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University Admission Application Letter (with Samples & PDFs)

I have listed sample templates to help you craft an effective and professional university admission application letter.

Also, I would like to point out that you can also download a PDF containing all the samples at the end of this post.

Successful Application Letter for University Admission

First, find the sample template for university admission application letter below.

To, The Admissions Committee, [Name of the University], [Address of the University], [City], [State], [Postal Code]

Subject: Application for Admission to [Name of the Course]

Respected Sir/Madam,

I, [Your Full Name], resident of [Your Address], am writing this letter to show my keen interest in applying for the [Name of the Course] at your esteemed university for the academic year [Year].

I have recently completed my [last educational qualification] from [Name of School/College] with an aggregate of [Your Percentage/CGPA], and I am eager to further my studies in the field of [Field of Study]. I believe that studying at [Name of the University] will provide me the right knowledge, skills, and exposure to excel in this field.

I am particularly drawn to the [Name of the Course] at [Name of the University] because of its reputation for providing high-quality education and its focus on practical learning. I am confident that this course will help me achieve my academic and career goals.

Enclosed with this letter are my mark sheets, certificates, and other required documents. I kindly request you to consider my application and provide me with an opportunity to prove my potential and contribute to the university.

I am looking forward to being a part of your esteemed institution and assure you that I will put in my best efforts in all my endeavours.

Thank you for considering my application. I am eager to hear from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

[Your Full Name] [Your Contact Information] [Your Email Address]

Below I have listed 5 different sample applications for “university admission application letter” that you will certainly find useful for specific scenarios:

Crafting a Persuasive University Application Letter to Showcase Leadership Skills

Crafting a Persuasive University Application Letter to Showcase Leadership Skills

To, The Admissions Committee, [University Name], [University Address].

Subject: Application for Admission to [Desired Course Name]

I, [Your Full Name], a student of Class XII from [Your School Name], am writing to express my keen interest in applying for the [Desired Course Name] at your esteemed university. I believe that my strong leadership skills, coupled with my academic accomplishments, make me an ideal candidate for this course.

I have consistently excelled in my studies, but more importantly, I have taken the initiative to lead and guide my peers through various activities. As the Head Boy/Girl of my school, I’ve learned to inspire and motivate my fellow students, organize events, and address issues efficiently. These experiences have honed my leadership abilities and have taught me how to balance my academic commitments with extracurricular responsibilities.

I played a pivotal role in initiating a ‘Clean Campus Drive’ in my school, where I led a team of students to maintain cleanliness and fostered a sense of responsibility among them. This initiative not only improved the school environment but also instilled a sense of community and teamwork among the students.

Moreover, I represented my school at the [Local/State/National] Leadership Summit, where I had the opportunity to interact with other young leaders and share innovative ideas to improve our communities. This experience broadened my perspective and reinforced my desire to lead and make a difference.

If given the opportunity to join [University Name], I assure you that I will bring these leadership qualities to contribute positively to the university community. I am eager to leverage my experiences to participate actively in student-led initiatives and further develop my leadership skills.

I am confident that [University Name] is the perfect platform for me to grow not just acadically but also as a leader. I humbly request you to consider my application favorably. I look forward to the opportunity to be a part of your esteemed institution.

Thank you for considering my application.

Yours Sincerely, [Your Full Name], [Your Contact Information].

Writing a Compelling University Application Letter Highlighting Athletic Achievements

Writing a Compelling University Application Letter Highlighting Athletic Achievements

To, The Admissions Committee, [Name of the University], [Address of the University]

Subject: Application for Admission and Highlighting Athletic Achievements

I hope this letter finds you in the best of health and spirits. I am [Your Name], a student from [Your School Name], [Your City], intending to apply for the [Course Name] at your esteemed university.

Academically, I have consistently performed well, securing a GPA of [Your GPA] in the previous year. However, I am not just a diligent student in the classroom, but also a passionate sportsperson. I believe my athletic achievements will contribute to the vibrant sports culture at your university.

Over the last few years, I have been an active participant in athletics and have had the honour of representing my school at various district, state, and national level competitions. In the recent [Name of Sports Event], I clinched the gold medal in [Name of the Sport], making my school and family immensely proud. Additionally, I was also the recipient of the prestigious [Name of the Award] given for outstanding performance in sports.

My commitment to sports has not only honed my physical abilities but has also helped me develop leadership skills, team spirit, and resilience. I believe that these qualities will not only aid me in my academic pursuit but also contribute to the overall diversity and vitality of your university’s student community.

I am enthusiastic about bringing the same dedication and spirit to your esteemed university and contributing to its athletic teams. I am certain that the comprehensive education and diverse opportunities provided by your university will help me grow, both acadically and athletically.

I am hopeful that you will consider my application favourably. Thank you for considering my application. I am looking forward to the possibility of becoming a part of your prestigious university.

Yours sincerely, [Your Name] [Your Contact Information]

Articulating Academic Excellence in a University Admission Application Letter

Articulating Academic Excellence in a University Admission Application Letter

The Dean of Admissions, [University Name], [University Address], [City], [State], [Pin Code]

Subject: Application for Admission

Dear Sir/Madam,

I, [Your Name], am writing this letter seeking admission to the [Course Name] course at your prestigious institution for the academic year [Year]. I have recently completed my [last academic degree/course] from [Your School/College Name] in [City, State].

I have always been passionate about [subject(s) related to the course], and I am confident that my academic achievements reflect this. I have consistently maintained a high academic standing in my schooling years, ranking in the top [percentage/rank] of my class. My teachers have commended me for my dedication and commitment to learning, which is evident from my grades and participation in various academic competitions.

Moreover, I have been an active participant in various extracurricular activities that have helped me develop a holistic understanding of the world. I have led [mention some leadership roles], worked on [mention any projects or initiatives], and engaged in [mention any community service or volunteer work]. These experiences have taught me the importance of teamwork, leadership, and responsibility, and have fuelled my desire to further my learning.

Your institution, with its exemplary faculty and state-of-the-art facilities, stands as the ideal platform for me to deepen my knowledge and broaden my horizon. I am particularly drawn to the [mention specific aspects of the course or university that attract you], and I am confident that these will provide the right environment to nurture my academic and personal growth.

I am committed to maintaining my academic excellence and contributing positively to the university community. I am hopeful that I will be given the opportunity to bring my passion, dedication, and academic prowess to your esteemed institution.

Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the possibility of contributing to and learning from the [University Name] community.

Yours Sincerely, [Your Name] [Your Address] [City, State, Pin Code] [Email Address] [Phone Number]

Tailoring a University Application Letter to Highlight Community Service Experiences

Tailoring a University Application Letter to Highlight Community Service Experiences

The Admission Committee, [University Name], [University Address], [City, State, Zip Code]

I hope this letter finds you in good health. I am [Your Name], a student of [Your School Name], seeking admission to your esteemed university for the upcoming academic year.

I am writing this letter to express my keen interest in the [Course Name] program at your prestigious institution. I have always been intrigued by [Subject Name], and I am eager to explore this field under the guidance of the accomplished faculty at [University Name].

During my time at high school, I have actively participated in various community service programs that have not only enriched my life but have also enhanced my understanding of society and its needs. I was a part of the ‘Clean-Up Drive’ in my local community, where we focused on maintaining cleanliness and educating people about the importance of hygiene.

In addition, I volunteered in the ‘Joy of Giving’ initiative, aimed at providing essential supplies to underprivileged children. This experience truly humbled me and made me realize the value of giving back to society. I believe these experiences have shaped me as an individual and have taught me the importance of empathy, teamwork, and leadership.

