Second, I knew in high school that I wanted to go into the medical sciences, either as a physician or as a scientist. I was also really into studying the brain. So I listed both in my Common App to build onto my Personal Narrative.

In the long run, both predictions turned out to be wrong. After college, I did go to Harvard Medical School for the MD/PhD program for 4 years, but I left to pursue entrepreneurship and co-founded PrepScholar . Moreover, in the time I did actually do research, I switched interests from neuroscience to bioengineering/biotech.

Colleges don't expect you to stick to career goals you stated at the age of 18. Figuring out what you want to do is the point of college! But this doesn't give you an excuse to avoid showing a preference. This early question is still a chance to build that Personal Narrative.

Thus, I recommend AGAINST "Undecided" as an area of study —it suggests a lack of flavor and is hard to build a compelling story around. From your high school work thus far, you should at least be leaning to something, even if that's likely to change in the future.

Finally, in the demographic section there is a big red A, possibly for Asian American. I'm not going to read too much into this. If you're a notable minority, this is where you'd indicate it.

Now known as: Education

This section was straightforward for me. I didn't take college courses, and I took a summer chemistry class at a nearby high school because I didn't get into the lottery at my school that year (I refer to this briefly in my 4.0 GPA guide ).

The most notable point of this section: the admissions officer circled Principal here . This is notable because our school Principal only wrote letters for fewer than 10 students each year. Counselors wrote letters for the other hundreds of students in my class, which made my application stand out just a little.

I'll talk more about this below, when I share the Principal's recommendation.

(In the current Common Application, the Education section also includes Grades, Courses, and Honors. We'll be covering each of those below).

Now known as: Testing

Back then AP scores weren't part of this section, but I'll take them from another part of my application here.

However, their standards are still very high. You really do want to be in that top 1 percentile to pass the filter. A 1400 on the SAT IS going to put you at a disadvantage because there are so many students scoring higher than you. You'll really have to dig yourself out of the hole with an amazing application.

I talk about this a lot more in my Get into Harvard guide (sorry to keep linking this, but I really do think it's an important guide for you to read).

Let's end this section with some personal notes.

Even though math and science were easy for me, I had to put in serious effort to get an 800 on the Reading section of the SAT . As much as I wish I could say it was trivial for me, it wasn't. I learned a bunch of strategies and dissected the test to get to a point where I understood the test super well and reliably earned perfect scores.

I cover the most important points in my How to Get a Perfect SAT Score guide , as well as my 800 Guides for Reading , Writing , and Math .

Between the SAT and ACT, the SAT was my primary focus, but I decided to take the ACT for fun. The tests were so similar that I scored a 36 Composite without much studying. Having two test scores is completely unnecessary —you get pretty much zero additional credit. Again, with one test score, you have already passed their filter.

Finally, class finals or state-required exams are a breeze if you get a 5 on the corresponding AP tests .

Now known as: Family (still)

This section asks for your parent information and family situation. There's not much you can do here besides report the facts.

I'm redacting a lot of stuff again for privacy reasons.

The reader made a number of marks here for occupation and education. There's likely a standard code for different types of occupations and schools.

If I were to guess, I'd say that the numbers add to form some metric of "family prestige." My dad got a Master's at a middle-tier American school, but my mom didn't go to graduate school, and these sections were marked 2 and 3, respectively. So it seems higher numbers are given for less prestigious educations by your parents. I'd expect that if both my parents went to schools like Caltech and Dartmouth, there would be even lower numbers here.

This makes me think that the less prepared your family is, the more points you get, and this might give your application an extra boost. If you were the first one in your family to go to college, for example, you'd be excused for having lower test scores and fewer AP classes. Schools really do care about your background and how you performed relative to expectations.

In the end, schools like Harvard say pretty adamantly they don't use formulas to determine admissions decisions, so I wouldn't read too much into this. But this can be shorthand to help orient an applicant's family background.

Extracurricular, Personal, and Volunteer Activities

Now known as: Activities

For most applicants, your Extracurriculars and your Academic Honors will be where you develop your Spike and where your Personal Narrative shines through. This was how my application worked.

Just below I'll describe the activities in more detail, but first I want to reflect on this list.

As instructed, my extracurriculars were listed in the order of their interest to me. The current Common App doesn't seem to ask for this, but I would still recommend it to focus your reader's attention.

The most important point I have to make about my extracurriculars: as you go down the list, there is a HUGE drop in the importance of each additional activity to the overall application. If I were to guess, I assign the following weights to how much each activity contributed to the strength of my activities section:

In other words, participating in the Research Science Institute (RSI) was far more important than all of my other extracurriculars, combined. You can see that this was the only activity my admissions reader circled.

You can see how Spike-y this is. The RSI just completely dominates all my other activities.

The reason for this is the prestige of RSI. As I noted earlier, RSI was (and likely still is) the most prestigious research program for high school students in the country, with an admission rate of less than 5% . Because the program was so prestigious and selective, getting in served as a big confirmation signal of my academic quality.

In other words, the Harvard admissions reader would likely think, "OK, if this very selective program has already validated Allen as a top student, I'm inclined to believe that Allen is a top student and should pay special attention to him."

Now, it took a lot of prior work to even get into RSI because it's so selective. I had already ranked nationally in the Chemistry Olympiad (more below), and I had done a lot of prior research work in computer science (at Jisan Research Institute—more about this later). But getting into RSI really propelled my application to another level.

Because RSI was so important and was such a big Spike, all my other extracurriculars paled in importance. The admissions officer at Princeton or MIT probably didn't care at all that I volunteered at a hospital or founded a high school club .

This is a good sign of developing a strong Spike. You want to do something so important that everything else you do pales in comparison to it. A strong Spike becomes impossible to ignore.

In contrast, if you're well-rounded, all your activities hold equal weight—which likely means none of them are really that impressive (unless you're a combination of Olympic athlete, internationally-ranked science researcher, and New York Times bestselling author, but then I'd call you unicorn because you don't exist).

Apply this concept to your own interests—what can be so impressive and such a big Spike that it completely overshadows all your other achievements?

This might be worth spending a disproportionate amount of time on. As I recommend in my Harvard guide and 4.0 GPA guide , smartly allocating your time is critical to your high school strategy.

