How to Write a Mesmerizing Recommendation Letter
One of the best ways to entering a college for an Indian NRI Student would be through scholarships. And when one starts to look at them, there are numerous scholarships to apply to and each have their own set of guidelines. Of all the documents required for application, one of the most important documents is a Recommendation Letter. It can serve as a powerful testament to a student’s past and future goals and achievements.
The structure and the content of recommendation letter holds future of student. In this article we will discuss on framing and the purpose of recommendation letter. And it is a very important letter for an Indian/NRI student, as one they move to different country, a recommendation letter from their schools in India/Middle East plays an important role in their admissions. And same goes with the Indian/NRI students who are moving from Junior to Senior Years or high school to college.
Purpose of Recommendation Letters
A Recommendation Letter for scholarship can accomplish a number of things when attached to a scholarship application. Namely:
- It acts as a strong endorsement of a student. Through this the teachers praise student’s academic and personal qualities and also express confidence in their future success
- It also serves as a testament to a student being qualified to receive a scholarship
- It also discusses the financial needs of a student and putting out the student’s strengths and making him a deserving candidate for scholarship
- It also acts as a complement and adds to the story a student tells in his/her application
As a recommender you must keep the above points in mind and gather essential information and brainstorm on what you should use while writing a recommendation letter.
Points to Consider before Writing a Recommendation Letter
As we discussed above, the letter of recommendation carries to much weight on Indian/NRI student’s application, you should ask yourself first, if you can write a meaningful letter. If you do not know the student well, the recommendation letter may come off dull or may not give out the clear picture to scholarship committee.
Once you make up your mind to write a recommendation letter, next you should find out exactly what the scholarship is for; what the guidelines and expectations of the scholarship are; does the student’s qualification match with the scholarship guidelines. This will help you understand the scholarship and student requirements and become a bridge between both.
Your student should provide you with all the information about the scholarship and themselves. This would help you understand the student. Now based on the scholarship and student’s application theme, you can tell a story about student’s achievements and outstanding strengths.
Now Let’s Look at the Parts of a Recommendation Letter
These components are very important to include while writing a recommendation letter.
A Salutation – Your introduction and how you relate to the student.
Body of the Letter – Explain the reason(s) why you believe the student deserves the scholarship
Summary – A summary where you reiterate your main points
Your Contact Information and Signature
Introduction – One should begin by stating who you're recommending; how you relate to the student and why you think the student deserves the scholarship.
Body of the Letter
Body of the letter should basically incorporate the following:
- Strengths
- Academic and Extra Curricular Achievements
- Any Instances where the student has met the values listed under the scholarship
- You should also speak about your vision of the student at college.
Your final goal should be to make student stand out and motivated individual.
Your Contact Information
In the end of your letter, you can give your contact information and invite the scholarship committee to get in touch with any further questions.
Sample Recommendation Letter for your reference
Below is a sample Recommendation Letter for your reference:
Dear Scholarship Selection Committee,
I'm thrilled to recommend Ayushi Bansal for the Aspiring Entrepreneur Scholarship. I taught Ayushi 's Introductory Economics and AP Macroeconomics classes, and I also am the advisor for the high school Business Club, which Ayushi is Vice President of. I've known Ayushi for three years, and I've seen her use intelligence, business savvy, hard work, and people skills to accomplish more than almost any high school student I know. I highly recommend her for this scholarship.
I first met Ayushi when she was a sophomore in my Introductory Economics class. Right away she stood out by being able to quickly grasp economic concepts and engage in thoughtful discussion. She's very skilled at being able to apply even abstract business and economics concepts to real world examples and understand how they impact everyday life. In both classes I have taught her in, Ayushi has been an active participant and one of the highest-scoring students in the class, but she always takes time to help his classmates. By the time she was in my AP Economics class, I could put her in a group with students struggling to understand certain concepts and trust her to competently answer any questions they had while I was working with other groups.
Despite being an excellent student and considerate peer, Ayushi 's most impressive achievement is the business she started on his own and continues to run. At the end of her sophomore year, Ayushi came to me with a business plan he had for a tutoring business he wanted to run. It was extremely detailed, well thought-out, and based on solid business principles, so I recommended giving it a shot. I've seen numerous students come up with great ideas but not follow through, so I didn't expect much of it. However, Ayushi not only got his business up and running, she has managed to keep it going and even expand it so that she now has three tutors working under him. She has shown incredible drive and business skills, and I truly believe this is only the beginning for her.
Ayushi has discussed with me how she would use this scholarship to help expand her current tutoring business as well as begin a new business to help college students resell their textbooks. I've looked over the plan for this new business, and it appears as well planned as his first. I have no doubt Ayushi has both the motivation and the business sense to continue growing as an entrepreneur. I believe Ayushi would be an extremely deserving recipient of this award and that you can be certain he'd make the most of it, the way he has made the most of all opportunities she has had.
Sincerely,
Nidhi Juneja
Social Science and Business Teacher
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