I am certain that these experiences will enable me to contribute to the diverse community at [University Name]. I am eager to bring my commitment to service and dedication to learning to your campus, and I look forward to the possibility of contributing my skills and experiences to your distinguished institution.

Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the possibility of discussing my application with you further.

Yours faithfully,

[Your Name] [Your Contact Information]

Penning a University Application Letter Expressing a Deep Passion for a Specific Field of Study

Penning a University Application Letter Expressing a Deep Passion for a Specific Field of Study

To, The Admissions Office, [University Name], [University Address],

Subject: Application for Admission in [Specific Field of Study]

I, [Your Full Name], a resident of [Your City Name], am writing this letter to express my deep interest in applying for the [Specific Field of Study] program at your esteemed university for the academic year [Year of Admission].

My passion for [Specific Field of Study] was kindled during my school years, when I found myself fascinated by [Mention something specific about the field that fascinated you]. Since then, my curiosity and interest in this field have only grown. I have spent countless hours learning and honing my skills, and now I aspire to take this passion forward and delve deeper into this field at a university level.

Your esteemed university, with its excellent faculty, state-of-the-art facilities, and a rich history of producing exceptional talent in the field of [Specific Field of Study], is my dream institution. I am especially drawn to the [mention a specific aspect/feature of the university’s program that appeals to you], which I believe would greatly enhance my learning experience and provide me with a holistic understanding of the subject.

I have consistently excelled in this field during my school years [mention any achievements, awards, or recognition received]. I am confident that my dedication, coupled with the guidance of the exceptional faculty at [University Name], will equip me with the necessary skills and knowledge to contribute positively to this field.

I assure you of my utmost commitment and dedication towards my studies, and I am eager to make the most of the opportunities offered at your prestigious institution. I am hopeful that you will consider my application favorably.

Thank you for considering my application. I am looking forward to the opportunity of being a part of [University Name].

Yours Sincerely,

[Your Full Name] [Your Contact Information]

How to Write University Admission Application Letter

Some writing tips to help you craft a better application:

  • Start with your personal information including your full name, address, the date, and the recipient’s address.
  • Open the letter with a formal salutation, addressing the admissions committee or specific admission officer, if known.
  • Introduce yourself, your current educational status and the program you’re applying to.
  • Describe your academic interests, why you chose this university, and how it aligns with your career goals.
  • Highlight your academic achievements, extracurricular activities, and any relevant work or volunteer experience.
  • Explain any gaps or anomalies in your academic record, if applicable.
  • State how you could contribute to the university and its community.
  • End with a strong closing statement expressing your enthusiasm and gratitude for being considered.
  • Include a formal sign-off, your full name and signature.
  • Proofread your letter multiple times for any grammatical errors, spelling mistakes or typos.

Related Topics:

  • University Admission Application Fee Payment Slip
  • Application for Address Change
  • SBI Bank Address Change Application

View all topics →

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Published In: Letters

Writing a College Application Letter (Samples & Examples)

Writing a great college application letter can be one of the most challenging prose pages that one has to put together in their high school career. On the one hand, it is just but a simple single-page document, but on the other, how do you talk about the things you need to talk about without boring the reader? A well-written college application letter will give you an edge among the thousands of applicants sending in their applications for the same college. A well-drafted college application letter should highlight your academic achievements, extracurricular, athletic, and community service achievements that will help you stand out during the highly competitive selection process.

What is a College Application Letter?

A college application letter is a letter used in several academic applications that college students need to undergo. It is usually a requirement of the academic institution where the student is currently attending. The letter can also be used for other special functions that the applicant would like to undertake.

How to Write a Great College Application Letter

Read the instructions carefully.

It is said that starting an application letter is usually the most challenging part. You may think that it is redundant that we mention that you need to go through the instructions carefully, but with all the stress and excitement that characterizes this period, you need to be keen on this.

If you fail to follow the application guidelines, you may come off as someone who won’t follow simple instructions of the university’s program. The page and word count limits are usually included in the instructions for a reason, and you should be able to organize your submission by following the set guidelines.

Go through the instructions several times and gather your notes before creating an outline to organize your application letter and decide what message you would like to send.

Do some research

Before writing your application letter, it is important that you do some research about the institution and their preferred candidates. By doing so, you will be able to tailor your application to fit their preferences, thereby increasing your chances of being selected.

Include your contact information

 When writing, make sure to include your contact details. Use your professional email and provide a phone number that is always active to not miss out on any important communications.

Confirm the recipient’s contact information

When doing your research, also make sure to find out the correct address to send your application. You don’t want to go through the trouble of drafting your application to send it to the wrong address. The contact information is usually included in the instructions, but if not included, you can check the college’s website or contact the institution directly to find out to whom you should address the letter.

Create a great subject line

To make sure that the recipient clearly understands your letter’s purpose immediately, they start reading it and explain it in a few words. For example, you can write something like “Application for an intern position at ABC college.”

If you are sending the letter via mail, make sure to include such wording in the subject line.

Introduce yourself

Start your application letter with a compelling introduction. Although great writing may be hard to achieve, it is always possible to do so if you are smart about it. Introduce yourself properly as this will determine if the reader continues to read your document or if they will throw it in the trash. The recipient will only spend a few minutes reviewing your essay, so you have to start your introduction with a great introduction about yourself that will keep them engaged.

Tell the recipient about your education

Since you are a recent graduate or student, your educational background is your key asset. Make sure to properly highlight this at the very beginning of your application letter. Tell the recipient what you studied along with where and when you will be graduating if applicable.

Explain why you are the best candidate

Colleges are always looking for authenticity and quality thinking, so you should not try to shape your application around ideas or phrases that people have used several times before, but base it on your genuine beliefs.

In one or two paragraphs, explain to the recipient why your education and skills make you the best candidate. If you have already gained any relevant experience through summer jobs or interviews, you can also mention it in your application.

Include a call to action

End your application letter with a call to action- ask the recipient for an interview and direct them to review read your portfolio or resume. You can also be proactive and inform the recipient that you will be following up with an email or with a call to schedule an interview.

 Show gratitude

Conclude your application by expressing your gratitude to the recipient for their time and consideration. After finishing your letter, make sure to sign it professionally.

 Check your grammar and spelling

Even though you can write conventionally, spelling and grammar still need to be correct. Go through your letter and make sure that it is free of any grammatical errors before submitting it.

What Should Be Included in Your Application Letter

Regardless of the recommended length, your college application letter should show evidence that you performed due diligence concerning the selected college. You don’t want to include any irrelevant information or that you “think” should be included. Conduct your research and lay down the facts. You can visit the college website and look at local news to find out what is happening on campus.

Sound structure

An application letter should be both formal and professional. Structure your application letter in business letter format, and include your contact information, your name, title, date, and address of the recipient. Also, make sure to use a proper salutation, e.g., “Dear Application Committee,” alternatively, if you already have their name and title, you can use “Dear (their last name)”

Even college application letters, although formal, can showcase a person’s personality, passion, and sense of humor. Just as college application essays are meant to add color to the applicant’s back and white representation, so too can the college application letter tell a little more about the applicant. Choosing a single area from your application on which t expound tells the recipient what you consider important.

College Connection

When writing your application, you should highlight how you see yourself fitting in on the college campus. Legacy students may speak to their family’s pride in their family’s rich history at the college. Others with political affiliations might refer to their intentions of becoming active student leaders. And athletes might talk about their previous high school success and how they expect to contribute to their college teams.

College Application Letter Samples

Every student wants to stand out and be chosen for a position at the college of their choice. With thousands of students sending in their application letters each day, you have to make sure that your letter is perfectly crafted to give you a competitive edge. This is where we come in! Our college application letter templates are simple, unique, and impressive, and they are beautifully crafted to help you stand out. Choose and download our free and premium templates to help you in your writing.