In retrospect, one "mistake" I made was spending a lot of time on the violin. Each week I spent eight hours on practice and a lesson and four hours of orchestra rehearsals. This amounted to over 1,500 hours from freshman to junior year.

The result? I was pretty good, but definitely nowhere near world-class. Remember, there are thousands of orchestras and bands in the country, each with their own concertmasters, drum majors, and section 1 st chairs.

If I were to optimize purely for college applications, I should have spent that time on pushing my spike even further —working on more Olympiad competitions, or doing even more hardcore research.

Looking back I don't mind this much because I generally enjoyed my musical training and had a mostly fun time in orchestra (and I had a strong Spike anyway). But this problem can be a lot worse for well-rounded students who are stretched too thin.

Aside from these considerations about a Spike, I have two major caveats.

First, developing a Spike requires continuous, increasingly ambitious foundational work. It's like climbing a staircase. From the beginning of high school, each step was more and more ambitious—my first academic team, my first research experience, leading up to state and national competitions and more serious research work.

So when I suggest devoting a lot of time to developing your Spike, it's not necessarily the Spike in itself—it's also spending time on foundational work leading up to what will be your major achievement. That's why I don't see my time with academic teams or volunteering as wasted, even though in the end they didn't contribute as much to my application.

Second, it is important to do things you enjoy. I still enjoyed playing the violin and being part of an orchestra, and I really enjoyed my school's academic teams, even though we never went beyond state level. Even if some activities don't contribute as much to your application, it's still fine to spend some time on them—just don't delude yourself into thinking they're stronger than they really are and overspend time on them.

Finally, note that most of my activities were pursued over multiple years. This is a good sign of commitment—rather than hopping from activity year to year, it's better to show sustained commitment, as this is a better signal of genuine passion.

In a future article, I'll break down these activities in more detail. But this guide is already super long, so I want to focus our attention on the main points.

Short Answer: Extracurricular Activities

In today's Common Application, you have 50 characters to describe "Position/Leadership description and organization name" and 150 characters for "Please describe this activity, including what you accomplished and any recognition you received, etc."

Back then, we didn't have as much space per activity, and instead had a short answer question.

The Short Answer prompt:

Please describe which of your activities (extracurricular and personal activities or work experience) has been most meaningful and why.

I chose RSI as my most significant activity for two reasons—one based on the meaning of the work, and another on the social aspect.

It's obvious that schools like Yale and UChicago want the best students in the world that they can get their hands on. Academic honors and awards are a great, quantifiable way to show that.

Here's the complete list of Academic Honors I submitted. The Common Application now limits you to five honors only (probably because they got tired of lists like these), but chances are you capture the top 98% of your honors with the top five.

Charlie wins a Golden Ticket to Harvard.

I know this is intimidating if you don't already have a prestigious honor. But remember there are thousands of nationally-ranked people in a multitude of honor types, from science competitions to essay contests to athletics to weird talents.

And I strongly believe the #1 differentiator of high school students who achieve things is work ethic, NOT intelligence or talent. Yes, you need a baseline level of competence to get places, but people far undervalue the progress they can make if they work hard and persevere. Far too many people give up too quickly or fatigue without putting in serious effort.

If you're stuck thinking, "well I'm just an average person, and there's no way I'm going to become world-class in anything," then you've already lost before you've begun. The truth is everyone who achieves something of note puts in an incredible amount of hard work. Because this is invisible to you, it looks like talent is what distinguishes the two of you, when really it's much more often diligence.

I talk a lot more about the Growth Mindset in my How To Get a 4.0 GPA guide .

So my Chemistry Olympiad honor formed 90% of the value of this page. Just like extracurriculars, there's a quick dropoff in value of each item after that.

My research work took up the next two honors, one a presentation at an academic conference, and the other (Siemens) a research competition for high school researchers.

The rest of my honors were pretty middling:

• National Merit Scholarship semifinalist pretty much equates to PSAT score, which is far less important than your SAT/ACT score. So I didn't really get any credit for this, and you won't either.
• In Science Olympiad (this is a team-based competition that's not as prestigious as the academic Olympiads I just talked about), I earned a number of 1 st place state and regional medals, but we never made it to nationals.
• I was mediocre at competition math because I didn't train for it, and I won some regional awards but nothing amazing. This is one place I would have spent more time, maybe in the time I'd save by not practicing violin as much. There are great resources for this type of training, like Art of Problem Solving , that I didn't know existed and could've helped me rank much higher.

At the risk of beating a dead horse, think about how many state medalists there are in the country, in the hundreds of competitions that exist . The number of state to national rankers is probably at least 20:1 (less than 50:1 because of variation in state size), so if there are 2,000 nationally ranked students, there are 40,000 state-ranked students in something !

So state honors really don't help you stand out on your Princeton application. There are just too many of them around.

On the other hand, if you can get to be nationally ranked in something, you will have an amazing Spike that distinguishes you.

Now known as: Personal Essay

Now, the dreaded personal statement. Boy, oh boy, did I fuss over this one.

"What is the perfect combination of personal, funny, heartrending, and inspirational?"

I know I was wondering this when I applied.

Having read books like 50 Successful Harvard Application Essays , I was frightened. I didn't grow up as a refugee, wrenched from my war-torn home! I didn't have a sibling with a debilitating illness! How could anything I write compare to these tales of personal strength?

The trite truth is that colleges want to know who you really are . Clearly they don't expect everyone to have had immense personal struggle. But they do want students who are:

• growth-oriented
• introspective
• kind and good-hearted

Whatever those words mean to you in the context of your life is what you should write about.

In retrospect, in the context of MY application, the personal statement really wasn't what got me into Harvard . I do think my Spike was nearly sufficient to get me admitted to every school in the country.

I say "nearly" because, even if you're world-class, schools do want to know you're not a jerk and that you're an interesting person (which is conveyed through your personal essay and letters of recommendation).

Back then, we had a set of different prompts :

What did you think?

I'm still cringing a bit. Parts of this are very smug (see /r/iamverysmart ), and if you want to punch the writer in the face, I don't blame you. I want to as well.

We'll get to areas of improvement later, but first, let's talk about what this personal essay did well.

As I said above, I saw the theme of the snooze button as a VEHICLE to showcase a few qualities I cared about :

1) I fancied myself a Renaissance man (obnoxious, I know) and wanted to become an inventor and creator . I showed this through mentioning different interests (Rubik's cube, chemistry, Nietzsche) and iterating through a few designs for an alarm clock (electric shocks, explosions, Shakespearean sonnet recitation).

