LETTERS OF
RECOMMENDATIONS PROTOCOL
When you find out from the college you are applying to that you are required to have a letter of recommendation as part of your application package, there are several things for you to know.
1) The teacher should be someone who taught you within your junior or senior year. This teacher should also know you well and should be able to write about your abilities as a high school student and your potential for college success.
2) The school counselor should be your assigned school counselor.
3) If they allow someone else besides a teacher and/or a school counselor, you should choose an adult that has observed you either in a work or volunteer environment or in an activity such as a team sport or performing arts.
4) The letter should not be from a friend or relative or someone from your middle school activities.
5)
As soon as you know you need a letter, pick up
the Letter of Recommendation Request Form in the
6) Teachers and school counselors both require at least two weeks to write the letter of recommendation. More time is appreciated. (If you bring the request in less time than our requirement, we will still complete this for you, but it will not be guaranteed to be mailed in by the college’s deadline.)
7) Students are required to take care of the mailing. You can provide the teacher(s) and/or school counselors with the addressed and stamped envelopes and they can mail. Or you can pick up the sealed materials and mail them yourself.
COLLEGE
APPLICATIONS PROTOCAL
The summer before your senior year is a good time to find out when college applications and the supplemental materials are due. You will decide if you are going to do the early application deadlines or the regular deadlines. Once you decide what colleges you are applying to and know when their deadlines are you will want to consider the following:
1) Check to see if there is a teacher or school counselor section on the application. Or see if there are supplemental forms that the teacher or the school counselor needs to fill out.
2) Fill out your personal information on the supplement form.
3) Make an appointment with the teacher(s) and/or school counselor. Bring your application for it to be completed at the appointment, or the supplement form, along with an addressed and stamped envelope for mailing. Or you can pick up the sealed materials and mail them yourself.
4) Teachers and school counselors both require at least two weeks to complete college application supplement forms. (If you bring the request in less time than our requirement, we will still complete this for you, but it will not be guaranteed to be mailed in by the college’s deadline.)
MID-YEAR REPORTS
PROTOCAL
If the college you applied to requires a Mid-Year Report from your school, you will need to follow these directions:
1) Print out the Mid-Year Report form.
2) Fill out your personal information on the top section.
3) Bring the form along with an addressed and stamped envelope to your school counselor.
4) The school counselor will complete when final grades from 1st semester are inputted on your transcript. This date is usually the 1st week of February. Schools that have a January deadline will have to realize that your 1st semester has not ended.
5) The school counselor will mail it out when complete if you have given them the addressed and stamped envelope. If not, you will need to come pick it up at their office to mail it yourself.
OFFICIAL
TRANSCRIPTS PROTOCAL
All colleges will want your most current official transcript as part of your application materials, including the Mid-Year Report. Although many of the college applications state in the school counselor section for the school counselor to provide these, we require Sheldon students to order them themselves.
1) Go to the Registrar’s office in the main office area.
2) Sign up for the amount of official transcripts that you need.
3) Pay $1.00 per official transcript. Pay $2.00 if you want the Registrar to mail it for you.
4) Note on the sign up sheet if you want the Registrar to give the official transcripts to the school counselor to be added into their mailing. (Make sure that the envelope you have provided has enough stamps to adequately mail all of the materials.)
5)
If you sign up by
THANK
YOU NOTES
No one expects a thank you note, but a really nice thing to do is to send one to the teachers and any outside employer or supervisor who wrote you a letter of recommendation. Also, don’t forget to write thank you notes to anyone supplying you with a scholarship!!