College-Application-Letter-Sample

Your college application letter will serve as a shortcut through the pile of thousands of papers sent in by applicants each day. The letter is not a synopsis of your transcripts, nor is it a prompt of your resume. Rather, it is a cover letter that introduces you as an applicant and offers the recipient a glimpse into your potential fit at the college. Make sure that you are meticulous with your writing and that everything is as it should. You don’t want to send a letter that is half baked and expects to stand out. Take your time and draft a great letter. We wish you nothing but luck in your application.

Related Documents

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College Application Letters: Cover Letters & Letters of Continued Interest

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College Application Letters

College application cover letters support your college applications, college resume, and college application essay prompts. In combination with the other elements of your college applications, particularly your college entrance essay, college application letters help establish your “why.” In short, a college application letter is a cover letter for your college applications that describes your background, skills, and interest in the school. When looking at college application cover letter examples, pay attention to the values that they express. College application letters and college entrance essays are similar in that they are exercises in personal branding. When reading college application cover letter examples, pay attention to the messages they convey. 

If you’re wondering how to write a college application letter, CollegeAdvisor.com has advisors who can walk you through every part of the process. If your goal is to get into top colleges, CollegeAdvisor.com can help. We’ll analyze examples of college application letters and discuss the letter of continued interest to help you craft successful applications. 

In this guide, we’ll break down the different kinds of college application letters you may encounter when completing your college applications. We’ll discuss the college application letter and the letter of continued interest, as well as teacher recommendation letters.

If you want to read college application cover letter samples, you’ve come to the right place!

What is a college application letter?

To learn how to write a college application letter, you must first understand its purpose. Do this by checking out college application cover letter examples. College application letters and college resumes serve as introductions for your college applications. Unlike college application essay prompts, there are no specific questions to answer in your cover letter. Instead, include the essential elements of university application letters: your background, what makes you unique, and your reasons for wanting to attend that particular college. In short, what makes you, you .

As you’ll see when reading example college application letters, college application cover letters are not all that different from what you would write in a cover letter when applying for a job or graduate school. The purpose of college application cover letters, college entrance essays, and college resumes is to persuade colleges that you are the strongest candidate for admissions. 

College application cover letters are not the time to be shy, but they’re not the time to be pretentious either. When reading college application cover letter examples, you’ll see that there’s a fine line. Your tone matters. In your university application letters, show your experiences and accomplishments while portraying character traits that colleges value. To get into top colleges, find a balance between being proud of your accomplishments and being humble.

College application letters – Who requires them?

Unlike college entrance essays, college application letters are required by very few colleges. However, the skills you’ll develop by writing university application letters will serve you well as you approach your college application essay prompts. When researching college application examples, you’ll notice that there are optional materials to submit. If you’re serious about your college applications, submit university application letters to show your interest. 

College application cover letters are particularly effective if the college does not have college application essay prompts that ask you to explain why you want to attend the school and/or why you want to study your major. They are even more strongly recommended when applying to colleges that don’t have any supplemental essays. You’ll see many college application cover letter examples that focus primarily on academics, but you can include so much more.

Though university application letters are rarely required, they provide an ideal way to introduce yourself. After all, you’ll notice when reading college application cover letter samples that the goal is to help the admissions committee get to know you as a person. You are more than just your grades and scores.

If you want to get into top colleges that don’t allow you to submit a college resume or don’t provide interviews, you need to take extra steps to earn acceptance. Often, you can repurpose content from college application essay prompts that ask why you want to study your major! The college application essay format differs from that of a college application letter, but they serve a very similar purpose.

What is a letter of continued interest?

A letter of continued interest (LOCI) is a letter you send to a college when you are deferred or placed on the waitlist. So, not everyone will need to write a college application letter of continued interest.

Your letter of continued interest has three primary goals: 

  • Reaffirm your interest in the school.
  • Provide additional context for your application. 
  • Discuss accomplishments on your college resume that have occurred since you submitted your application.

In this guide on how to write a college application letter, we discuss all forms of college application letters in detail. We’ll expand on the above goals to explain the strategies for writing effective letters.

Explaining teacher recommendation letters 

In addition to submitting a college application cover letter and, potentially, a letter of continued interest, your application will also include recommendation letters . These letters enhance your college application entrance essay and build on answers to supplemental college application essay prompts. 

Due to the shift away from standardized testing, other parts of your college applications are inevitably getting more attention in the evaluation process. When assessing your college applications, admissions committees will often rely on letters from your teachers and counselor in place of interviews.

When reading sample college application letters of recommendation, you’ll observe that some are better than others. But, it can be a bit harder to find example teacher recommendations than it is to find college application cover letter examples. To ensure high-quality letters, create a plan well in advance of your senior year. You’ll want to ask teachers to write your recommendations who know you best beyond your grades. The strongest sample college application letters of recommendation speak to both your personal and academic strengths. 

College application sample recommendation letters with the biggest impact typically come from teachers from your core junior year courses – math, science, English, and social studies. If there’s a teacher from your junior year who taught you during your sophomore or senior year too, even better! Teachers who know you through multiple environments – clubs, classes, sports, or other areas – can often do the best job speaking to your growth and achievement over time. 

Choose teachers who know you best

Ultimately, the most effective sample college application letters of recommendation are written by the teachers who know you best. Pay attention to the college application requirements for each school on your list. Note when reading example college application letters of recommendation who the intended audience is. Some schools require math or science teachers for STEM and business majors , while others require English or social studies teachers for humanities majors .

For example, when looking at college application sample requirements, MIT writes “One recommendation should be from a math or science teacher, and one should be from a humanities, social science, or language teacher.” Caltech also requires one math or science teacher evaluation and one humanities or social sciences teacher evaluation. 

Some applicants are tempted to send more letters than the college applications require. However, aim for quality over quantity. If you want to ask another teacher to write a recommendation letter for you, ask yourself what perspective they will bring to your college applications that isn’t already covered in your college entrance essay or other recommendation letters. 

Don’t hesitate to provide materials to help your teachers and guidance counselor write their letters of recommendation for you. In fact, you should! When reading college application sample letters of recommendation, you’ll note that they are specific and provide examples where possible. Some teachers will even have you fill out a standard form to gather information from you. So, by having additional information already prepared, you are helping them tremendously. 

Here are some materials you can provide to help your recommendations augment your college applications:

  • College entrance essay
  • College resume or a list of your extracurricular activities and awards
  • Responses to college application essay prompts.
  • A sample college application letter that you’re sending to one of your colleges.
  • A few paragraphs about why you want to study your major or pursue your intended career. 
  • Key elements of the course you took with them, such as a favorite project or unit. 

When preparing materials to give to teachers, read the instructions given to recommenders by MIT. Even if you aren’t applying to MIT, the information can still be helpful to know. By understanding the process of writing recommendation letters on the teacher’s side, you can see what information will help them write a strong letter for you. 

Don’t wait until you’re submitting your college applications to ask your teachers for recommendations. Some teachers limit the number that they will write, and you want them to have plenty of time to write a quality recommendation. To make sure you have the best recommendations , ask teachers late in your junior year or early in your senior year.

The College Application Letter

As we’ve mentioned, a college application letter is a cover letter for your college applications. It describes your background, skills, and interest in the school. It’s different from both the college application essay format and the letter of continued interest. When reviewing college application samples, you’ll see that your cover letter works together with your college resume and college entrance essay to help admissions officers get to know you. 

Below, we’ll discuss how to write a college application letter and walk through a sample college application letter. But remember, you want your letter to be original! Don’t feel limited by what’s in any examples of college application letters.