2) My personality was whimsical and irreverent. I don't take life too seriously. The theme of the essay—battling an alarm clock—shows this well, in comparison to the gravitas of the typical student essay. I also found individual lines funny, like "All right, so I had violated the divine honor of the family and the tenets of Confucius." At once I acknowledge my Chinese heritage but also make light of the situation.

3) I was open to admitting weaknesses , which I think is refreshing among people taking college applications too seriously and trying too hard to impress. The frank admission of a realistic lazy habit—pushing the Snooze button—served as a nice foil to my academic honors and shows that I can be down-to-earth.

So you see how the snooze button acts as a vehicle to carry these major points and a lot of details, tied together to the same theme .

In the same way, The Walking Dead is NOT a zombie show—the zombie environment is a VEHICLE by which to show human drama and conflict. Packaging my points together under the snooze button theme makes it a lot more interesting than just outright saying "I'm such an interesting guy."

So overall, I believe the essay accomplishes my goals and the main points of what I wanted to convey about myself.

Note that this is just one of many ways to write an essay . It worked for me, but it may be totally inappropriate for you.

Now let's look at this essay's weaknesses.

Looking at it with a more seasoned perspective, some parts of it are WAY too try-hard. I try too hard to show off my breadth of knowledge in a way that seems artificial and embellishing.

The entire introduction with the Rubik's cube seems bolted on, just to describe my long-standing desire to be a Renaissance man. Only three paragraphs down do I get to the Snooze button, and I don't refer again to the introduction until the end. With just 650 words, I could have made the essay more cohesive by keeping the same theme from beginning to end.

Some phrases really make me roll my eyes. "Always hungry for more" and "ever the inventor" sound too forced and embellishing. A key principle of effective writing is to show, not say . You don't say "I'm passionate about X," you describe what extraordinary lengths you took to achieve X.

The mention of Nietzsche is over-the-top. I mean, come on. The reader probably thought, "OK, this kid just read it in English class and now he thinks he's a philosopher." The reader would be right.

The ending: "with the extra nine minutes, maybe I'll teach myself to cook fried rice" is silly. Where in the world did fried rice come from? I meant it as a nod to my Chinese heritage, but it's too sudden to work. I could have deleted the sentence and wrapped up the essay more cleanly.

So I have mixed feelings of my essay. I think it accomplished my major goals and showed the humorous, irreverent side of my personality well. However, it also gave the impression of a kid who thought he knew more than he did, a pseudo-sophisticate bordering on obnoxious. I still think it was a net positive.

At the end of the day, I believe the safest, surefire strategy is to develop a Spike so big that the importance of the Personal Essay pales in comparison to your achievements. You want your Personal Essay to be a supplement to your application, not the only reason you get in.

There are probably some cases where a well-rounded student writes an amazing Personal Essay and gets in through the strength of that. As a Hail Mary if you're a senior and can't improve your application further, this might work. But the results are very variable—some readers may love your essay, others may just think it's OK. Without a strong application to back it up, your mileage may vary.

This is a really fun section. Usually you don't get to read your letter of recommendation because you sign the FERPA waiver. I've also reached out to my letter writers to make sure they're ok with my showing this.

Teacher recommendations are incredibly important to your application. I would say that after your coursework/test scores and activities/honors, they're the 3 rd most important component of your application .

The average teacher sees thousands of students through a career, and so he or she is very well equipped to position you relative to all other students. Furthermore, your teachers are experienced adults—their impressions of you are much more reliable than your impressions of yourself (see my Personal Essay above). They can corroborate your entire Personal Narrative as an outside observer.

The most effective recommendation letters speak both to your academic strengths and to your personality. For the second factor, the teacher needs to have interacted with you meaningfully, ideally both in and out of class. Check out our guide on what makes for effective letters of recommendation .

Starting from sophomore year, I started thinking about whom I connected better with and chose to engage with those teachers more deeply . Because it's standard for colleges to require two teachers in different subjects, I made sure to engage with English and history teachers as well as math and science.

The minimum requirement for a good letter is someone who taught a class in which you did well. I got straight A's in my coursework, so this wasn't an issue.

Beyond this, I had to look for teachers who would be strong advocates for me on both an academic and personal level . These tended to be teachers I vibed more strongly with, and typically these were teachers who demonstrably cared about teaching. This was made clear by their enthusiasm, how they treated students, and how much they went above expectations to help.

I had a lot of teachers who really just phoned it in and treated their job perfunctorily—these people are likely to write pretty blasé letters.

A final note before reading my actual teacher evaluations— you should avoid getting in the mindset where you get to know teachers JUST because you want a good recommendation letter . Your teachers have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of students pass through, and it's much easier to detect insincerity than you think.

If you honestly like learning and are an enthusiastic, responsible, engaging student, a great recommendation letter will follow naturally. The horse should lead the cart.

Read my How to Get a 4.0 GPA for tips on how to interact with teachers in a genuine way that'll make them love you.

Teacher Letter #1: AP Chemistry Teacher

I took AP Chemistry in 10 th grade and had Miss Cherryl Vorak (now Mynster). She was young, having taught for fewer than 5 years when I had her. She was my favorite teacher throughout high school for these reasons:

• She was enthusiastic, very caring, and spent a lot of time helping struggling students. She exuded pride in her work and seemed to consider teaching her craft.
• She had a kind personality and was universally well liked by her students, even if they weren't doing so well. She was fair in her policies (it probably helped that science is more objective than English). She was also a younger teacher, and this helped her relate to kids more closely.
• She was my advocate for much of the US National Chemistry Olympiad stuff, and in this capacity I got to know her even better outside of class. She provided me a lot of training materials, helped me figure out college chemistry, and directed me to resources to learn more.

By the time of the letter writing, I had known her for two full years and engaged with her continuously, even when I wasn't taking a class with her in junior year. We'd build up a strong relationship over the course of many small interactions.

All of this flowed down to the recommendation you see here. Remember, the horse leads the cart.

First, we'll look at the teacher evaluation page. The Common Application now has 16 qualities to rate, rather than the 10 here. But they're largely the same.

You can see a very strong evaluation here, giving me the highest ratings possible for all qualities.

