Request a Letter of Recommendation (For Parents)

As a candidate or parent, you may need to ask someone to write a letter of recommendation when you apply to the school. Based on checklist instructions your school provided, you may want to ask a teacher, coach, religious leader, or other individual to submit a letter of recommendation online.

  1. As soon as possible, contact the person and politely ask if they would be willing and able to write a letter of recommendation.

    • Ask early to ensure that the person has to time to consider and complete your request.

      Note: Some employers do not allow their professionals to write letters of recommendation.

    • Consider suggesting a few things that the person could write about.

    • Ask for the person's email address and ensure it is spelled correctly. Let the person know to expect a request from the school by email and to check the spam filter if the email doesn't arrive promptly.

    • Tell the person the deadline.

      Tip: When the recipient receives the email notification, the link inside and the online submission page will be valid for 60 days. This may differ from the deadline for your application. Please keep the earlier deadline in mind. If the earlier deadline is soon, remember to follow up with the person to ensure the earlier deadline is met.

  2. From the Parent persona, select your child's name and open the checklist.

  3. For the letter of recommendation step, select Start.

  4. Enter the recipient's name and email address.

  5. Enter any additional comments. Typically, you should remind the person about your previous conversation and thank the person for the support.

  6. You can preview the email. To edit it, select Back to Request Form and enter your changes.

  7. Select Send Request. You can review the status of the request from your checklist.

    • If the recipient submits a letter of recommendation, you will not be able to view the contents of the letter when it is submitted online.

    • If the recipient declines to submit a letter of recommendation, you can start a new request from your checklist.

      Tip: Your family is notified when a teacher declines or is not allowed to submit a letter of recommendation. The school is only notified if the teacher indicates that he is not allowed to submit a recommendation; the school is not notified if a teacher declines for other reasons.

    • If you accidentally sent a request to the wrong individual or if you need to resend the request to the same individual because the person lost the email, you can resend the request from your checklist.

  8. Thank the person who wrote the letter of recommendation. Later, let the person know the outcome of your application; the person would probably enjoy knowing more about your education plans.