Do all schools require a college application letter?

No — few schools actually require college application letters. However, learning to write a strong college application letter can help you in other aspects of the college admissions process. Reading college application cover letter examples can also help you learn how to write for the admissions committee audience. 

One of the ways to learn how to write a college application letter is to read sample college application letters. For instance, the same skills that help you write a strong and concise college application letter will help you in the college essay format, too.

The college application letter – What should I include?

So, you know the purpose of college application letters, but what should you include in them? Reading college application cover letter samples can help you determine this. While the college application essay format lends itself to focusing on one topic or story, college application cover letter examples highlight the importance of covering several different topics.

College application letters should contain the following elements: 

1. school name and address.

You college application letter should follow formal letter formatting guidelines, which include writing the full name of the college or university you are applying to in the upper left hand corner of the letter. Try to be as specific as possible with the address you choose to use.

2. Salutation

A standard salutation is suitable for your college application letter. However, it is a great idea to do your research and use the full name of the admissions officer assigned to your region.

3. Introduction

The best examples of college application letters open strong. Thank the admissions committee for reviewing your application, and introduce yourself. Do you have a unique connection to the school? Can you hook the reader in some way to make them want to keep reading?

4. Explanation of academic interests

Your primary purpose in college is to earn a degree, so notice that in example college application letters most of the space is often devoted to discussing academic plans. Include your intended major and career path, as well as interdisciplinary interests.

5. Discussion of extracurricular interests

The college application essay format may be a place for you to discuss extracurricular involvement, so use this space to elaborate or discuss additional interests. These could be connected to your academic plans, but they don’t have to be.

6. Conclusion

Express your interest in the school! Impactful example college application letters have a clear and brief conclusion that reaffirms your desire to attend and enthusiasm for the opportunity to join the next class of undergraduates. Point to specific classes, professors, programs, organizations, and aspects of the college that pique your interest. No one is going to hold you to your plan, but colleges want to see that you have one.

8. Complimentary Close

Lastly, every good college application letter should include an expression of gratitude alongside your close and your signature.

college application letter

In the example of a college application letter above, there are a few key details to highlight. The letter is essentially a five-paragraph essay, with one paragraph for each of the five elements. This differs significantly from the college application essay format. In this college application example, the college application letter has clear and distinct sections, and this is very common in college application cover letter samples.

Depending on your interests and plans, you could take a more integrated approach. You’ll read some examples of college application letters that center around a theme or broad plan rather than separated into individual paragraphs.

This sample college application letter is a narrative. The applicant’s goal is to tell her story to the admissions committee. The best sample college application letters paint a picture for the reader and draw the reader into the storyline. Though it can feel like being vivid and descriptive is a waste of your space, “showing instead of telling makes for stronger college applications.

How to format your college application letter?

When reading sample college application letters, you’ll observe that they are formatted very similarly to professional cover letters. Your university application letters should be one page single-spaced. The heading should also be consistent across college application letters. 

  • Your full address
  • The date you will send the letter
  • The admission officer’s name
  • The college name
  • The college address

Then, open your letter with a salutation. Many examples of college application letters open with “Dear” and are addressed to the admission officer. If you cannot find your regional admissions officer, it is fine to address the letter to the admissions office as was done in the sample college application letter above. Once you write the body of your letter, don’t forget your closing salutation – “Sincerely,” and then your name. 

Once you read several sample college application letters, you’ll understand the best practices. After writing a university application letter for one school, you don’t need to start from scratch for additional schools. Adapt what you have to fit the next college’s context and your specific interests on their campus. 

Being concise is key. Your university application letter should not be redundant. If it exceeds one page, see where information you mention is repeated elsewhere in your application. In your cover letter, focus on the content that makes you as original and unique as possible. Most importantly, don’t forget to proofread your university application letters! 

Can a college application letter help me with other parts of my application?

Think of the college application cover letter as the glue that holds your college applications together. When writing it, think about it as your opportunity to show your best self. After brainstorming the content, you’ll be better equipped to craft your candidate profile into a cohesive narrative and articulate why you want to attend the college.

Though many parts of your college applications will be out of your control by the time you reach your senior fall, the college application cover letter is one that you can control. Use it to elevate your college applications, show interest in your top schools , and make yourself stand out among other applicants!

college application letters

The Letter of Continued Interest

Another form of college application letter is a letter of continued interest . In sample college application letters of continued interest, you’ll see that the primary purpose is to reaffirm your candidacy for a spot in the next incoming class of undergraduates. 

Though it can feel like a waiting game, the waitlist should not be passive. As soon as you are waitlisted or deferred, begin crafting a letter of continued interest. The best college application sample LOCIs are submitted promptly. Put in the effort to show you’re serious about attending. 

College application example LOCIs should focus on recent updates. Likely, a lot has happened since you submitted your application, particularly if you applied by the early deadlines. Strong college application sample LOCIs convey accomplishments and experiences that either add to previously mentioned ones or provide another dimension to your application. 

Letter of continued interest – When and where to submit?

Learn as much as you can by reading college application example LOCIs, but know that each school’s process for when and how to submit them is different. Additionally, the process may vary based on whether you were deferred to the regular decision round of admissions or waitlisted after the regular decision round. It’s important to follow each university’s directions.

Many schools will request that you upload your letter of continued interest to a portal. Some will request that you email it to an address – typically the admissions office. Others won’t allow you to submit any additional materials. If you’re in doubt, call or email the admissions office and ask. 

What to include in your letter of continued interest?

You’ll notice common trends when reading college application sample LOCIs. Effective college application example LOCIs convey a tone of sincerity, gratitude, and enthusiasm for an opportunity to attend. A strong sample college application letter of continued interest includes four elements. 

First, reaffirm your interest in attending the school if offered the chance to matriculate. Then, discuss relevant developments to your application, such as additional extracurricular accolades and continued academic successes. Sometimes, you’ll see a sample college application letter of continued interest that mentions how a student improved a lower mid-year grade or discusses a new leadership role. 

When reading a sample college application letter of continued interest, remember that colleges are looking for reasons to admit you, so don’t be shy! Offer to answer any questions they have and provide additional info in the conclusion of your letter. 

It’s important to back up your claims with supporting evidence. Strong college application sample LOCIs provide examples and specific details, just as you would in a cover letter or essay. Be vivid and descriptive as you share your story!

However, college application example LOCIs that include overly emotional appeals or merely complement the university are unlikely to be effective. Your letter of continued interest should be all about you. Though it can be difficult to realize this when reading college application example LOCIs, recognize that the content of your letter should fit within the context of the rest of your application. 

The many types of college application letters – Final Thoughts

In this guide, we covered several types of letters associated with your college process – college application cover letters, teacher recommendation letters, and letters of continued interest. Reading sample college application letters, whether they are college application cover letter samples or LOCIs, can help you do your best work. But, remember that every applicant’s college application process is unique. 

Our final tips for writing college application letters:

  • Proofread. College application letters with typos or grammatical errors reflect poorly on your effort and candidacy. Use a polished and professional tone in everything you write for your college applications.
  • Be yourself. Though this goal can get lost in the requirements, scores, and grades, you should focus on helping the colleges on your list get to know who you are . 
  • Follow the requirements. Each college has their own requirements for how they want you to submit materials. Pay close attention to the details for each college as you go through the admissions process. 

CollegeAdvisor.com can help guide you through every step of the college application process. Check out our blog , webinars , or register with CollegeAdvisor.com today. Good luck!

college application letters

This guide to college application letters and letters of continued interest was written by Caroline Marapese, Notre Dame ‘22. At CollegeAdvisor, we have built our  reputation  by providing comprehensive information that offers real assistance to students. If you want to get help with your college applications from CollegeAdvisor.com  Admissions Experts , click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.