In today's Common Application, all of these Ratings are retained, aside from "Potential for Growth." Today's Common App also now includes Faculty Respect, Maturity, Leadership, Integrity, Reaction to Setbacks, Concern for Others, and TE Overall. You can tell that the updated Common App places a great emphasis on personality.

The most important point here: it is important to be ranked "One of the top few encountered in my career" for as many ratings as possible . If you're part of a big school, this is CRITICAL to distinguish yourself from other students. The more experienced and trustworthy the teacher, the more meaningful this is.

Again, it's a numbers game. Think about the 20,000+ high schools in the country housing 4 million+ high school students—how many people fit in the top 5% bucket?

Thus, being marked merely as Excellent (top 10%) is actually a negative rating , as far as admissions to top colleges is concerned. If you're in top 10%, and someone else with the SAME teacher recommender is being rated as "One of the top ever," it's really hard for the admissions officer to vouch for you over the other student.

You really want to make sure you're one of the best in your school class, if not one of the best the teacher has ever encountered. You'll see below how you can accomplish this.

Next, let's look at her letter.

As you read this, think— what are the interactions that would prompt the teacher to write a recommendation like this? This was a relationship built up in a period of over 2 years, with every small interaction adding to an overall larger impression.

You can see how seriously they take the letter because of all the underlining . This admissions reader underlined things that weren't even underlined in my application, like my US National Chemistry Olympiad awards. It's one thing for a student to claim things about himself—it's another to have a teacher put her reputation on the line to advocate for her student.

The letter here is very strong for a multitude of reasons. First, the length is notable —most letters are just a page long, but this is nearly two full pages , single spaced. This indicates not just her overall commitment to her students but also of her enthusiastic support for me as an applicant.

The structure is effective: first Miss Vorak talks about my academic accomplishments, then about my personal qualities and interactions, then a summary to the future. This is a perfect blend of what effective letters contain .

On the micro-level, her diction and phrasing are precise and effective . She makes my standing clear with specific statements : "youngest student…top excelling student among the two sections" and "one of twenty students in the nation." She's clear about describing why my achievements are notable and the effort I put in, like studying college-level chemistry and studying independently.

When describing my personality, she's exuberant and fleshes out a range of dimensions: "conscientious, motivated and responsible," "exhibits the qualities of a leader," "actively seeks new experiences," "charismatic," "balanced individual with a warm personality and sense of humor." You can see how she's really checking off all the qualities colleges care about.

Overall, Miss Vorak's letter perfectly supports my Personal Narrative —my love for science, my overall academic performance, and my personality. I'm flattered and grateful to have received this support. This letter was important to complement the overall academic performance and achievements shown on the rest of my application.

Teacher Letter #2: AP English Language Teacher

My second teacher Mrs. Swift was another favorite. A middle-aged, veteran English teacher, the best way I would describe her is "fiery." She was invigorating and passionate, always trying to get a rise out of students and push their thinking, especially in class discussions. Emotionally she was a reliable source of support for students.

First, the evaluation:

You can see right away that her remarks are terser. She didn't even fill out the section about "first words that come to mind to describe this student."

You might chalk this up to my not being as standout of a student in her mind, or her getting inundated with recommendation letter requests after over a decade of teaching.

In ratings, you can see that I only earned 3 of the "one of the top in my career." There are a few explanations for this. As a teacher's career lengthens, it gets increasingly hard to earn this mark. I probably also didn't stand out as much as I did to my Chemistry teacher—most of my achievement was in science (which she wasn't closely connected to), and I had talented classmates. Regardless, I did appreciate the 3 marks she gave me.

Now, the letter. Once again, as you read this letter, think: what are the hundreds of micro-interactions that would have made a teacher write a letter like this?

Overall, this letter is very strong. It's only one page long, but her points about my personality are the critical piece of this recommendation. She also writes with the flair of an English teacher:

"In other situations where students would never speak their minds, he showed no hesitation to voice questions, thoughts, and ideas."

"controversial positions often being the spark that set off the entire class"

"ability to take the quiet and shy student and actively engage"…"went out of my way to partner him with other students who needed"

"strength of conviction"…"raw, unbridled passion"…"He will argue on any topic that has touched a nerve."

These comments most support the personality aspect of my Personal Narrative—having an irreverent, bold personality and not being afraid of speaking my mind. She stops just short of making me sound obnoxious and argumentative. An experienced teacher vouching for this adds so much more weight than just my writing it about myself.

Teacher recommendations are some of the most important components of your application. Getting very strong letters take a lot of sustained, genuine interaction over time to build mutual trust and respect. If you want detailed advice on how to interact with teachers earnestly, check out my How to Get a 4.0 GPA and Better Grades guide .

Let's go to the final recommendation, from the school counselor.

Now known as: School Report

The first piece of this is reporting your academic status and how the school works overall. There's not much to say here, other than the fact that my Principal wrote my recommendation for me, which we'll get into next.

Counselor Recommendation

Now known as: Counselor Recommendation

Let's talk about my school principal writing my recommendation, rather than a school counselor.

This was definitely advantageous—remember how, way up top in Educational Data, the reader circled the "Principal." Our Principal only wrote a handful of these recommendations each year , often for people who worked closely with him, like student body presidents. So it was pretty distinctive that I got a letter from our Principal, compared to other leading applicants from my school.

This was also a blessing because our counseling department was terrible . Our school had nearly 1,000 students per grade, and only 1 counselor per grade. They were overworked and ornery, and because they were the gatekeepers of academic enrollment (like class selection and prerequisites), this led to constant frictions in getting the classes you wanted.

I can empathize with them, because having 500+ neurotic parents pushing for advantages for their own kids can get REALLY annoying really fast. But the counseling department was still the worst part of our high school administration, and I could have guessed that the letters they wrote were mediocre because they just had too many students.

So how did my Principal come to write my recommendation and not those for hundreds of other students?

I don't remember exactly how this came to be, to be honest. I didn't strategize to have him write a letter for me years in advance. I didn't even interact with him much at all until junior year, when I got on his radar because of my national rankings. Come senior year I might have talked to him about my difficulty in reaching counselors and asked that he write my recommendation. Since I was a top student he was probably happy to do this.

He was very supportive, but as you can tell from the letter to come, it was clear he didn't know me that well.

Interestingly, the prompt for the recommendation has changed. It used to start with: "Please write whatever you think is important about this student."

