Letters of recommendation

We review a lot of information when considering a student’s application to our schools to figure out if we’re a good fit for you and vice versa. Each component provides us with valuable insights into who you will potentially be as a student and community member in our schools. Along with your standardized tests and transcript, your letters of recommendation provide us with important information about who you are as a student currently and what kind of student you might be in the future. While your test scores and transcript give us important quantitative information on your potential, numbers can only tell us so much about who you are as a student. We know that there’s always more to a person than numbers and that’s why letters of recommendations are so important. 

What letters of recommendations are required?

For the MABS schools and most other independent boarding schools, you’re required to submit a letter of recommendation from your current English teacher, your current math teacher and one from a school administrator such as your guidance counselor or placement counselor, your head of school or your middle school head, depending on the process that your school follows. The English and math recommendations give us a ground level of how you’ve done in the classroom space in two different disciplines. We ask for recommendations in these two areas because we’ve come to recognize that your proficiency in these two areas will affect how you do overall at our schools academically. Whereas science and history tend to have a more topical approach, English and Math have a cumulative dynamic making it harder to catch up if you don’t have a strong foundation in these areas. The third letter of recommendation from a school administrator gives us a 30,000 feet view of how you’ve engaged at your school overall as a community member and student.

What if my teachers don’t know me well or I’ve had a difficult relationship with them?

Unfortunately, we require these letters of recommendations for the reasons shared above. If you’ve had a rocky relationship with a teacher, it might be worth your while to connect with your teacher and have a conversation with them about how the year has gone and iron out those differences to your best ability. If you’re concerned and feel like any of the teachers who are required to submit a letter of recommendation on your behalf won’t have a full picture of you, you can reach to the schools to which you’re applying to see what they recommend. You can also ask another teacher from another discipline to submit something on your behalf as an additional letter of recommendation.

Can I submit extra letters of recommendations?

You can but it is important to not overdo it. An additional letter of recommendation should highlight something else that is important about you as a person that wouldn’t otherwise be captured in your required letters of recommendations. At our schools, your engagement goes beyond the classroom so if you have demonstrated leadership and engagement in an area outside of class, you can think about having the adult who’s worked closely with you in that area write something on your behalf. It’s important to be strategic and thoughtful about who you ask and how many you submit because we can’t guarantee that we’ll read more than a few additional ones as our reading loads are high. Furthermore, in some cases it can send the wrong message if you send too many as we might wonder why you need so many additional letters to make your case.

Tips for requesting letters of recommendations

First, it’s a good idea to give your teachers and school administrators enough time to write good letters on your behalf so give them plenty of notice. The earlier you ask, the more time they have to reflect and write a thoughtful narrative about you. I recommend asking at least three to four  weeks in advance of the deadline so with January 15th being the standard deadline for the MABS schools and most other boarding schools, you should reach out to your teachers and school administrator by mid-December if you haven’t already done so.

Second, as with all other areas of life, good manners go a long way in this process. I would encourage you to have some quality small talk with your teachers and school administrator when you ask. Talk to them about why you’re interested in boarding school, what you’ve enjoyed about their class, and so on. Don’t just approach your teacher and ask them to write a letter for you. Also share with them the logistics of how they actually complete your recommendation so it’s important to understand how that works ahead of time from whatever application platform you’re using. Typically, you will input their information in your portal and your application platform will send them an invitation to complete the form and upload a letter if they would like. After the application deadline, be sure to send a thank you note for their time and update them on how the process played out and where you decided to enroll.

Third, keep track of when your teachers submit their recommendations. Teachers have a lot on their plates and if you’re at a school where it’s uncommon for students to apply to boarding school, completing a letter of recommendation is not a routine task for them. If they haven’t submitted anything for you about one and a half to two weeks out from the application deadline, circle back to them with a friendly reminder. If your teacher hasn’t completed by the application deadline, touch base with them again and also reach out to the schools to which you’re applying to let us know. We won’t penalize you for something that you can’t completely control, but it’s important for us to be aware of the situation so we can keep your application status active.

Tran Kim-Senior Senior Associate Director of Admission  Episcopal High School