How to Write a Scholarship Letter of Recommendation – Different types of scholarships are available for the high school and college students. Apart from that, if the students are interested to know more about various kinds of scholarship programs then they should search online in buchananreform. Besides that, in any scholarship application, the application has to be a winning application. Therefore, the most important part of a scholarship application is the recommendation letter that one has to give along with the scholarship application. So, in this guide you will come to know as to how to write a scholarship application and what are the essentials of the letter and other important points.
It is an obvious thing if one of the students of your previous class asks you to write a recommendation letter, then you must be having a big question mark as to what to write? There are many different kinds of scholarships that is available for the students and each year there are more than 1000s of application that is being forwarded in different scholarship programs and among them only few percentage of applications are accepted or become winning application. The reason is the recommendation letter also, that plays a key role in the scholarship application.
One of the easiest ways for the scholarship program team to select the candidates is through the recommendation letters. It gives an outside viewpoint about the students. Due to a good recommendation letter most of the students gets selected.
Through this guide, you will understand how to write a strong recommendation letter and it can help both the students and the teachers or college officials. Here in this guide we will be looking at the following –
- Why scholarship applications require a recommendation letter
- What information needs to go into a scholarship recommendation letter
- How you can help, your students find more scholarships using a scholarship for college student.
Contents
The Purpose of a Letter of Recommendation for Scholarship Applications
It takes months for a particular scholarship program team to review the scholarship application. And during that period there can be a lot of critical views about the students based on their scores and academic qualifications etc. so during such a scenario or in the midst of all this your recommendation letter helps your students by –
- Giving a chance to the scholarship program team or selection committee a more all-inclusive understanding about the students potentials and also the academic strengths, if any.
- It also provides a perspective on how the students can demonstrate the qualities that should be present in the scholars of the scholarship program
- Plus, it should include all the information the scholarship program team is looking for
What to Include in Your Scholarship Recommendation Letter
It is an obvious thing that the recommendation letter written by you should be unique and should not look like an copy paste template. You are likely to have a different experience with each student and that is unique. So, you should be able to write a authentic recommendation letter about a particular student.
Some of the excellent recommendation letters will have the following format –
- A short introduction about yourself and your relationship with the student, like how long you have known them etc.
- Then, you should mention your general views about the students academic strengths, readiness for college and personal qualities that you have observed if any
- Specific instances with regards the general views and observations that you have made
- A summary mentioning why you think that student is fit for this scholarship.
- Lastly, you can close the letter by mentioning that you are free to be contacted anytime for more information if any
How to Get All the Info You Need to Write a Strong Scholarship Recommendation Letter
It can be easy for you to write a strong recommendation letter as you must have known these students for many years, or must have taught them outside the class like extra –curricular or you must have been their teacher in more than one subject. But this is the case of a known student, but what if you don’t know the students well. What if you have to write a recommendation letter for multiple students those who have applied for the scholarships? What will you do in such a scenario?
Nor do you have time to sit with each and every student and write recommendation letters.
But there is one thing that you can certainly do and that is to make the students work by asking the students to create a certain document and send the following details –
- The student’s name, grade, test scores, and GPA
- The name of the scholarship, eligibility criteria, and the website where you can find more information
- The deadline for your recommendation letter and information on how you submit it
- Then the students should also mention in 3-4 sentences on why they think they are fit for this scholarship
- 2-3 sentences about their academic achievements in school or outside school
- 2-3 sentences about their extracurricular achievements both in and outside school.
Apart from this the students should also write a short summary of 200 words about their scholarship application or essay. So, that you don’t repeat what they have already mentioned. The students should also mention the classes that they have attended with you and what they learnt in that class and why did they chose you to write a recommendation letter. This all may seem like a plenty of information but in the end it will make your task of writing the letter easy. You can also use the Common App’s brag sheet to make the list easy for the students.
Sample Letter of Recommendation for a Scholarship
Here are some examples on what a sample recommendation letter looks like –
To whom it may concern:
I’m delighted to refer Dominic. G. for the XYZ scholarship. I have been Dominic’s English teacher and debate team coach at J.W. High School for the past three years and know that he is exactly the kind of student your foundation hopes to reward.
Throughout my career, I’ve met very few students that are as inquisitive and engaged with the local community as Dominic. In my English class, he regularly leads class discussions and writes in a way most students only grasp once they’ve spent several years in college. I can say without a doubt that he is in the top 10% of students I have had the pleasure to work with during my 15 years as a teacher.
Dominic is also the debate team captain and makes my job as the coach incredibly easy as he’s always going out of his way to help new members improve. For example, in preparation for a recent debate tournament, he spent several hours working one-on-one with one student who was new to the team and still struggling with stage fright. Although Dominic did not do as well as he would have liked to in that tournament, he still took immense pride in seeing how much his teammate improved in just a short time.
This willingness to help others is also reflected in Dominic’s community service work — something I know the XYZ scholarship foundation greatly values. Outside of school, Dominic is actively involved in tutoring ESL learners at a local community center. Although I’m not present at the center, it’s easy for me to imagine how lucky those students must feel to have a tutor like Dominic . His work ethic and dedication to helping people improve are impeccable.
I have full confidence that Dominic will continue to do great things next year when he begins college at Rice University. I also am confident that the XYZ Scholarship Foundation would be hard-pressed to find another student as deserving and representative of your mission to support the future community leaders of America.
It is for these reasons I have had zero hesitation to write this recommendation for Dominic. G.
Please feel free to contact me at ###-###-#### or [email protected] if you have any questions. I’d be more than happy to provide more information on why Dominic. G. is a deserving candidate for the XYZ scholarship.
Sincerely,
Jerome Black.
Want to Help Your Students Find More Scholarships?
As a teacher, its obvious you will want to see that your students succeed. Hopefully, the tips that are shared in this guide is helpful. And if you want you can even ask the students to apply for all those scholarships that you find they can qualify for. One of the best ways to find a scholarship is to look in buchananreform. It is one of the best scholarship applications that the students can have or look into. There are hundreds of scholarships available for the students in that application. You can also check the blog for related posts that mentions about how to write amazing scholarship essays and personal statements. Plus, there are different kinds of scholarships that is available like the National Merit Scholarship.
Conclusion
Firstly, there are different kinds of scholarships that is available for the students that you can find in buchananreform. Apart from that every scholarship application requires a recommendation letter. With the help of recommendation letter it becomes easy for the selection committee team to evaluate about the students background and other details which cannot be said through scores or academic qualification results. So, one of the easiest things that you can do as a lecturer is to make a list of required details and ask the students to write on it. This will make the task of writing a recommendation letter easy and perfect for you.
