Education & Opportunity

In my Jan. 11 newspaper column, I discuss three key strategies for getting great recommendation letters.

Mary, a reader from Beaverton, Oregon, asks if there are any advantages to first obtaining recommendation letters for scholarship applications and then recycling them for later use on your college applications.

The answer: Absolutely!

Developing a menu of scholarship recommendation letters becomes a big advantage for students who have not yet applied to college. Unlike submission guidelines for most scholarship recommendation letters (in which recommendations are generally submitted with the rest of the application materials), many college applications specify that recommendation letters be mailed separately by the recommendation writers. This decreases your chances of being able to read them before they are sent off.

Because your scholarship recommendation letters will later become your college ones, developing a menu of scholarship recommendations, therefore, provides you with the ability to pick and choose between recommendation letters you might not otherwise get to see. After reviewing all of your recommendation letters, you'll then be able to determine which are your most outstanding ones.... and subsequently feature these letters when it comes time to apply to college.