Now, it starts with: " Please provide comments that will help us differentiate this student from others ."

The purpose of the recommendation has shifted to the specific: colleges probably found that one counselor was serving hundreds of students, so the letters started getting mushy and indistinguishable from each other.

Here's the letter:

This letter is probably the weakest overall of all my letters. It reads more like a verbal resume than a personal account of how he understands me.

Unlike my two teacher recommendations, he doesn't comment on the nature of our interactions or about my personality (because he truly didn't understand them well). He also misreported by SAT score as 1530 instead of 1600 (I did score a 1530 in an early test, but my 1600 was ready by January 2004, so I don't know what source he was using).

Notably, the letter writer didn't underline anything.

I still appreciate that he wrote my letter, and it was probably more effective than a generic counselor letter. But this didn't add much to my application.

At this point, we've covered my entire Common Application. This is the same application I sent to every school I applied to, including Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford. Thanks for reading this far—I hope you've gotten a lot out of this already.

If you keep reading to the end, I'll have advice for both younger students and current applicants to build the strongest application possible.

Next, we'll go over the Harvard Supplemental Application, which of course is unique to Harvard.

For most top colleges like Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, and so on, you will need to complete a supplemental application to provide more info than what's listed on the Common Application.

Harvard was and is the same. The good news is that it's an extra chance for you to share more about yourself and keep pushing your Personal Narrative.

There are four major components here:

• The application form
• Writing supplement essay
• Supplementary recommendations
• Supplemental application materials

I'll take you through the application section by section.

Harvard Supplement Form

First, the straightforward info and questions.

This section is pretty straightforward and is similar to what you'd see on a Columbia application.

I planned to live in a Harvard residence, as most students do.

Just as in my Common App, I noted that I was most likely to study biological sciences, choose Medicine as my vocation, and participate in orchestra, writing, and research as my extracurriculars. Nothing surprising here—it's all part of my Personal Narrative.

Interestingly, at the time I was "absolutely certain" about my vocational goals, which clearly took a detour once I left medical school to pursue entrepreneurship to create PrepScholar...

I had the space to list some additional honors, where I listed some musical honors that didn't make the cut in my Common App.

Here are the next two pages of the Harvard supplemental form.

The most interesting note here is that the admissions officer wrote a question mark above "Music tape or CD." Clearly this was inconsistent with my Personal Narrative —if violin was such an important part of my story, why didn't I want to include it?

The reason was that I was actually pretty mediocre at violin and was nowhere near national-ranked. Again, remember how many concertmasters in the thousands of orchestras there are in the world—I wasn't good enough to even be in the top 3 chairs in my school orchestra (violin was very competitive).

I wanted to focus attention on my most important materials, which for my Personal Narrative meant my research work. You'll see these supplementary materials later.

Additional Essays

Now known as: Writing Supplement

For the most part, the Harvard supplemental essay prompt has stayed the same. You can write about a topic of your choice or about any of the suggestions. There are now two more prompts that weren't previously there: "What you would want your future college roommate to know about you" and "How you hope to use your college education."

Even though this is optional, I highly recommend you write something here. Again, you have so few chances in the overall application to convey your personal voice—an extra 500 words gives you a huge opportunity. I would guess that the majority of admitted Harvard students submit a Writing Supplement.

After a lot of brainstorming, I settled on the idea that I wanted to balance my application by writing about the major non-academic piece of my Personal Narrative—my music training . Also, I don't think I explicitly recognized this at the time, but I wanted to distance myself from the Asian-American stereotype—driven entirely by parent pressure, doing most things perfunctorily and without interest. I wanted to show I'd broken out of that mold.

Here's my essay:

Reading it now, I actually think this was a pretty bad essay, and I cringe to high heaven. But once again, let's focus on the positive first.

I used my violin teacher as a vehicle for talking about what the violin meant to me. (You can tell I love the concept of the vehicle in essays.) He represented passion for the violin—I represented my academic priorities. Our personal conflict was really the conflict between what we represented.

By the end of the essay, I'd articulated the value of musical training to me—it was cathartic and a way to balance my hard academic pursuits.

Halfway in the essay, I also explicitly acknowledged the Asian stereotype of parents who drove their kids, and said my parents were no different. The reader underlined this sentence. By pointing this out and showing how my interest took on a life of its own, I wanted to distance myself from that stereotype.

So overall I think my aims were accomplished.

Despite all that, this essay was WAY overdramatic and overwrought . Some especially terrible lines:

"I was playing for that cathartic moment when I could feel Tchaikovsky himself looking over my shoulder."

"I was wandering through the fog in search of a lighthouse, finally setting foot on a dock pervaded by white light."

OK, please. Who really honestly feels this way? This is clumsy, contrived writing. It signals insincerity, actually, which is bad.

To be fair, all of this is grounded in truth. I did have a strict violin teacher who did get pretty upset when I showed lack of improvement. I did appreciate music as a diversion to round out my academic focus. I did practice hard each day, and I did have a pretty gross callus on my pinky.

But I would have done far better by making it more sincere and less overworked.

As an applicant, you're tempted to try so hard to impress your reader. You want to show that you're Worthy of Consideration. But really the best approach is to be honest.

I think this essay was probably neutral to my application, not a strong net positive or net negative.

Supplementary Recommendations

Harvard lets you submit letters from up to two Other Recommenders. The Princeton application, Penn application, and others are usually the same.

Unlike the other optional components (the Additional Information in the Common App, and the Supplementary Essay), I would actually consider these letters optional. The reader gets most of the recommendation value from your teacher recommendations—these are really supplementary.

A worthwhile Other Recommender:

• has supervised an activity or honor that is noteworthy
• has interacted with you extensively and can speak to your personality
• is likely to support you as one of the best students they've interacted with

If your Other Recommenders don't fulfill one or more of these categories, do NOT ask for supplementary letters. They'll dilute your application without adding substantively to it.

To beat a dead horse, the primary component of my Personal Narrative was my science and research work. So naturally I chose supervisors for my two major research experiences to write supplemental letters.

First was the Director of Research Science Institute (the selective summer research program at MIT). The second was from the head of Jisan Research Institute, where I did Computer Science research.

This letter validates my participation in RSI and incorporates the feedback from my research mentor, David Simon. At the time, the RSI students were the most talented students I had met, so I'm also flattered by some of the things the letter writer said, like "Allen stood out early on as a strong performer in academic settings."

