As seniors continue working on the application process, the stress of deadlines climbs.  Many overlook the time and effort that CHS faculty and staff exert in writing letters of recommendations.

    University of Maryland College Park is one of the most popular colleges for application among the CHS student body.  Its recommendation form, for example, consists of a section of criteria rating the student in class participation, creativity, work ethic, etc.  In addition, the form also requests the teacher to write “a letter of recommendation”.

Social studies teacher James Fitzpatrick offered his diagnosis as to the workload of writing teacher recommendations.

    “The forms themselves are not a lot of work; it’s the cumulative effect of ten or twenty students applying to six different colleges which makes the process more strenuous for a given teacher,” Fitzpatrick said.

    Ten to fifteen letters of recommendation is the average among the academic teachers complete each year.  Social studies teacher Joe Willard is one who tops the list with around sixty per year, in addition to creating lesson plans for his AP US History, Military History, and History through Films classes.

    The concept of writing a personalized letter for each student who requests one is unreasonable, especially with society’s growing emphasis on education making college more popular than ever.  Most teachers focus the letter on a memorable quality or characteristic about the student and relate it to readiness for college.

    “I write my letter on what that student did well in class.  If he or she consistently scored high on unit tests, or always offered an original point in a debate, that’s something I praise the student for,” said Willard on recommendations for his AP US History class.

    There are a few ways to ease the burden on the teachers, however.  Organizing the forms in folders and completing the necessary paperwork, a requirement at CHS, helps teachers complete the forms in a timely and organized manner.  Perhaps the most beneficial thing students can do is give teachers ample time.  Three weeks is the minimum amount of time a teacher should be expected to complete the forms for a student. 

    As tedious as they are for both students and teachers, recommendations serve an important purpose.  The Common Application website, which has the same template for teacher recommendations as University of Maryland, justifies the requirement of the recommendations with what the letters reveal about the applicant.

    “The Common Application membership finds candid evaluations helpful in choosing from among highly qualified candidates,” states the Common Application, Inc teacher recommendation form.  In other words, teacher recommendations give students a chance to show colleges who they are apart from standardized tests, grades, and college essays. 

    Without CHS faculty and staff, a college education would be out of the question for many seniors.  A simple ‘thank you’ may not acknowledge all of the work they put in for us, but it’s certainly a start.