Letters of Recommendation

Letters of recommendation are a supplemental piece of the application that aims to provide context to a student’s application for admission.  UC’s and CSU’s do not ask for, nor accept, Letters of Recommendation from applicants.  However, many private and out of state schools, including most on the Common App do ask for Letters of Recommendation.

In order to write the most comprehensive, well-informed letter on your behalf, Counselors and teachers will be utilizing your Brag Sheet, which is assigned in SCOIR (see image below for reference).  Every Senior must complete their Brag Sheet, due by October 1.  Please ensure you have devoted the time to thoughtfully complete your Brag Sheet-your counselor and teachers may know you in the context of of the classroom/Saint Mary’s community, but it’s helpful for them to know all the other things you may be involved with (employment, external involvements outside of SM, faith engagement, etc).

All counselors will be writing letters of recommendation for students who are applying to schools via the Common Application.  You should be ready to share your College List with your counselor at your Fall Senior Meeting, and make them aware of the schools you are applying to and their individual deadlines.  There is no need to request a letter from your Counselor in SCOIR if you have opened your Common App and inputted colleges and deadlines. 

In addition to your counselor recommendation, many institutions will request at least one additional recommendation, in many cases it may be 2 letters from faculty.  Please make sure to request these letters first in person from your faculty, before following up with a request through SCOIR.  Requests for Letters of Recommendation from any Saint Mary’s teachers will be made through SCOIR.  You should request these letters by October 1 and alert your faculty of all schools you will be applying to and their individual deadlines.  Please see the link below, or your counselor, for more information on how to request Letters of Recommendation.

If you plan on requesting Letters of Recommendations from any non-teachers (coaches, bosses, clergy members, club moderators, etc), these would be considered ‘Other Recommenders’, and the request will be made in your Common Application account, under the ‘Recommenders and FERPA’ tab.

Students: Requesting Teacher Recommendations if Your School Uses Scoir

Both your Brag Sheet and Letter of Recommendation requests through SCOIR must be completed by October 1 at the latest.  If you do not meet this deadline, your application is at risk of being incomplete, and necessary documents not being submitted by the deadline.