I didn't get to know the letter writer super well, so he commented mainly on my academic qualifications and comments from my mentor.

My mentor, who was at one of the major Harvard-affiliated hospitals, said some very nice things about my research ability, like:

"is performing in many ways at the level of a graduate student"

"impressed with Allen's ability to read even advanced scientific publications and synthesize his understanding"

Once again, it's much more convincing for a seasoned expert to vouch for your abilities than for you to claim your own abilities.

My first research experience was done at Jisan Research Institute, a small private computer science lab run by a Caltech PhD. The research staff were mainly high school students like me and a few grad students/postdocs.

My research supervisor, Sanza Kazadi, wrote the letter. He's requested that I not publish the letter, so I'll only speak about his main points.

In the letter, he focused on the quality of my work and leadership. He said that I had a strong focus in my work, and my research moved along more reliably than that of other students. I was independent in my work in swarm engineering, he says, putting together a simulation of the swarm and publishing a paper in conference proceedings. He talked about my work in leading a research group and placing a high degree of trust in me.

Overall, a strong recommendation, and you get the gist of his letter without reading it.

One notable point—both supplemental letters had no marks on them. I really think this means they place less emphasis on the supplementary recommendations, compared to the teacher recommendations.

Finally, finally, we get to the very last piece of my application.

Let me beat the dead horse even deader. Because research was such a core part of my Personal Narrative, I decided to include abstracts of both of my papers. The main point was to summarize the body of work I'd done and communicate the major results.

As Harvard says, "These materials are entirely optional; please only submit them if you have unusual talents."

This is why I chose not to submit a tape of my music: I don't think my musical skill was unusually good.

And frankly, I don't think my research work was that spectacular. Unlike some of my very accomplished classmates, I hadn't ranked nationally in prestigious competitions like ISEF and Siemens. I hadn't published my work in prominent journals.

Regardless, I thought these additions would be net positive, if only marginally so.

I made sure to note where the papers had been published or were entering competitions, just to ground the work in some achievement.

Recommendation Letters: Hopefully you should have developed strong, genuine relationships with teachers you care about. The letters should flow naturally from here, and you will only need to do gentle prodding to make sure they meet deadlines.

Keep Reading

At PrepScholar, we've published the best guides available anywhere to help you succeed in high school and college admissions.

Here's a sampling of our most popular articles:

How to Get a Perfect SAT Score / Perfect ACT Score —Learn the strategies I used to get a perfect 1600 on the SAT, and a perfect 36 on the ACT.

SAT 800 Series: Reading | Math | Writing —Learn important strategies to excel in each section of the SAT.

ACT 36 Series: English | Math | Reading | Science —Learn how to get a perfect 36 on each section of the ACT.

How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League —The foundational guide where I discuss the philosophy behind what colleges are looking for, how to develop a Spike, and why being well-rounded is the path to rejection.

How to Get a 4.0 GPA and Better Grades —Are you struggling with getting strong grades in challenging coursework? I step you through all the major concepts you need to excel in school, from high-level mindset to individual class strategies.

As co-founder and head of product design at PrepScholar, Allen has guided thousands of students to success in SAT/ACT prep and college admissions. He's committed to providing the highest quality resources to help you succeed. Allen graduated from Harvard University summa cum laude and earned two perfect scores on the SAT (1600 in 2004, and 2400 in 2014) and a perfect score on the ACT. You can also find Allen on his personal website, Shortform , or the Shortform blog .

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How to Write a Letter to a College Admissions Office

Reviewed by:

Former Admissions Committee Member, Columbia University

Reviewed: 4/25/24

Writing a letter to a college admissions office may seem scary at first. You may be asking, how do I make a good impression? What’s an appropriate reason to send a letter to a college admissions office? How do I show I really care about this school? What’s the best way to ask for application assistance? 

If you’re asking these questions about writing a letter to a college admissions office, you’re in the right place. Read on for answers to these questions, as well as more tips for contacting a college admissions office. 

Reasons to Contact a College Admissions Office

There are several reasons to contact a college admissions office or counselor, and many may overlap. The two main reasons, though, are to demonstrate interest in the school and get application assistance.

Demonstrated interest is how colleges measure how interested a student is in a particular school. Not every school considers this during the admissions process, but many do, and contacting a college admissions office can be one method of demonstrating interest.

A 2019 National Association for College Admission Counseling study showed that 16.1% of schools considered demonstrated interest of considerable importance in the admissions process, 23.9% considered it of moderate importance, 38.0% limited importance, and 32.1% considered it to be of no importance in the admissions process.

So, 78.0% of colleges and universities consider demonstrated interest during the admissions process—at least in some capacity. Colleges want to know you care about what unique opportunities they have to offer, not just that you want to attend college in general. 

According to Forbes , “Reaching out to the school to ask intelligent questions judging whether it is a good fit is a good idea. You can also use an email to explain why you are unable to visit the campus and ask what alternatives there are.” By doing this, you’ll show the school you care, and you’ll get a better sense of whether that school is the right place for you.

Don’t overuse emails for this purpose,  as you don’t want to bombard admissions officers or seem helpless. So, ensure you’re thoughtful and careful about what emails you send to admissions officers when demonstrating interest in the school. 

Another reason you may contact a college admissions office is in regards to your application. If there’s a deadline approaching, and you need to confirm the college received a certain piece of information, such as a transcript or a letter of recommendation, you can reach out and ask if the office received that piece of your application.

If you email your college admissions officer regarding your application, make sure you are not asking for information posted elsewhere. If you ask a question that is clearly answered on the application platform, it might negatively impact your application. 

However, if you can’t find the answer to a question, don’t be nervous to reach out. If the information you’re looking for is not readily available on the school’s website, then it’s something you can reach out to the college admissions office about.

Emails vs. Letters

In the digital world, it can be hard to know which communication platform you should use. Online platforms are usually more convenient than physical letters, but there are still advantages to sending a letter. 

If you are asking a specific question regarding your application, an email is the better option. It’s more convenient for you and the college admissions office, and you’ll probably get a much faster reply, especially if you’re asking a time-sensitive question. 

However, if you want to inquire about specific aspects of the school, you may want to consider writing a physical letter. A lot of people consider a physical letter to be more personal, especially in the digital age, so this can be a good way to set yourself apart in the application process.

