## Introduction [00:00] All right, welcome, welcome, welcome everybody. I'm coach Hart with Eagle Rock and I have a, you know, an interesting training today. It's on letters of recommendations. I'm going to talk to you all about letters of recommendations and may probably many of you don't really necessarily think about that, but it is that time of the month where students are going to start we're going to actually start working with students on their applications. That normally starts in April and we go for 6 months and we keep going until the last very last application of our students are are filled out. So thank you very much for showing up tonight and being part of this particular presentation. I really do hope that you get a lot out of it. Now one thing is I always for me I love to get reactions. So if you guys could do me a favor if you can see my slideshow if you could give me a red heart, that would be great and so that awesome. Okay, great. Again, I always do that because it's I like to see the floating stuff coming through. So thank you so much and again if you have any questions, let me know. So I'm going to go ahead and get started here. Basically this is going to be a master class of everything that you need to know about about letters of recommendation, okay? So first of all, what we're going to do is we're going to go over general guidelines. We're going to go through the logistics ## Why Recommendation Letters Matter [01:30] of what to do with letters of rec. What to provide the recommender when you do this, common any considerations for the common app and Ivy Leagues and then we're going to wrap it up and then we can do questions. Before I do that, would love to see the the makeup of people online. So if you could just do me a favor in the chat and let me know are you a parent or are you a student and what year is that student? For I mean graduation year. So if you could just do that really quickly, parent or student and then graduation year. At least then I can see in the chat you know what the makeup of our people are joining. Awesome. Okay. Great. I'm always happy when I see students on so that's great. So thank you. Love it. I see some early ones too. So it's good. I love it especially it's also when families join and and and they have you know oh good parents student. I love parents and students awesome. That's great too. I love it when they start early because then you know, you become more knowledgeable ahead of time, right? So first things, we're going to go through the general guidelines of letter of recommendations. So why do they really matter? Okay, so letter of recommendations of course you know what they are. They're again that's what they are. Recommendations by certain people that know you, right? But they really provide the insight beyond grades and test scores, okay? The application you know as as pretty much set up as there's academic side, there's activity side and then you have your essays. And so what happens is is that beyond that there is no other vehicles that you have unless they ask for supplemental information to add color or to add more things about who you are. And so that's where the letters of rec really provide insights beyond the grades and tests and insights that they may not get unless they interview you, right? This is an opportunity to really include things that you didn't refer to in the rest of your app. So a lot of times when I'm giving recommendations to students and their families, I say you know try to know what you of course you should know what you have in your application so that in your letters of rec you're adding things that are different from what you're it's not in your app. This really shows character, leadership and personal growth because these are these are individuals that have seen you, you know, do your do your work, right? And and do and do your thing in school, okay? And colleges they really value well-written insightful letters. I know a lot of admissions counselors. I've talked to them and they really do love letters of rec as long as they're not standard letters of rec. And they've read so many of these that they automatically can see from even the the first sentences of their other letters of rec whether this is going to go down a standard route or whether it's going to be more personal. So if they're more personal, they're well-written insightful, they will dive into those, okay? So how many do you need? So there's always kind of a debate on how many you need, but first of all in the common application, it's going to outline, okay? And normally in the in the specific the specific college applications, it outlines exactly how many you need, but typically in most selective colleges, you're going to get two teachers and one counselor, okay? That's kind of a standard. Now ## Who Should Write Your Letter? [05:10] when we're talking about two teachers and a counselor, what's highly preferred is you get teachers that are in the preferred core subjects. For example, like English, math, science, social studies, foreign language. I mean that's those are the core, right? And then what's recommended is depending upon the major that you're going for that you for example if if you are looking to go into some type of STEM major then you probably want some type of teacher that's your engineering teacher or or if there is a you know a medical medicine or engineering pathway or computer science, math, you know, either one math or one science one math or science and then one core, right? So when I say core is that above there. If it's more humanity, social science, business, arts and that kind of thing then you want to go lean towards more on English and social studies and then one core, okay? So