Since 2008, Michael Berlau has served as a college solutions specialist with Kansas-based company College Funding and Planning. Michael Berlau helps students and their parents to understand the strategies involved in applying to college, a process that often requires the submission of recommendations.
One of a student's best networking resources is teachers. A teacher can write a personalized recommendation letter and give colleges a sense of your abilities, interests, and personality as a student. Experts recommend asking core academic teachers you had as an upperclassman or teachers you have had throughout your high school career. These instructors are most likely to know you well enough to speak not only of how well you do in class, but how you think and work with material.
Taking the time to network with a school principal can be an even more effective time investment, as a principal's letter can have even more influence over admissions deciders. These kinds of connections do take time, as the principal needs to get to know you well enough to speak about you in detail.
Employers may also be able to give colleges an idea of you as a person outside of school. If you can work well with others, have a strong work ethic, and/or have shown good character in your place of employment, your boss's testimonial can help you to stand out. The same is true for civic or religious leaders who know you well as a person, as well as for adults you know who have connections at a particular college or in the field you wish to study, provided that the person in question has known you for long enough to have a strong sense of who you are and what you can do.