Overall, it’s important to first consider why you’re contacting the college admissions office before you decide whether to write an email or letter. An email is more convenient and will usually result in a much faster response, but a letter can seem more personal.

How to Format Your Letter

You may wonder  how to write a letter to the college admissions office. First, we’ll cover some etiquette tips, then we’ll cover how to write each piece of the email. The Princeton Review has some great tips for writing letters or emails to college admissions offices.

“Keep it short!”

While you want to make a good first impression with your email, it’s important not to use this email to brag about yourself. By asking intelligent questions the school’s website doesn’t already answer, you will show ambition and intellect, so there’s no need to include other details about yourself. Keep it short and to the point.

“Introduce yourself.”

While you want to keep your email short, you also want the college admissions office to know who you are. Include your name, high school graduation year, high school name, and home address in the first part of your email. This is especially important if you’re asking a question about your application—you don’t want the admissions officer to have to search for your information. Plus, if your email makes a good impression, this will make it easier for them to remember you.

“Check for spelling and grammatical mistakes.”

We can’t overstate how important this is. If your email or letter has any spelling or grammatical errors, your email will seem much less formal and mature. Ensuring your letter or email has no typos shows a lot of care, which is what college admissions offices want to see from you. 

One way to approach this is by typing your email in a document first. You can read it out loud to spot grammatical errors. You can also put it in a different font and color to check for spelling and grammatical errors, because changing the way it looks helps your brain pick up on any mistakes. 

“Be professional.”

To be professional, you must evaluate more than just your email or letter’s content. You must consider your subject line, introduction, signature, and even your email address. 

Don’t use any slang. If your email address includes slang, nicknames, or anything other than a form of your name, consider creating a new email account for communicating with colleges. 

Now that we’ve covered some general tips to keep in mind when corresponding with a college admissions office, let’s go over each individual piece of your letter or email. 

Subject Line

This may seem like an unimportant piece of your email, but ensure your subject line is also direct, to the point, and professional—just like the rest of your correspondence. Try to communicate exactly what you’re asking in as few words as possible.

For example, let’s say you want to ask about diversity initiatives at Duke University. You could title your email, “Question About Diversity Initiatives at Duke University,” but that’s an awfully long title. Plus, if you’re emailing the admissions office at Duke, they know you’re asking about their school, so there’s no need to include that in the subject line. Instead, aim for something more like, “Diversity Initiatives Question.”

Introduction

Other than your subject line, your introduction is your first opportunity to show you are mature and intelligent. This may seem like a lot of pressure for the first few words, but there is a world of difference between saying, “Hi to whom this may concern,” and “Good morning, Mrs. Brown.”

First, let’s talk about your greeting. Be formal, proper, and kind. Don’t use the same sort of language that you would use when texting your friends. For example, you wouldn’t want to start with “hi,” or “hey,” but saying, “Hello,” or “Good morning,” is appropriate. 

Ideally, use your admissions officer’s name in the introduction of your name, instead of a more general “to whom it may concern.” This is not always available on the college or university’s website, but by the time you’re a high school senior, you’ve probably been in contact with the colleges you want to apply to. Usually, a specific college admissions officer will have reached out to you. You can try to find their name from correspondences like those.

So, with those two pieces, your introduction should look something like this:

“Hello, Mr. Miller,”

“Good afternoon, Ms. Marie,”

This is where the bulk of your email will be. The first thing you want to do is introduce yourself to the admissions officer—even if you’ve already corresponded before. Admissions officers receive hundreds of emails a day, so it’s helpful to include your basic information at the beginning. 

After you introduce yourself, go straight into your question. If it’s a question regarding your application, explain the confusion or problem and include the due date if it’s time-sensitive. If you want to confirm the university received a certain piece of your application, you can phrase it something like this:

“While polishing up my application, I noticed that it hasn’t been confirmed that my letters of recommendation have been received. To make sure I have submitted all aspects of my application before the January 1st deadline, is there any way you could confirm whether the school has received my letters of recommendation? Thank you so much for your help, I appreciate it.”

The purpose of your email or letter may not be to confirm information about your application. Instead, you may want to demonstrate interest in the school ask about a specific aspect of the school you want to know more about, or some combination of these. What then?

The most important thing about writing an email or letter like that is to research beforehand. If you reach out to ask general questions that are already answered on the school’s website, you’re not going to make a very good impression. 

Here’s a list of topics to avoid asking about when reaching out to a college admissions office (though this is not an exhaustive list):

• What the college looks for in applicants
• Tuition rates
• Acceptance rates
• Lists of offered majors & minors

Essentially, you want to ask specific questions showing your ambitions and also that you’ve done adequate research on the school. You can ask about specific opportunities within specific majors or programs, details about student life that are not already listed, and more. 

When writing questions like these, remember our earlier advice: be professional and to the point, but let your voice shine through so you don’t sound like a robot. Your natural personality will make a great first impression.

At the end of your correspondence’s body, it’s vital to thank your admissions officer for taking the time to help you and answer your questions. It’s a kind thing to do and reflects back upon you as a kind person.

Much like your introduction, your signature may seem like an inconsequential part of your correspondence. But just like your introduction, that’s not true. Your signature can display professionalism and maturity just like the rest of your email or letter can. Use an appropriate sign-off, such as “Best,” “Warm regards” or “Sincerely,” and sign your name. You can also add alternate contact information (such as a phone number) after your name, just in case the school needs another way to contact you.

Sample Letters and Emails to College Admissions Offices

These sample letters should give you a great idea how to format your own letters.

Example Letter No. 1:

“Hello Mr. White,

My name is Jack Hummer, and I’m a senior at Amity High School. I hope to major in Environmental Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the fall of 2023, and am working on polishing up my application before the January 7th due date. 

I was thrilled to see all the research opportunities for Environmental Engineering, and I was wondering if there were any specific research opportunities for first-year students in that program?

I would also love to double major in Environmental Engineering and Anthropology; would this be possible in four years?

Thank you so much for your help!

Warm regards,

Jack Hummer”

Example Letter No. 2:

“Dear Ms. Smith, 

My name is Sarah Dill, and I will be graduating from Tacoma High School in the spring of 2022. I am planning on studying Linguistics at Princeton University, and I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me. 