that's that is the type of teachers you want to select. So Now some colleges may allow you to do additional letters and that would be like a coach for example, like a sports coach or a mentor of yours or maybe your employer. Now remember a lot of public universities often do not require letters. For example, UCs they don't require recommendation letters. So if you're looking at going at UCs or or CSUs, they're not asking for recommendation letters, but a lot of times of course we say you know, you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket. The privates are there. Now what they might do, okay? As a supplemental which I've seen, they might ask, okay? As a supplemental meaning that after you've submitted your application, they might ask for a recommendation. So that's always the reason why it's always good to be prepared, right? Okay. Another thing is if they do ask for additional recommenders outside of the core program there you can choose from let's say elective teachers like art, music, computer science, anything that's kind of relevant to the major, club advisers, coaches, mentors as I mentioned. And this is really great because those type of recommenders give a different perspective, you know, like a coach or somebody. And then if you have employers, you know, that really highlights your work ethic, your initiative. So these are really key points especially if they're asking for additional recommenders. So let's let's talk about the logistics of letters of rec, okay? First of all, who should you ask? Well, you know, I already mentioned about who should you ask in the sense of your teachers or so, but choose recommenders who know you well academically and personally. Okay, that is so important. One that you have established a relationship with, right? And the key thing here is that's why whenever I'm talking and especially I see that there are parents and students that are younger in the sense of like freshman or sophomore. Don't make sure that you are a really establishing those relationships with your teachers, okay? Don't just kind of go inside of class but get to know them, talk to them. Ask them, you know, and and have them make sure that they know you so that when you get to your junior year and you're asking them for letters of rec, it's not foreign, right? And you know, what you want to do is you want to get recommenders that can really provide specific examples of the strengths, engagement, curiosity and your classroom contributions. So again the only way you can do that is if you really establish that relationship and they are really looking out for that, right? People who have seen you grow, utilize leadership, you know, overcome challenges. Those are the So really again your best choices are teachers preferably in your junior year. Now when we say that it's if it's if it's a teacher that you've known since freshman year and then you had them in your junior, that's great, okay? But reason why we say junior is because they're the ones who have the most fresh, okay? Fresh perspective, but if if you know, your favorite teacher, one that really knows you and you've had a relationship over time is someone that you had like your ## When & How to Ask for a Letter [09:25] freshman or sophomore, you could still use them just as long as they have some fresh new you know, experiences with you or counselors or mentors, okay? Now who not to ask? Again, this is the flip side of course, right? Teachers who barely know you. That is the worst thing to do because then that's where you go down the route of a standard recommendation letter and especially some of those teachers may just say well, you know, I don't want to give you one because they don't really know you. So that's one thing. Um teachers who taught you in freshman or sophomore year, again, unless they've worked with you extensively, um you know, you want to go with some somebody that's more in your junior year, but it really all depends because it the key thing here is that they have a personal relationship with you where they know you well. And then um you don't want to go for the more popular teachers, the one that have a prestigious title. You know, it really is better that the teacher gives you a strong detailed letter from an engaged teacher rather than someone who's just the most prestigious teacher there with the biggest title that doesn't really know you and then write something that is is purely generic, okay? So you can kind of see a theme here of the type of people that you shouldn't ask, right? Okay. When is the best time to ask? The best time to ask is spring of your junior year. And what I mean by that is right now, basically. Um now I wouldn't say March say March, okay? You want to go the April uh sorry, the May time frame is really what the best time is and I should have put that in there, but um because what happens here is you want to head want to do it on your junior year May time frame, not so much June because June is is at the end of the year and you know, teachers are trying to get out of there. Uh they're trying to wrap things up. So uh you know, an April May time frame is always good and um and the reason why is because you're giving them a lot of notice, okay? Because some of these teachers may do these essay do these recommendations during the summer time or what they'll do is they'll queue you up and they'll do them, you know, at the first thing um when they when your senior year starts. Um but you want to put yourself in the queue so that they, you know, really remember and and that they will take the time to do it, okay? Um the latest is early in your senior year. That's that's the latest. I mean, you don't want to go you don't want to do it 2 weeks before it's