As a result of our highly competitive applicant swimming pool, letters of recommendation hold substantial weight in our admissions decisions. A well-written letter for an exceptional candidate can show outstanding qualities past their own self-advocacy.
A guide to writing evaluations for MIT
Both school counselor and educator assessments are most valuable when they specify and fabled. They must supply us with the information and perceptions we can not glean from the remainder of the application. Try to provide a full sketch of the pupil and the context of their achievements. Assistance your final thoughts with truths and anecdotes whenever possible.
Try to attend to the following questions in your evaluation:
- What is the context of your partnership with the candidate? If you do not know the applicant well and are only able to create a quick recap, please recognize this.
- Has the pupil showed a readiness to take intellectual threats and surpass the regular classroom experience?
- Does the candidate have any type of uncommon proficiency, talent, or management abilities?
- What inspires he or she? What excites them?
- Just how does the applicant engage with educators? With peers? Define their character and social abilities.
- What will you bear in mind most about he or she?
- If you have knowledge of MIT, what leads you to think MIT is a great suit for this person? Just how might they suit the MIT area and grow from the MIT experience?
- Has the candidate ever before experienced frustration or failure? If so, just how did they react?
- Exist any kind of uncommon household or neighborhood situations of which we should know?
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Please pay unique attention to the opening and closing of your assessment. Remember, we read over 30,000 applications, and we value strong statements that we’ll bear in mind as we review each candidate. With that said, please write in a way that makes you feel comfy and do not shy away from giving us your truthful impressions. We are just seeking glowing superlatives if they are backed up with examples and offer us context; what lags a pupil’s success. Above all else, see to it to surpass a pupil’s grades and academic efficiency. We can get this info from other parts of the application.
Letters of recommendation are private in the MIT admissions procedure.
Examples letters of recommendation and critiques
Educator suggestion for David:
It is a fantastic pleasure for me to suggest David for admission to MIT. He is one of the most phenomenal students I have actually encountered in 20 years of teaching. I taught David A.P. Calculus in 2015 as a tenth , and he was just one of the very leading trainees in an extremely able team of mainly senior citizens. He has a high capacity for math and was very much involved in his work, using himself with perseverance and devotion and commonly exceeding the regular class jobs.
David’s following rate of interest, however, is computer technology. He has created a collection of ‘strands’ for usage in giving computerized drill and testimonial in the fundamental skills and methods of algebra and math and has recently adjusted these to various other topics. David’s work in this area has actually been so initial and substantial that he has actually released a paper on it and delivered a number of lectures to professionals in other parts of the nation. This is an extraordinary success for anybody, especially a boy in country Arkansas. It is additionally worth keeping in mind that both in 2014 and this year David showed computer system shows to a tenth-grade class of mine for two weeks. He took control of completely, preparing lectures, jobs, and tests with fantastic care and idea. His lectures were clear and well arranged, and it was obvious that he had expended a good deal of effort to make the course the success that it was.
David’s individual high qualities are as impressive as his intellectual achievements. An incredibly kind, sensitive and sensible child, he has had a hard family members scenario for a few years currently. He provides emotional support to his mom via her battle with cancer cells without enabling the scenario to threaten his own security and achievements. He has actually worn down all that we have to supply him in this tiny community, and the maturation that he has actually shown leads me to think him capable of entering university a year early, as he now intends to do. I best regards wish that you will certainly have the ability to offer him a place in MIT’s freshman class.
Review: Excellent! This recommendation is filled with comments from someone that clearly understands this pupil well. We get a clear feeling for not just David’s intellectual capacities, however additionally emotional maturity. His genuine love for computer shows comes through in this educator’s description. We additionally understand that he is pressing academic limits in his community and making opportunities for himself – a characteristic that is especially vital for a candidate seeking university admissions a year early.
Instructor referral for Jen:
Jen was a student in among my predominately senior physics classes. She took physics her junior year in high school and was an excellent student. With effort, she was able to create a good understanding of the subject material.
Jen additionally had individual high qualities that are extensive. In both years that I have understood her I have actually never known her to be unethical or unreliable. As soon as on an exam paper I had made a grading mistake in her support. She brought this to my attention although it caused a reduced test quality.
