OLO ma beans!! In the spirit of back to school season, I have prepared another College Confidential post for y'all. As you are applying for college, there are many components of your application, recommendation letter being one of the most important parts after your test scores. Having a good recommendation letter means that there is one more person talking about how great you are and how much you qualify for the schools of your choice. I am here to share some tips on getting the perfect recommendation letter or getting one at least...

1. Start early: I know applications are probably not due until November of your senior year but you need to start asking teachers at the end of Junior year. Teachers need time to write the recs and often times, if you think a teacher is awesome then twenty other students will think so too. 
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3. Participate in class: Honestly, this is one of the hardest things to do. Trust me, I am so socially awkward and I know NO ONE wants to participate in class. The thing is, there is a column that asks about student's participation in class for the Common App, so teachers kind of have to fill this out. For those of y'all who just do not want to do that, I recommend participating in the class in another way to get the teacher to remember you. Take charge and create the class t-shirt, create parties, bring food on days when you are watching movies; all of these options work. Just get the teacher to have something to write about.
   
4. DO NOT SLACK OFF: Some teachers might not even tell you that they are going to write about negative behavior on your recommendation letter, so make sure that you pay attention in every class. You never know who is going to write your recommendation letter. 
   
5. Be prepared for rejections: Maybe because you asked too late or because this teacher has too many recs to write so you might get rejected. This is why you need backup teachers for when the ones you want does not write your recommendation. This does not mean this teacher hates you, rather it's because they want their students to succeed so they will only write the best recommendation possible. I haven't been rejected by the teachers of my choice but I think if these teachers had rejected me, then my whole college plan would have messed up.