due. That's just the really awful thing because most likely there are hundreds of students that are going for the task the teacher for that. Uh and two, they can't really invest the time to give you a very, you know, detailed and um personal uh essay um recommendation. So there you go. If you're going for latest, at least 4 to 6 weeks before deadline, give your teacher some time. It really is just being respectful for that as well. Um and these are some guidelines again for for for those applications that are early action and early decision, August September. I mean, these are okay, you know, regular decision, October November, but again, the rule of thumb is the earlier the better, okay? The earlier the better. And so that's why we say spring of junior year, okay? And by the way, again, if you see anything that you really like, I always love feedback. So if you see something you like, you know, pop up a a thumbs up or a heart um just because if you you know, found something that is interesting um that you've never heard before or that's that's interesting to you, okay? Now, how do you ask, okay? You want to ask normally in person if possible. Don't ask it via text or via an email or or even you know, social media. Um that's very impolite, not very respectful and you know, it doesn't show that you're really invested um and that that um and respectful of that teacher, right? Um key couple things that we're going to go through this is you need to make sure you provide a resume brag sheet and a cover letter, which I'll go over in in subsequent um slides. You want to always be coming from a position of gratefulness, right? Of gratitude. So um you know, when you do when they do when you do ask them and they say, "Sure, no problem." you want to say thank you. I mean, I know this may sound like it's an obvious thing, um but you don't want to be ungrateful and you want to say, "Hey, you know, we're great I really really appreciate you taking time." Because it does, it takes a lot of time if they do it right to give you a great um uh letter of rec. And then follow up with politeness, okay? And so that's we'll go over that as well. Um again, I know this is fairly obvious, but it happens every single year I see it. Don't wait until the last minute. Uh that's the worst thing to do. It's it it's almost to the fact where it's like don't it it may not even be worth it because they're just going to give you a standard letter. Uh don't use someone who barely knows you, which we know that. Don't dictate. Okay, so here's an important piece. Don't dictate, but you can ask respectfully what they should write and I will talk about that when we do the cover letters. There is some people are like, "Ah, you shouldn't really tell them what to to do." But you're not lying, you're not saying, "But what you want to do is because the key thing is if you give them a little bit of direction, then at least remember I talked about how I said ## What to Include in Your Brag Sheet [15:00] um letters of recommendation can be opportunities for you to provide information that was wasn't part of your application, okay? But if the person if if you can do it so that each teacher is touching upon different things that are different different item perspectives of you, that's even better because then now you're even wide you know, widening the your net of all the different things that you're providing, right? If they all talk about you you in the same way, that's great, but how about if you had three recommendations and they had three different types of uh positive recommendations? That's even better, right? So that's where don't dictate and say, "Hey, you need to do this." Again, respectfully you can say, "Hey, if it's possible, I'd really like for you to write about this, right?" Um and then you let them write whatever they write, okay? Cuz it's not the case where we're lying, okay? We never want never want to make sure we don't do that, right? Okay. All right. So what makes a strong uh recommendation letter? First of all, it's one that is personal and detailed and not generic. Again, I know that this is this is something that may be very obvious, but again, it's it is. I can't tell you enough how many how many uh some teachers that have and and they're just like, "Gosh, I wish these kids would learn, you know, is that um we're going to they have a standard letter that they have every year if if they don't give them, you know, if they don't give them time or they don't give them some some some uh direction. Uh provide specific anecdotes about your strengths, okay? So this is where uh I was going to be talking about when you give a cover letter is get you know, you want to give them information, okay? The more information that you can give them about this uh recommendation letter, the better. Like how you led a project or how you helped a classmate, okay? Um a strong letter highlights the impact or growth and your character, all right? And then lastly, it really matches and it reinforces your application's key strengths. And that's where I mentioned is if you talk about certain uh things where you're guiding them saying, "I'd really love for you to reinforce this on how I did this." And there's no problem with that because again, if it's the truth, then it's the truth, right? And and so there's no problem with augmenting that or giving them a little guidance. And teachers will well, let me take that back. Most teachers will appreciate that because then they don't have to necessarily try to dig things out or think about it. They you give them a guideline. Some teachers may take that as like, "Well, I'm going to write whatever it is." And that's fine. That's for perfectly fine as long as you had a good