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Writing Cover Letters for University Applications [2023 Guide]

Applying to university can be a daunting experience, especially when it comes to crafting the perfect cover letter for your application. A well-written cover letter can be the deciding factor between getting accepted into your dream program or receiving a rejection letter. In this guide, we will explore the importance of a strong cover letter, its purpose, format, content, and provide tips and examples to help you craft a compelling cover letter for your university application.

A cover letter for a university application is an essential document that can make or break your chances of getting admitted to your dream program. The importance of a strong cover letter in the application process cannot be understated, as it serves to introduce you, showcase your achievements, and demonstrate your passion for the chosen program or course.

In this article, we will cover:

  • The purpose of a cover letter for university applications
  • The format and structure of a cover letter
  • The content and elements of an effective cover letter
  • Tips for writing a compelling cover letter
  • Common cover letter mistakes to avoid
  • Sample cover letters for university applications

By following the advice and guidance provided in this article, you will be well-equipped to create a cover letter that stands out from the competition and increases your chances of admission. So, let's dive in and learn how to craft the perfect cover letter for your university application!

Purpose of a Cover Letter for University Applications

The primary purpose of a cover letter is to introduce the applicant, showcase their achievements, and demonstrate their passion for the chosen program or course. A cover letter complements other application materials, such as your resume and transcripts, by highlighting your unique qualities and strengths that may not be evident in those documents.

An effective cover letter can also demonstrate your motivation and commitment to the program, which can influence the admissions committee's decision. For example, MIT's Career Advising & Professional Development office explains that a well-crafted cover letter can help set you apart from other applicants by providing context and a personal touch to your application.

Format and Structure of a Cover Letter

A proper format and structure are crucial for creating a professional and effective cover letter for a university application. A standard cover letter typically includes:

  • Header (with your contact information and the date)
  • Salutation (addressing the recipient)
  • Introduction (capturing the reader's attention)
  • Body (highlighting your qualifications, achievements, and passion)
  • Conclusion (leaving a lasting impression)
  • Complimentary close (e.g., "Sincerely," followed by your name)

Proper formatting, such as using an appropriate font, font size, and margin settings, is essential for creating a polished and professional appearance. Keep your language clear and concise, and make sure to proofread and edit your letter to ensure it is error-free.

Content and Elements of a Cover Letter

A successful cover letter for a university application should contain specific elements that demonstrate the applicant's qualifications, achievements, and passion for the program. These elements include:

  • Addressing the letter to the appropriate recipient
  • Crafting an engaging introduction that captures the reader's attention
  • Including essential elements in the body of the letter, such as academic interests, extracurricular activities, and relevant experiences
  • Writing a compelling conclusion that leaves a lasting impression

Tailoring the content to the specific university or program is crucial, as demonstrated by Seattle Pacific University's Career Services . They advise that telling stories about your skills and experiences that are relevant to the specific program can help make your cover letter more effective.

Tips for Writing an Effective Cover Letter

Following certain tips and best practices can significantly improve the quality and impact of a cover letter for a university application:

  • Research the university and program before writing the letter to better understand their values and expectations.
  • Showcase your unique qualities and strengths by providing specific examples and details.
  • Use strong action verbs and avoid clichĂ©s or overused phrases, as suggested by Freesumes .
  • Seek feedback from teachers, counselors, or peers to ensure your cover letter is polished and compelling.
  • Revise and refine your letter until it accurately represents your passion and qualifications for the program.

Common Cover Letter Mistakes to Avoid

Avoiding common cover letter mistakes is essential for creating a strong and effective university application:

  • Address the letter to the correct recipient to show your attention to detail and professionalism.
  • Avoid using generic or overly broad language, which can make your letter less impactful.
  • Submit a well-formatted and professional-looking letter to convey your seriousness and commitment.
  • Refrain from including irrelevant or excessive information that distracts from your main strengths.
  • Proofread and edit your letter to eliminate typos, grammatical errors, and other mistakes that can undermine its impact.

Sample Cover Letters for University Applications

Examining sample cover letters can provide valuable insights and inspiration for crafting a successful university application. We recommend:

  • Analyzing high-quality sample cover letters for various university programs or courses
  • Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each sample
  • Adapting the samples to your specific situation and application
  • Using the samples as a starting point for creating your unique cover letter
  • Remembering to tailor your letter to the specific university or program

With proper research, planning, and execution, a well-crafted cover letter can significantly enhance a university application and increase the chances of admission. By applying the tips and guidance provided in this article, you will be well-prepared to create a compelling cover letter that showcases your passion, achievements, and qualifications for your dream program.

As a final piece of advice, remember that persistence and dedication are key to success in the university application process. Keep refining your cover letter and learning from feedback until you have a polished and impactful document that truly represents you. Good luck on your university application journey!

PrepScholar

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, my successful harvard application (complete common app + supplement).

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Other High School , College Admissions , Letters of Recommendation , Extracurriculars , College Essays

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In 2005, I applied to college and got into every school I applied to, including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT. I decided to attend Harvard.

In this guide, I'll show you the entire college application that got me into Harvard—page by page, word for word .

In my complete analysis, I'll take you through my Common Application, Harvard supplemental application, personal statements and essays, extracurricular activities, teachers' letters of recommendation, counselor recommendation, complete high school transcript, and more. I'll also give you in-depth commentary on every part of my application.

To my knowledge, a college application analysis like this has never been done before . This is the application guide I wished I had when I was in high school.

If you're applying to top schools like the Ivy Leagues, you'll see firsthand what a successful application to Harvard and Princeton looks like. You'll learn the strategies I used to build a compelling application. You'll see what items were critical in getting me admitted, and what didn't end up helping much at all.

Reading this guide from beginning to end will be well worth your time—you might completely change your college application strategy as a result.

First Things First

Here's the letter offering me admission into Harvard College under Early Action.

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I was so thrilled when I got this letter. It validated many years of hard work, and I was excited to take my next step into college (...and work even harder).

I received similar successful letters from every college I applied to: Princeton, Stanford, and MIT. (After getting into Harvard early, I decided not to apply to Yale, Columbia, UChicago, UPenn, and other Ivy League-level schools, since I already knew I would rather go to Harvard.)

The application that got me admitted everywhere is the subject of this guide. You're going to see everything that the admissions officers saw.

If you're hoping to see an acceptance letter like this in your academic future, I highly recommend you read this entire article. I'll start first with an introduction to this guide and important disclaimers. Then I'll share the #1 question you need to be thinking about as you construct your application. Finally, we'll spend a lot of time going through every page of my college application, both the Common App and the Harvard Supplemental App.

Important Note: the foundational principles of my application are explored in detail in my How to Get Into Harvard guide . In this popular guide, I explain:

  • what top schools like the Ivy League are looking for
  • how to be truly distinctive among thousands of applicants
  • why being well-rounded is the kiss of death

If you have the time and are committed to maximizing your college application success, I recommend you read through my Harvard guide first, then come back to this one.

You might also be interested in my other two major guides:

  • How to Get a Perfect SAT Score / Perfect ACT Score
  • How to Get a 4.0 GPA

What's in This Harvard Application Guide?

From my student records, I was able to retrieve the COMPLETE original application I submitted to Harvard. Page by page, word for word, you'll see everything exactly as I presented it : extracurricular activities, awards and honors, personal statements and essays, and more.