To conclude, I really feel that Jen has both the academic and individual high qualities to be a credit report to the university of her option, and I give her my suggestion without reservation.
Review: We get thousands of recommendations such as this yearly. It is all favorable, however it does not offer any type of real deepness to the candidate. In this circumstances, the reader is left really feeling the writer is reaching for something to claim. Sincerity and credibility are absolutely exceptional qualities, but they are not unusual amongst the nation’s leading university candidates. We are trying to find an engaging reason to confess a person, so information on the class product does not assist the prospect. Although Jen might be a hard worker, most of our applicants are. Although the comments are positive, it is challenging to understand onto anything tangible to make this prospect’s instance stronger. Was this faint praise deliberate? Exactly how does Jen fare in comparison with other (even more exceptional?) prospects at the institution?
Counselor referral for Mary:
Mary has contributed to the school area in a selection of methods, most especially through her involvement on the newspaper and yearbook staffs. Honestly, I am impressed with her aggression, imagination, determination and capability to arrange extracurricular activities around a full scholastic work. I have never heard Mary complain about her workload or decline any type of job that she has been offered. It is not adequate to claim that she approves responsibility readily. She looks for duty. Oh, for even more such students!
As manager for the paper and co-editor of the yearbook the past two years, Mary has done an outstanding work. She personally brought the town’s organization community from the view that the school paper was a philanthropic organization to the awareness that the paper is a straight pipeline through which advertisers can reach students. She also took the effort to set up the advertising rate routine for the paper that generated enough profits to increase insurance coverage from a four-page paper, so that it is an eight-page and often twelve-page paper. Her job as digital photographer for both magazines has actually been just as outstanding.
Her motivation is not forced upon her, nor does she wear it like a badge. She has incredible self-discipline. Mary is additionally a devoted, flexible and talented student who will certainly be a possession to your undergraduate community. She has my regard and my highest possible suggestion.
Critique: Excellent. Lots of specifics right here give us a very clear impression and assist us to know why that perception is held. We have proof of her newspaper instructions and general personality.
Counselor suggestion for Jane:
Jane is a superior girl whose academic document may not fully reflect her ability. Her moms and dads were divorced throughout her junior year, and, for several years before that, her home scenario had remained in turmoil with a good deal of fighting in between her moms and dads. Her papa has an alcohol issue, and Jane definitely sustained a large amount of emotional distress. The reality that she has had the ability to do in addition to she has done offered the scenarios says a lot concerning her. Since the home situation has actually maintained, her efficiency has enhanced. I believe her senior year grades are a better reflection of her ability.
Review: You may question whether the above details is appropriate in a letter of analysis. It is! We appreciate anything that gives us insight and point of view right into a trainee’s efficiency and the environment. Comments regarding problems that a trainee has actually experienced will certainly assist us understand the context in which they have actually accomplished whatever they have accomplished. The extent to which they have managed these troubles serves to know as well.
Therapist referral for Mike:
I do not really recognize Mike quite possibly. He has concerned me for regular matters yet normally has actually not had any type of troubles that he has actually talked about with me. In this large school, I do not always have the moment to personally be familiar with each of my advisees. From the remarks I get from Mike’s instructors, I feel that he is among the strongest pupils this college has actually seen.
Review: We do not find out significantly from this record, however we understand why. The therapist is really honest, and we are not left guessing regarding the reason there is not more information and will turn our interest to various other parts of the application.
Instructor recommendation for Brian:
Brian remained in the leading 5 in my class consistently. He is absolutely motivated to research. His character and character are praiseworthy. Brian is a superb trainee, hard worker and has above ordinary reasoning capacity.
Critique: This is an instance of an analysis in which we truly don’t understand what the writer is attempting to inform us. The comments given definitely do not offer much substantive information. We are left wondering whether there is just very little to state about this pupil or whether the teacher just really did not bother to put much effort into the suggestion. This is a circumstance where we will probably develop our perceptions based on the pattern of all the suggestions. If all are similarly uninformative, we will presume there had not been much to claim, however if the others are better, we will certainly presume this teacher did not provide much effort to the suggestion.