relationship and they're not, you know, providing you with a letter of recommendation that really isn't a positive one, right? Okay. So what is it uh what do you provide, okay? What do you provide to these recommenders, okay? So the first thing is is that or there's three things. First of all, a brag sheet or a resume and I'm going to go through each one of these, okay? So you want to do a brag sheet or resume. You want to have a cover letter with examples and you want to have be ready if you can with the links for where to upload letters. Now for that third bullet right there, you may not have that yet because some of the applications may not be open um and may not uh know what uh or when they may not be open for you to to grab what that what those links are, but what I would do is make sure is that um that you get contact information um for your teacher over the summer, whether it's an email or whether it's a you know, um a phone number for a text or some so that you can provide them once the application comes open with that link for them to upload because remember, with letters of recommendation, none of the letters of recommendation can be submitted by you, okay? Um schools do not allow that. What they will do is they will provide you with a link for that particular um teacher or recommender to upload to the site, okay? So there's no no longer the days where they give it to you in an envelope and you have to send it in, you know. Now, mind you, if it's the case that the teacher has to do that, then that's something that you can either help them with or they can go on the website and they can I've seen some some some um let's say old school uh teachers that actually um either handwrite write it or they they type it and then they put it in a letter and they send it, so. But you know, however you can get it there is is fine, right? But that just to know that that will delay. So let's talk about the brag sheet or the resume. First of all, um you know, it this brag sheet and resume really helps the recommenders write a detailed letter. And so, the reason why is because again, you need to know your recommenders, they see hundreds of people, right? Hundreds of students. And as much as you may have a relationship with them, uh and they may know you, they may not know everything about you. And so, um it's good to submit to them a what we call a brag sheet or a resume, okay? Which highlights a couple things. Your academic strengths and your interests, um what you're doing from an extracurricular perspective, and how you are leading in those, um major accomplishments and awards that you receive. And and then, of course, also, what are your college goals and intended major? Really important. Now, you don't necessarily have to put that in your brag sheet, but you can. Is your college goals and intended major. Because that's going to give them more of a direction and could even have them ## How to Follow Up & Say Thank You [20:45] um mention that in the letter that's to say, "Oh, I've always known that this you know, particular student wanted to be a a doctor in the future. I think they'd make a great doctor because of so-and-so and this and that, right?" Um and or if they're submitting it if you're submitting to a particular school, and you know a prospective that you know, the recommender knows that you'd be great at that school, then they if they know what your college goals are, then at least they can mention that as well. Again, the whole thing here is really to make sure that the recommender can detailed um um and and personal personal letter. So, that's your brag sheet resume. Um again, um it doesn't have to be fancy. Remember, this is going to your to your recommenders and teachers. They're on your side. Uh just as long as it has these key areas on it, okay? Now, this is the one thing that I've always um mentioned to my students. Some students don't do it because they're like, "Well, why do I have to do an extra document?" But, this is where um can differentiate you uh amongst the different um students that get their uh letters of recommendation. It really provides what schools you're going to apply to. So, you that's what you're going to do is you're going to you're going to put on there if you can, a list of schools that you're look that you're looking to apply to. And then, provides examples. Um so, what you want to do is you want to provide examples that uh when you were in their class or activities where you excelled, okay? And giving them examples of how you how you how well do you did. So, for example, if there if you have, let's say, a graded paper uh of a project that you did, and they have notes on it, give them. Provide them that a copy of it. So, this will jog their memory. Cuz remember, it's been a while, right? Since they um have, you know, done or interacted with you necessarily. And so, the more content, the more things that you can give them that actually came from the teacher originally or the or the or the uh recommender, the better. Because they know their stuff. That will jog their memory. And then, um they'll be able to speak to it, you know, in a personal manner, right? And then, lastly, again, in your cover letter, which as I mentioned, give them suggestions on what you would like them to talk about. So, if you, you know, if if you didn't have necessarily um I don't know. Um uh information like not a lot of opportunities to show um teamwork or so. And there was project-related uh and teamwork with respect to, let's say, um um um the major that you're going into, let's say, a biology project or something. Then, what you can do is you can say, "Hey, if you could, you know, possibly talk about how we did with our, I don't know, dissecting frogs