In addition to all this detail, there are two special parts of this college application breakdown that I haven't seen anywhere else :

  • You'll see my FULL recommendation letters and evaluation forms. This includes recommendations from two teachers, one principal, and supplementary writers. Normally you don't get to see these letters because you waive access to them when applying. You'll see how effective strong teacher advocates will be to your college application, and why it's so important to build strong relationships with your letter writers .
  • You'll see the exact pen marks made by my Harvard admissions reader on my application . Members of admissions committees consider thousands of applications every year, which means they highlight the pieces of each application they find noteworthy. You'll see what the admissions officer considered important—and what she didn't.

For every piece of my application, I'll provide commentary on what made it so effective and my strategies behind creating it. You'll learn what it takes to build a compelling overall application.

Importantly, even though my application was strong, it wasn't perfect. I'll point out mistakes I made that I could have corrected to build an even stronger application.

Here's a complete table of contents for what we'll be covering. Each link goes directly to that section, although I'd recommend you read this from beginning to end on your first go.

Common Application

Personal Data

Educational data, test information.

  • Activities: Extracurricular, Personal, Volunteer
  • Short Answer
  • Additional Information

Academic Honors

Personal statement, teacher and counselor recommendations.

  • Teacher Letter #1: AP Chemistry
  • Teacher Letter #2: AP English Lang

School Report

  • Principal Recommendation

Harvard Application Supplement

  • Supplement Form
  • Writing Supplement Essay

Supplementary Recommendation #1

Supplementary recommendation #2, supplemental application materials.

Final Advice for You

I mean it—you'll see literally everything in my application.

In revealing my teenage self, some parts of my application will be pretty embarrassing (you'll see why below). But my mission through my company PrepScholar is to give the world the most helpful resources possible, so I'm publishing it.

One last thing before we dive in—I'm going to anticipate some common concerns beforehand and talk through important disclaimers so that you'll get the most out of this guide.

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Important Disclaimers

My biggest caveat for you when reading this guide: thousands of students get into Harvard and Ivy League schools every year. This guide tells a story about one person and presents one archetype of a strong applicant. As you'll see, I had a huge academic focus, especially in science ( this was my Spike ). I'm also irreverent and have a strong, direct personality.

What you see in this guide is NOT what YOU need to do to get into Harvard , especially if you don't match my interests and personality at all.

As I explain in my Harvard guide , I believe I fit into one archetype of a strong applicant—the "academic superstar" (humor me for a second, I know calling myself this sounds obnoxious). There are other distinct ways to impress, like:

  • being world-class in a non-academic talent
  • achieving something difficult and noteworthy—building a meaningful organization, writing a novel
  • coming from tremendous adversity and performing remarkably well relative to expectations

Therefore, DON'T worry about copying my approach one-for-one . Don't worry if you're taking a different number of AP courses or have lower test scores or do different extracurriculars or write totally different personal statements. This is what schools like Stanford and Yale want to see—a diversity in the student population!

The point of this guide is to use my application as a vehicle to discuss what top colleges are looking for in strong applicants. Even though the specific details of what you'll do are different from what I did, the principles are the same. What makes a candidate truly stand out is the same, at a high level. What makes for a super strong recommendation letter is the same. The strategies on how to build a cohesive, compelling application are the same.

There's a final reason you shouldn't worry about replicating my work—the application game has probably changed quite a bit since 2005. Technology is much more pervasive, the social issues teens care about are different, the extracurricular activities that are truly noteworthy have probably gotten even more advanced. What I did might not be as impressive as it used to be. So focus on my general points, not the specifics, and think about how you can take what you learn here to achieve something even greater than I ever did.

With that major caveat aside, here are a string of smaller disclaimers.

I'm going to present my application factually and be 100% straightforward about what I achieved and what I believed was strong in my application. This is what I believe will be most helpful for you. I hope you don't misinterpret this as bragging about my accomplishments. I'm here to show you what it took for me to get into Harvard and other Ivy League schools, not to ask for your admiration. So if you read this guide and are tempted to dismiss my advice because you think I'm boasting, take a step back and focus on the big picture—how you'll improve yourself.

This guide is geared toward admissions into the top colleges in the country , often with admissions rates below 10%. A sample list of schools that fit into this: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, MIT, UChicago, Duke, UPenn, CalTech, Johns Hopkins, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Brown. The top 3-5 in that list are especially looking for the absolute best students in the country , since they have the pick of the litter.

Admissions for these selective schools works differently from schools with >20% rates. For less selective schools, having an overall strong, well-rounded application is sufficient for getting in. In particular, having an above average GPA and test scores goes the majority of the way toward getting you admission to those schools. The higher the admission rate, the more emphasis will be placed on your scores. The other pieces I'll present below—personal statements, extracurriculars, recommendations—will matter less.

Still, it doesn't hurt to aim for a stronger application. To state the obvious, an application strong enough to get you Columbia will get you into UCLA handily.

In my application, I've redacted pieces of my application for privacy reasons, and one supplementary recommendation letter at the request of the letter writer. Everything else is unaltered.

Throughout my application, we can see marks made by the admissions officer highlighting and circling things of note (you'll see the first example on the very first page). I don't have any other applications to compare these to, so I'm going to interpret these marks as best I can. For the most part, I assume that whatever he underlines or circles is especially important and noteworthy —points that he'll bring up later in committee discussions. It could also be that the reader got bored and just started highlighting things, but I doubt this.

Finally, I co-founded and run a company called PrepScholar . We create online SAT/ACT prep programs that adapt to you and your strengths and weaknesses . I believe we've created the best prep program available, and if you feel you need to raise your SAT/ACT score, then I encourage you to check us out . I want to emphasize that you do NOT need to buy a prep program to get a great score , and the advice in this guide has little to do with my company. But if you're aren't sure how to improve your score and agree with our unique approach to SAT/ACT prep, our program may be perfect for you.

With all this past us, let's get started.

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The #1 Most Important College Application Question: What Is Your PERSONAL NARRATIVE?

If you stepped into an elevator with Yale's Dean of Admissions and you had ten seconds to describe yourself and why you're interesting, what would you say?

This is what I call your PERSONAL NARRATIVE. These are the three main points that represent who you are and what you're about . This is the story that you tell through your application, over and over again. This is how an admissions officer should understand you after just glancing through your application. This is how your admissions officer will present you to the admissions committee to advocate for why they should accept you.

The more unique and noteworthy your Personal Narrative is, the better. This is how you'll stand apart from the tens of thousands of other applicants to your top choice school. This is why I recommend so strongly that you develop a Spike to show deep interest and achievement. A compelling Spike is the core of your Personal Narrative.

Well-rounded applications do NOT form compelling Personal Narratives, because "I'm a well-rounded person who's decent at everything" is the exact same thing every other well-rounded person tries to say.

Everything in your application should support your Personal Narrative , from your course selection and extracurricular activities to your personal statements and recommendation letters. You are a movie director, and your application is your way to tell a compelling, cohesive story through supporting evidence.

Yes, this is overly simplistic and reductionist. It does not represent all your complexities and your 17 years of existence. But admissions offices don't have the time to understand this for all their applicants. Your PERSONAL NARRATIVE is what they will latch onto.

Here's what I would consider my Personal Narrative (humor me since I'm peacocking here):

1) A science obsessive with years of serious research work and ranked 6 th in a national science competition, with future goals of being a neuroscientist or physician

2) Balanced by strong academic performance in all subjects (4.0 GPA and perfect test scores, in both humanities and science) and proficiency in violin

3) An irreverent personality who doesn't take life too seriously, embraces controversy, and says what's on his mind

These three elements were the core to my application. Together they tell a relatively unique Personal Narrative that distinguishes me from many other strong applicants. You get a surprisingly clear picture of what I'm about. There's no question that my work in science was my "Spike" and was the strongest piece of my application, but my Personal Narrative included other supporting elements, especially a description of my personality.