I was particularly interested in the Field Methods aspect of the Linguistics program. How are students connected with native speakers of the language they choose to study? Are only specific languages offered?

Additionally, I am curious about the Program in Teacher Preparation. Does this program work with your major over the course of four years or is it a shorter program that you complete separately? 

I greatly appreciate your time and assistance. Thank you.

Sarah Dill”

Example Email No. 1:

“Good afternoon Ms. Lewis,

My name is Anthony King. I will be graduating from Shorecrest Preparatory School in the spring, and I am finishing up my application for Columbia University before the Early Decision deadline on November 1st. 

I noticed that the university has not confirmed they received one of my letters of recommendation from my teacher, Mr. Weber. To my knowledge, he has submitted his letter within the application portal. Would it be possible for you to confirm whether or not this letter of recommendation has been received for my application?

Thank you so much for your time and help.

Best regards,

Anthony King”

Example Email No. 2:

“Good morning Mr. Teel,

My name is Maxton Morrison, and I am a senior at Renaissance High School. I am applying to Northwestern University, and I was hoping you could answer a question for me. 

I was polishing up my application for the December 1st due date, but I noticed that it has not been confirmed that the school has received my ACT scores from April of 2020. Could you possibly confirm for me whether the school has received these scores yet?

Thank you for your help in this matter.

Maxton Morrison”

Contacting a college admissions office can be beneficial for a multitude of reasons, whether you actually need assistance with your application or you just want to learn more and demonstrate interest in the school. As long as you use the advice in this guide, sending a letter or an email will be a breeze.

And remember: don’t forget to proofread.

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What Do Admission Committees Look For in College Applicants?

When it comes time for your college or graduate school search, the application process can be the most daunting part. From asking for recommendation letters to writing a stellar essay, applying to college is no walk in the park, especially when you're juggling multiple applications at once. After finally submitting your application, you may be ready to take a deep breath and relax. But even still, you may find yourself asking questions such as, what will the admissions committee think of my application? Was my application good enough? Understanding what admissions looks for in applicants can help you craft a stellar application.

What Do Admissions Committees Look For in College Applicants?

College applications ask for a variety of information and materials, which may initially feel overwhelming. However, it's essential to view this process as your opportunity to personalize your application and showcase your unique strengths, interests, and experiences. College admissions officers typically look for a combination of academic achievements, extracurricular activities, personal qualities, and unique experiences, taking a holistic approach to evaluating college applicants. In this blog, we'll go over each criteria the admissions committee considers when reviewing college applications so that you can feel confident in your submission.

1. Academic performance

As you probably already know, a key component to a college application is academic performance . Whether you're applying to college from high school or looking to earn your master’s degree, there are several grade criteria that admissions take into consideration. Not only is your GPA considered, but the types of courses you took plays an important role. Taking rigorous courses such as AP courses in high school or upper-level courses in college will strengthen your academic profile. The admissions committee wants to see evidence of strong academic performance and the ability to handle college-level coursework.

2. Essays and personal statements

Essay prompts and personal statements are a common aspect of a college application. Personal statements and essays allow you as an applicant to showcase your personality, passions, interests, and writing abilities. These writing assignments are an excellent opportunity for you to show why you’d be a great fit for the college program you’re applying to. Admissions officers look for essays that are authentic, well-written, and demonstrate self-reflection. They also look to determine how the program will help you meet your goals. Be creative and most importantly, be yourself so that your essay can be compelling, memorable, and an accurate reflection of who you are.

3. Letters of recommendation

A letter of recommendation is your chance to further support your application from a different perspective. Letters of recommendation from teachers, counselors, coaches, supervisors, or mentors provide insights into an applicants' character, work ethic, and potential for success in college. A recommendation letter can offer anecdotes, examples, and observations that test scores and essays can’t. When requesting recommendation letters , ask academic or professional sources that you have developed a meaningful connection with and who can provide positive insights about your character and abilities. Strong letters of recommendation can help applicants stand out.

4. Extracurricular activities

Being involved in extracurricular activities can help demonstrate your well-roundedness and passions, which will further strengthen your application. Admissions committees will get a greater sense of who you are and what you are interested in, which can help them determine whether you’d be a good fit for the program. They also look to see how you are able to balance activity involvement with academics. If you’re involved in a few extracurriculars, be sure to highlight them in your application, whether it's a sports team, student club, volunteer work, or an internship.

5. Demonstrated interest

Another important factor that admission committee’s take into consideration when evaluating college applications is the students interest in the school and program they’re applying to. The committee wants to see a student’s demonstrated interest as it can help them determine that the student will fit with the campus culture and community, and that they are more likely to enroll in the school. Applying early, expressing your eagerness in your essays, showing off your knowledge of the school or program you're applying to, and attending college events such as open houses or information sessions are all ways you can demonstrate your interest to the committee.

Tips for Crafting a Standout College Application

Now that you have a better understanding of what goes on in the admissions process, here are a few tips to help you craft a standout college application.

1. Make your application strong where you can

Overall, the review of college applications by admissions is typically a holistic process and no single factor determines admission. If you feel that your application might be lacking in an area or two, you can likely compensate for it by showcasing strength elsewhere. If you have great writing skills, be sure to write a stellar essay. Or, if you participated in different extracurricular activities, highlight your accomplishments in your application. Be sure to make your application as strong as possible where you can.

2. Proofread

It may seem simple, but proofreading not just your essay, but all of your application material is a crucial part of your college application. Be sure to read over your personal statement, resume, essays, and any forms you fill out for any grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Having a second pair of eyes can be helpful to catch any mistakes you may have missed, so don’t hesitate to ask a friend, family member, or teacher for help.

3. Stay organized

Chances are you aren’t applying to just one college. You may have a few top choices for universities you’d like to attend on your radar, and a few backup options for extra measure. Having several applications you're working on is even more reason to stay organized. Keep track of application deadlines, requirements, and submission materials for each college you're applying to. You can create a checklist or use a planner to stay organized throughout the process.

Create an outstanding college application

Crafting a great college application can be challenging, but understanding key components and guidelines can make the process easier and less stressful. When completing your application, try to do your best for each component and emphasize your strengths. All in all, the admissions committee simply wants to see if you’d be a good fit for the school, and having a strong application that aligns with your goals and the program will help you stand out. If you’re ready to begin the next step in your academic journey, apply to one of NJIT’s top-STEM programs today .