project, and how, you know, um how um I helped my teammates, you know, do better dissections or something like that." See? So, again, giving them suggestions, but it doesn't mean that you are uh dictating that they have to do that. It's just giving them suggestions so that it they can start thinking about things. And really, again, that allows you to position yourself so that they're talking about distinct things, different things for each of the different recommenders that you have. Okay? Now, uh you've done your um your cover letter, you've done your uh brag sheet and resume, you've submitted to them. Um it is very vitally important that you send them a thank you email um or or some type of text or so where you um thank them for agreeing to do it for you, okay? And then, what you want to do is I would say is 2 weeks before the deadline, uh you want to send them a reminder and say, "Hey, just wanted to know where you're at." Now, uh for me, because I'm always just, you know, really uber uh you know, just um I get always worried about this. If it was me, what I would also do is uh what you can do is during the summer, you just put one email out or something like that to say, "Hey, I hope you're having a great summer. Uh just want to make sure that, you know, all is good with you. And also, just following up on your um on you know, on on my cover letter I'm sorry, on my uh uh letter of recommendation. Do you have if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, right?" And then, what I would like to do is the first day of school um or the second day of school or the first week of school, um I would go ahead and and ping them and and just talk to them. Hopefully, maybe they're a teacher and then you can easily talk to them and say, "Hey, I hope how was your summer? How's everything else? I just wanted to follow up and make sure um ## Special Tips for Ivy League & Top Schools [25:30] when you think uh the letter of recommendation will be done." And then, you know, they can give you when that will happen, right? And then, of course, once they have submitted, you have to send them a final thank you note. Um that's courtesy just not only with this, but in life, okay? When someone does something for you um that is basically volunteered um to do, and that and you know, that they um provide you with something that's going to really be an advantage for you, you always want to say thank you. Now, some teachers um may provide you with a copy of that of what they sent, which would be very cool. Um I normally don't ask um for letters of recommendation if they don't offer it to them, but um a lot of teachers that have given me recommendations in the past, um they will they will submit it, and then they have also sent me a copy of it. Um and that's really, really nice, cuz that shows that they're just very, very respectful of you. And they want for you to see what they wrote. Because especially if you're one of the students that they really like or that they um that you know, you've just done well, um they normally will provide that to you. Okay? All right. So, some considerations with respect to the common application and some with the Ivy Leagues, okay? So, first of all, uh with the uh common app submission process, remember, and I this is what I talked about is that you are going to invite recommenders through the application portal. So, you're going to have to know actually what their email address is, okay? Because with that email address, the schools are going to send out a email to them with a link for them to upload their uh letters of rec, okay? So, they're going to receive a link, and then, um as always with all the letters, there is no way for you to see that letter confidentially. There's no way. Um they're not going to allow you to do that because, again, they want to make sure that there's no tampering of the of the letter itself. And then, once the recommender, the teacher, once they submit it, it it automatically gets goes to the colleges, okay? Upon submitting it. So, that's that's a key. But, the key thing here is just remember is that once the um [Music] the common application uh application usually comes out, usually in August, uh that's when the the links become available, and then you go. So, but again, try to talk to your teacher to have them write their stuff over the summertime, so that as soon as the um as soon as they it opens up, uh you can you can they can post it on there, and then it'll just be waiting once you have submitted your application. Cuz the the app the the letters of recommendation will just sit there until you submit your application, and then all of it goes into one package, okay? To the readers. With respect to Ivy Leagues and top colleges out there, and this is specifically for them, letters should provide extraordinary insights. Now, I know that's kind of hard, but again, uh because it's so they these are kind of elite schools that are getting such high um and quality applicants, um you know, there should be some type of letters that have extraordinary uh insights. Again, that's why it really bodes well for you to be able to provide examples so that the teachers can, you know, talk about certain things that you that they may have forgotten, frankly, okay? Um it really you know, your letters um uh for for those that wanting to go for Ivy League top colleges, really should showcase intellectual curiosity, um leadership, and and impact. And then, also, um the best from teachers um who can write powerfully. Now, I know that's kind of hard, because sometimes you may not have ever seen your teachers writing or so. Um but, you know, I'm sure if there are certain if you can if you can see any any um types of papers, articles, or