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My College Application, at a High Level

Drilling down into more details, here's an overview of my application.

  • This put me comfortably in the 99 th percentile in the country, but it was NOT sufficient to get me into Harvard by itself ! Because there are roughly 4 million high school students per year, the top 1 percentile still has 40,000 students. You need other ways to set yourself apart.
  • Your Spike will most often come from your extracurriculars and academic honors, just because it's hard to really set yourself apart with your coursework and test scores.
  • My letters of recommendation were very strong. Both my recommending teachers marked me as "one of the best they'd ever taught." Importantly, they corroborated my Personal Narrative, especially regarding my personality. You'll see how below.
  • My personal statements were, in retrospect, just satisfactory. They represented my humorous and irreverent side well, but they come across as too self-satisfied. Because of my Spike, I don't think my essays were as important to my application.

Finally, let's get started by digging into the very first pages of my Common Application.

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There are a few notable points about how simple questions can actually help build a first impression around what your Personal Narrative is.

First, notice the circle around my email address. This is the first of many marks the admissions officer made on my application. The reason I think he circled this was that the email address I used is a joke pun on my name . I knew it was risky to use this vs something like [email protected], but I thought it showed my personality better (remember point #3 about having an irreverent personality in my Personal Narrative).

Don't be afraid to show who you really are, rather than your perception of what they want. What you think UChicago or Stanford wants is probably VERY wrong, because of how little information you have, both as an 18-year-old and as someone who hasn't read thousands of applications.

(It's also entirely possible that it's a formality to circle email addresses, so I don't want to read too much into it, but I think I'm right.)

Second, I knew in high school that I wanted to go into the medical sciences, either as a physician or as a scientist. I was also really into studying the brain. So I listed both in my Common App to build onto my Personal Narrative.

In the long run, both predictions turned out to be wrong. After college, I did go to Harvard Medical School for the MD/PhD program for 4 years, but I left to pursue entrepreneurship and co-founded PrepScholar . Moreover, in the time I did actually do research, I switched interests from neuroscience to bioengineering/biotech.

Colleges don't expect you to stick to career goals you stated at the age of 18. Figuring out what you want to do is the point of college! But this doesn't give you an excuse to avoid showing a preference. This early question is still a chance to build that Personal Narrative.

Thus, I recommend AGAINST "Undecided" as an area of study —it suggests a lack of flavor and is hard to build a compelling story around. From your high school work thus far, you should at least be leaning to something, even if that's likely to change in the future.

Finally, in the demographic section there is a big red A, possibly for Asian American. I'm not going to read too much into this. If you're a notable minority, this is where you'd indicate it.

Now known as: Education

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This section was straightforward for me. I didn't take college courses, and I took a summer chemistry class at a nearby high school because I didn't get into the lottery at my school that year (I refer to this briefly in my 4.0 GPA guide ).

The most notable point of this section: the admissions officer circled Principal here . This is notable because our school Principal only wrote letters for fewer than 10 students each year. Counselors wrote letters for the other hundreds of students in my class, which made my application stand out just a little.

I'll talk more about this below, when I share the Principal's recommendation.

(In the current Common Application, the Education section also includes Grades, Courses, and Honors. We'll be covering each of those below).

Now known as: Testing

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Back then AP scores weren't part of this section, but I'll take them from another part of my application here.

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However, their standards are still very high. You really do want to be in that top 1 percentile to pass the filter. A 1400 on the SAT IS going to put you at a disadvantage because there are so many students scoring higher than you. You'll really have to dig yourself out of the hole with an amazing application.

I talk about this a lot more in my Get into Harvard guide (sorry to keep linking this, but I really do think it's an important guide for you to read).

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Let's end this section with some personal notes.

Even though math and science were easy for me, I had to put in serious effort to get an 800 on the Reading section of the SAT . As much as I wish I could say it was trivial for me, it wasn't. I learned a bunch of strategies and dissected the test to get to a point where I understood the test super well and reliably earned perfect scores.

I cover the most important points in my How to Get a Perfect SAT Score guide , as well as my 800 Guides for Reading , Writing , and Math .

Between the SAT and ACT, the SAT was my primary focus, but I decided to take the ACT for fun. The tests were so similar that I scored a 36 Composite without much studying. Having two test scores is completely unnecessary —you get pretty much zero additional credit. Again, with one test score, you have already passed their filter.

Finally, class finals or state-required exams are a breeze if you get a 5 on the corresponding AP tests .

Now known as: Family (still)

This section asks for your parent information and family situation. There's not much you can do here besides report the facts.

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I'm redacting a lot of stuff again for privacy reasons.

The reader made a number of marks here for occupation and education. There's likely a standard code for different types of occupations and schools.

If I were to guess, I'd say that the numbers add to form some metric of "family prestige." My dad got a Master's at a middle-tier American school, but my mom didn't go to graduate school, and these sections were marked 2 and 3, respectively. So it seems higher numbers are given for less prestigious educations by your parents. I'd expect that if both my parents went to schools like Caltech and Dartmouth, there would be even lower numbers here.

This makes me think that the less prepared your family is, the more points you get, and this might give your application an extra boost. If you were the first one in your family to go to college, for example, you'd be excused for having lower test scores and fewer AP classes. Schools really do care about your background and how you performed relative to expectations.

In the end, schools like Harvard say pretty adamantly they don't use formulas to determine admissions decisions, so I wouldn't read too much into this. But this can be shorthand to help orient an applicant's family background.

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Extracurricular, Personal, and Volunteer Activities

Now known as: Activities

For most applicants, your Extracurriculars and your Academic Honors will be where you develop your Spike and where your Personal Narrative shines through. This was how my application worked.

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Just below I'll describe the activities in more detail, but first I want to reflect on this list.

As instructed, my extracurriculars were listed in the order of their interest to me. The current Common App doesn't seem to ask for this, but I would still recommend it to focus your reader's attention.

The most important point I have to make about my extracurriculars: as you go down the list, there is a HUGE drop in the importance of each additional activity to the overall application. If I were to guess, I assign the following weights to how much each activity contributed to the strength of my activities section:

In other words, participating in the Research Science Institute (RSI) was far more important than all of my other extracurriculars, combined. You can see that this was the only activity my admissions reader circled.

You can see how Spike-y this is. The RSI just completely dominates all my other activities.

The reason for this is the prestige of RSI. As I noted earlier, RSI was (and likely still is) the most prestigious research program for high school students in the country, with an admission rate of less than 5% . Because the program was so prestigious and selective, getting in served as a big confirmation signal of my academic quality.

In other words, the Harvard admissions reader would likely think, "OK, if this very selective program has already validated Allen as a top student, I'm inclined to believe that Allen is a top student and should pay special attention to him."

Now, it took a lot of prior work to even get into RSI because it's so selective. I had already ranked nationally in the Chemistry Olympiad (more below), and I had done a lot of prior research work in computer science (at Jisan Research Institute—more about this later). But getting into RSI really propelled my application to another level.

Because RSI was so important and was such a big Spike, all my other extracurriculars paled in importance. The admissions officer at Princeton or MIT probably didn't care at all that I volunteered at a hospital or founded a high school club .

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This is a good sign of developing a strong Spike. You want to do something so important that everything else you do pales in comparison to it. A strong Spike becomes impossible to ignore.

In contrast, if you're well-rounded, all your activities hold equal weight—which likely means none of them are really that impressive (unless you're a combination of Olympic athlete, internationally-ranked science researcher, and New York Times bestselling author, but then I'd call you unicorn because you don't exist).

Apply this concept to your own interests—what can be so impressive and such a big Spike that it completely overshadows all your other achievements?

