A few tips for college?

[reuben_tate]

There has been a lot of things that have been mentioned already regarding college admissions so I'm not going to repeat those.

However, one thing that hasn't been said yet is regarding recommendation letters (if any of your college applications requires one of those). Regarding recommendation letters:
1) Give your letter writers at least a week to write a letter, a month if you want to be safe.
2) Check up on your letter writer towards the end of the deadline and give them a gentle reminder if they need it.
3) Choose a teacher that you are in good standing with and can say a lot of things about you not only as a student but as an individual. Simply getting an 'A' in their class is not enough, this needs to be a teacher that knows you on nearly a personal level, that you've had conversations with, etc.
4) Your letter writer need not be a teacher necessarily. Sometimes it might be a good idea to have your school counselor write one if you know your counselor well or if you are in any clubs/sports, getting your adviser/coach to write a letter for you might be a good idea. Bonus points if that advisor also happens to be a teacher you've had a class with.
5) This one is hard to gauge, but you want to find a teacher that isn't lazy. Even if your teacher thinks you are the best student in the world, if they are also the laziest teacher in the world, they might write you a lazy recommendation letter. Just something to consider.
6) ALWAYS waive your right to read your recommendation letters. By waiving your rights, the letters your letter writers write gain credibility since they have the ability to write freely without having to worry about the student reading the letter they wrote.