anything that your teachers have written, and they do write powerfully, that's great. Um it's kind of hard to to to to really see that, but especially if you have uh teachers that you know are strong in writing, um I would definitely recommend using them. And um especially for the Ivy Leagues and top colleges because they always will ask for supplemental recommenders, consider a supplemental letter from a mentor or an employer, okay? Um especially the Ivy Leagues and top colleges, they're always wanting more information, okay? Because so many students apply, um these type of letters could be could be the differentiator um for you between, you know, when there's so many students that look the same. Um these letters could make a difference in really conveying um who you are because it's it's an insight from another person, okay? All right. Awesome. So, gosh, got through that pretty fast. Anyway, so to wrap things up here, first of all, all letters of recommendations are not hard to do. It just takes a lot of time um to to set this up and really as of right now, if I was going to put a timeline, in March, your students should start uh your juniors, okay? Juniors. I just want to caution you, juniors. Um should start kind of putting this information together, the resume, the brag sheet, the cover letters, right? Um work with us cuz in April, um we're going to be working with our students in establishing what their what their list of colleges are, okay? And so these are key areas and key things that you're going to be putting in your uh cover letters or so, right? In uh sorry, in your cover letter saying is here the schools, here's a major, all of that, right? And so a timeline-wise is March, you know, you're starting putting those together, April, you're putting those together you have them together with all the information, um and then either April and May, you're going out to those teachers, and then you're asking them early, you know, again, spring of junior to early senior year, you're asking them or requesting for for letters, right? Um really again, ask the right people who know you very well. I can't stress that enough. Um and the reason why we always say ask early is because some some teachers may establish a uh quota meaning or sorry, a a um a certain amount of letters that they'll only write, and that's it. And so you want to get there early so that you can be part of that list because some of them will just say, "I'm sorry, I just don't have the capacity to do it." And then now you may be relegated to talking with us the teacher that doesn't know you as well, okay? So if you have uh favorite teachers, ones that you know are really going to give you good letters, go to them as soon as possible, right? Um help recommenders with a brag sheet as I mentioned. Uh I just can't tell you enough how much that how important that is to provide them with information about who you are. Uh follow up and say thank you, that's so important. And again, um those and I can't tell you those that have strong letters make applications more impactful. And again, like I said, because if you do it correctly, this is like an added element where they learn about you because they see what kind of good student you are in your academics. They see the things that you do with respect to your activities. You're going to write these very elaborate essays um that really tell them who you are. And then the last piece of this is those things that they may not know about you that come from uh you know, third-party individuals, okay? Not you personally, but third-party individuals that can really show and explain, you know, your character, your curiosity, your leadership. All of that can make things very very powerful for your application. Okay. So, with that said, um that is uh oh, so if uh and I always got to do a little plug here, but you know, uh it's Q&A time, it's question and answer time. If you want to um if if you are interested in booking a free 15-minute assessment with us, um there's the number, uh text book, b o o k, to 949-775-0865. If you happen to find information like this very important for and and useful for you, um book an assessment so that we can, you know, evaluate where your student is and figure out if you um you know, how we can help, right? Um for those who are in our program, you're already in our program, uh we want I want to thank you so much for for joining in today. So, with that said, does anybody have any questions about letters of recommendations? Is there any questions? Um uh so you can pop that into the chat or you can pop that into the um question and answer section. Let me see if there's any uh question answers. Ah, there is. Okay. So, uh and again, I I love you guys. This this is awesome. Every time that I'm doing this, you guys come with great questions, so thank you so much. I really appreciate it. So the first question is, should letters of rec cover new information or add to things in your activity section? Both, okay? So, now remember what I mentioned, it's more important I think the flip side here is it's more important if there's new information because what happens is um recommend sorry, readers of the application, they have read hundreds of thousands of of um of applications. So they kind of they have a really good understanding of when someone mentions about a certain activity that um what it's all about. Now, if your activity is something that is really really super unique, super super unique, then maybe it's an addit you can add, you know, you can add that addition, but typically, I would always recommend to do things where it's adding new information because then you're just getting more diversity in the type of things that they're learning about you, okay? Uh the second uh question is, "How are counselors, teachers handling students applying to 10 to 15 plus schools? Are letters more generic now and use electronic systems for most Okay, good question. So, the question is, "How are counselors and teachers um dealing with 10 to 15 plus schools, okay?" Now, a lot of times, um what these these these teachers are doing again is there that's the reason why I mentioned why it is so very very important to provide them as much information ahead of time because what they'll do is they will have their generic letter, but in their generic letter, what they will do is is they will go ahead and uh with that generic letter, they'll pop in the personalized section, okay? And in the uh common application, although they may get uh different um or different requests for each school, they can still use the same same pretty much the same letter, okay? As long as they've done it um generically where it doesn't it's not school-specific. But if it's school-specific, yes, then they can. Now, some of them have generated and uh I I unfortunately I I I know of some that probably will are going to be using AI to generate some of these, but the the key thing here is to really give them that personal information in your cover letter and your brag sheet. And that's why I always like to tell them, give them some guidance. Tell them what you want to talk about so that they can use that because yes, with all of the students coming in and the 10 to 15 schools, it just gets overwhelming, right? Okay? Uh all right. Let's see. So the next one is, "Can you ask Can you also ask teachers Yes, you can definitely ask teachers at a community college." If again, that that teacher at a community college has um formed a good relationship or you have a good relation with them and they can really talk about certain, you know, and personal things, absolutely. Um there's not a problem with with asking a community college teacher. "How are letters of rec submitted by teachers? Do students send it Okay." Uh "How do students know when teachers complete the rec? I assume it's no longer done on paper like it was for the parents." Okay. So, uh I think I mentioned this, but I will uh reiterate it again because this is very important. Like for example, in the Common App, what they're going to do is you have to actually um put Well, there's two things. One, it could be the case where um they will um have you put in an email address um of the the recommenders that you want, and then what happens is the Common App will send it to them an email. You want to make sure that you go to your teacher and say, "Hey, did you receive that email?" And then what happens is there'll be a link in there, and then the teachers will go ahead and submit through that link. When the institution receives that, it will actually give an indicator in the Common Application like a either a check mark or received. Uh so you'll get an indicator that that's received, okay? Now, uh I will caution you. If you go if you look in your Common Application and you're submitting it's getting closer to the deadline, and you still have don't see a uh completed or some type of indicator that it was received, one, I would first check with your teachers, and I will tell you I will tell you I've seen this happen where teachers sometimes say they did and they didn't because maybe they thought it was another student or maybe they forgot or something like that. So, it's really important that if you're once you go to your teacher and confirm yes that you turn it in, then secondarily call the school and say, "Hey, um my teacher said they submitted but they didn't receive it cuz then there could be issues at the back end." This is something that you just have to take care of and make sure that it's there. But remember, um letters of recommendation are not necessarily have to be done uh exactly on the time that they're that the application is sent. Some of them give a little leeway because they understand that um some teachers may need some time. So, you we just have to be cognizant of what the due date is for those and you make sure you communicate that to your teacher, okay? Uh how many recommenders do you usually Okay. So, um again, that was in the presentation, but um as I mentioned here, how many recommenders there are. So, um normally again for um how many do you do, uh you want most selective colleges is between two teachers and one counselor, something like that. So, you know, up to three letters. Um some may ask for just two, some may ask for more. So, it all depends, okay? But again, uh two teachers and one counselor is normally just pretty much the standard, okay? Then just remember, UCs and CSUs don't ask, okay? All right, cool. Love these questions. Okay. Um some more questions here. Um what do you recommend for students who are more shy and not so talkative in class? How can they get a teacher to get to know them and write them a good letter besides giving them their brag sheet and personal statement? Okay. Good question. So, first of all, I understand students who are shy. The one thing is that's the reason why it's important that any um let's say homework that gets passed back, any papers that get passed back that has a grade and has, you know, comments or so. To keep those because those are the things where you can if if the person if the student is not as as talkative, you can give those things as part of the as part of the material that you give to the to the teachers uh so that they have material to remember who you are. The one thing that I would say is is that um in anything, unfortunately, I know with shy students, you still have to communicate, right? You still going to have to ask them. That is the biggest thing. You still have to ask students or their teachers about that. And um one of the things that I would say is that's a good learning lesson for the students as well because they're going to be going into college and they have to learn how to communicate with their teachers even more in college. So, but the key thing is is give materials um that the teachers have given you throughout the either through the semester or through the term. Uh keep those and then you can give copies of them back to them. And um and then, you know, explain that in their cover letter and their brag sheet, okay? Uh another question, is it possible to unmute myself and ask you the story I want my teacher to talk about in my letter of rec is strong and unique. Uh okay. I would prefer that we maybe maybe we can do that in an office hours. Um so, if the person who's asking that, if you could attend my office hours, I definitely I could listen in on um on you know, what the um for the letter of rec. Is it possible to unmute myself and ask you the question the story I want my teacher to talk? Yeah, I would So, couple of things. First of all, um and I will actually for the person who was asking me this, uh let me see here. Um And if you could look at are you students Okay. I sent you a question. If you could uh answer the question, that would be great. Uh and then if there's anybody else who has any other questions, uh please let me know. Because I'd love to make sure that we have I'm answering all the questions out there. Uh let's see. So, the new message Okay. All right. Okay. Um and then you and my B 10 Okay. All right. Uh so, I'm going to Will you be posting reply of this? Um Sorry. So, will you be It says here, will you be posting a reply of this? Do you mean the reply meaning posting a replay? Oh, yes. Yes. Absolutely. So, we do replays of all of our videos. Um and um but you have to let give us about a week because what we do is we have them go through and put all of the the next um you know, um all the nice editing and everything else. So, give us about a week. Our videos all of our videos are posted on YouTube, so they're accessible by everybody. And um you can you you can see that in about a week or so, okay? Um then let me answer this. So, um Mondays at 5:00 p.m. every Okay. Okay. Any other questions by anybody? What if students don't have any amazing awards? That's okay. There's not So, um question The question is, what if students don't have any amazing awards? That's all right. This is not Again, I I want to make sure that everybody is that the key thing here is you don't have to be this uh you know, a person that's like cured cancer or a Nobel Peace Prize or anything else. The biggest thing here is is to make sure that the recommender can talk about you personally, okay? And so, it really does give a lot of credence if they can talk about the you know, if you're a compassionate person or if you have courage or you show curiosity or you show a participation um or you know, I've had some I have had some um some recommenders uh cuz I actually saw the letter where they actually mentioned about and the student which was pretty insightful actually, the student um the the recommender, sorry, mentioned how this student wasn't the greatest um student in their class, but they were the hardest worker. And that they, you know, went to them all the time, followed them, everything. And that, you know, and consequently, and I again, I don't know if it was specifically the letter of recommendation that made them get in, but they did get into uh certain schools that they want to get into, but I think that's a very powerful message um to schools say, "Hey, you're getting a person that is, you know, is not just taking things for granted. Um that they're proactive. That they're courageous. They may not be the best student, but you know, they're going to work as hard as they can to get the best grades." And that's the kind of students that that the schools want, okay? So, I'm not too concerned about if you don't have any amazing awards. That's okay. Um the biggest thing that I I'm and the biggest kind of takeaway from all of this is for all of the students that are on here, please please please um and the and the parents, remind your students. The best thing is is make sure that you are establishing these relationship with these these these teachers even starting now. Even if you don't have any, start now. Even if you're a junior now, start now. And just start talking to the teachers. Um and just telling them, "Hey, you know, uh and tell them what you do." And or or compliment them. Go to say, "Hey, you know, I I really enjoyed that that that what you did, you know?" Um those are the kind of things where teachers are very appreciative of it, um mentors, coaches, or so. And so, the time when you go to ask them uh for something, um they'll they'll, you know, they'll consider it just because um you were very nice to them and that you truly authentically uh cared about the things that they did, okay? So, with that said, um I want to thank everybody for, you know, attending. Again, as I always say this, you could be with your friends and family or doing some other things, working out, whatever it is, but you chose to be here with me and I greatly greatly appreciate that. I truly truly do. I I'm just so honored every single time I see people joining um my training sessions. So, have a wonderful wonderful rest of your evening and your week. And um I truly hope that you found benefit and value and we will see you next time uh in the next training. I do these every Tuesday, okay? Every Tuesday um at 6:00. Have a wonderful rest of your evening and we will talk to you next week. Bye-bye.