This might be worth spending a disproportionate amount of time on. As I recommend in my Harvard guide and 4.0 GPA guide , smartly allocating your time is critical to your high school strategy.

In retrospect, one "mistake" I made was spending a lot of time on the violin. Each week I spent eight hours on practice and a lesson and four hours of orchestra rehearsals. This amounted to over 1,500 hours from freshman to junior year.

The result? I was pretty good, but definitely nowhere near world-class. Remember, there are thousands of orchestras and bands in the country, each with their own concertmasters, drum majors, and section 1 st chairs.

If I were to optimize purely for college applications, I should have spent that time on pushing my spike even further —working on more Olympiad competitions, or doing even more hardcore research.

Looking back I don't mind this much because I generally enjoyed my musical training and had a mostly fun time in orchestra (and I had a strong Spike anyway). But this problem can be a lot worse for well-rounded students who are stretched too thin.

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Aside from these considerations about a Spike, I have two major caveats.

First, developing a Spike requires continuous, increasingly ambitious foundational work. It's like climbing a staircase. From the beginning of high school, each step was more and more ambitious—my first academic team, my first research experience, leading up to state and national competitions and more serious research work.

So when I suggest devoting a lot of time to developing your Spike, it's not necessarily the Spike in itself—it's also spending time on foundational work leading up to what will be your major achievement. That's why I don't see my time with academic teams or volunteering as wasted, even though in the end they didn't contribute as much to my application.

Second, it is important to do things you enjoy. I still enjoyed playing the violin and being part of an orchestra, and I really enjoyed my school's academic teams, even though we never went beyond state level. Even if some activities don't contribute as much to your application, it's still fine to spend some time on them—just don't delude yourself into thinking they're stronger than they really are and overspend time on them.

Finally, note that most of my activities were pursued over multiple years. This is a good sign of commitment—rather than hopping from activity year to year, it's better to show sustained commitment, as this is a better signal of genuine passion.

In a future article, I'll break down these activities in more detail. But this guide is already super long, so I want to focus our attention on the main points.

Short Answer: Extracurricular Activities

In today's Common Application, you have 50 characters to describe "Position/Leadership description and organization name" and 150 characters for "Please describe this activity, including what you accomplished and any recognition you received, etc."

Back then, we didn't have as much space per activity, and instead had a short answer question.

The Short Answer prompt:

Please describe which of your activities (extracurricular and personal activities or work experience) has been most meaningful and why.

I chose RSI as my most significant activity for two reasons—one based on the meaning of the work, and another on the social aspect.

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It's obvious that schools like Yale and UChicago want the best students in the world that they can get their hands on. Academic honors and awards are a great, quantifiable way to show that.

Here's the complete list of Academic Honors I submitted. The Common Application now limits you to five honors only (probably because they got tired of lists like these), but chances are you capture the top 98% of your honors with the top five.

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Charlie wins a Golden Ticket to Harvard.

I know this is intimidating if you don't already have a prestigious honor. But remember there are thousands of nationally-ranked people in a multitude of honor types, from science competitions to essay contests to athletics to weird talents.

And I strongly believe the #1 differentiator of high school students who achieve things is work ethic, NOT intelligence or talent. Yes, you need a baseline level of competence to get places, but people far undervalue the progress they can make if they work hard and persevere. Far too many people give up too quickly or fatigue without putting in serious effort.

If you're stuck thinking, "well I'm just an average person, and there's no way I'm going to become world-class in anything," then you've already lost before you've begun. The truth is everyone who achieves something of note puts in an incredible amount of hard work. Because this is invisible to you, it looks like talent is what distinguishes the two of you, when really it's much more often diligence.

I talk a lot more about the Growth Mindset in my How To Get a 4.0 GPA guide .

So my Chemistry Olympiad honor formed 90% of the value of this page. Just like extracurriculars, there's a quick dropoff in value of each item after that.

My research work took up the next two honors, one a presentation at an academic conference, and the other (Siemens) a research competition for high school researchers.

The rest of my honors were pretty middling:

  • National Merit Scholarship semifinalist pretty much equates to PSAT score, which is far less important than your SAT/ACT score. So I didn't really get any credit for this, and you won't either.
  • In Science Olympiad (this is a team-based competition that's not as prestigious as the academic Olympiads I just talked about), I earned a number of 1 st place state and regional medals, but we never made it to nationals.
  • I was mediocre at competition math because I didn't train for it, and I won some regional awards but nothing amazing. This is one place I would have spent more time, maybe in the time I'd save by not practicing violin as much. There are great resources for this type of training, like Art of Problem Solving , that I didn't know existed and could've helped me rank much higher.

At the risk of beating a dead horse, think about how many state medalists there are in the country, in the hundreds of competitions that exist . The number of state to national rankers is probably at least 20:1 (less than 50:1 because of variation in state size), so if there are 2,000 nationally ranked students, there are 40,000 state-ranked students in something !

So state honors really don't help you stand out on your Princeton application. There are just too many of them around.

On the other hand, if you can get to be nationally ranked in something, you will have an amazing Spike that distinguishes you.

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Now known as: Personal Essay

Now, the dreaded personal statement. Boy, oh boy, did I fuss over this one.

"What is the perfect combination of personal, funny, heartrending, and inspirational?"

I know I was wondering this when I applied.

Having read books like 50 Successful Harvard Application Essays , I was frightened. I didn't grow up as a refugee, wrenched from my war-torn home! I didn't have a sibling with a debilitating illness! How could anything I write compare to these tales of personal strength?

The trite truth is that colleges want to know who you really are . Clearly they don't expect everyone to have had immense personal struggle. But they do want students who are:

  • growth-oriented
  • introspective
  • kind and good-hearted

Whatever those words mean to you in the context of your life is what you should write about.

In retrospect, in the context of MY application, the personal statement really wasn't what got me into Harvard . I do think my Spike was nearly sufficient to get me admitted to every school in the country.

I say "nearly" because, even if you're world-class, schools do want to know you're not a jerk and that you're an interesting person (which is conveyed through your personal essay and letters of recommendation).

Back then, we had a set of different prompts :

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What did you think?

I'm still cringing a bit. Parts of this are very smug (see /r/iamverysmart ), and if you want to punch the writer in the face, I don't blame you. I want to as well.

We'll get to areas of improvement later, but first, let's talk about what this personal essay did well.

As I said above, I saw the theme of the snooze button as a VEHICLE to showcase a few qualities I cared about :

1) I fancied myself a Renaissance man (obnoxious, I know) and wanted to become an inventor and creator . I showed this through mentioning different interests (Rubik's cube, chemistry, Nietzsche) and iterating through a few designs for an alarm clock (electric shocks, explosions, Shakespearean sonnet recitation).

2) My personality was whimsical and irreverent. I don't take life too seriously. The theme of the essay—battling an alarm clock—shows this well, in comparison to the gravitas of the typical student essay. I also found individual lines funny, like "All right, so I had violated the divine honor of the family and the tenets of Confucius." At once I acknowledge my Chinese heritage but also make light of the situation.

3) I was open to admitting weaknesses , which I think is refreshing among people taking college applications too seriously and trying too hard to impress. The frank admission of a realistic lazy habit—pushing the Snooze button—served as a nice foil to my academic honors and shows that I can be down-to-earth.

So you see how the snooze button acts as a vehicle to carry these major points and a lot of details, tied together to the same theme .

In the same way, The Walking Dead is NOT a zombie show—the zombie environment is a VEHICLE by which to show human drama and conflict. Packaging my points together under the snooze button theme makes it a lot more interesting than just outright saying "I'm such an interesting guy."

So overall, I believe the essay accomplishes my goals and the main points of what I wanted to convey about myself.

Note that this is just one of many ways to write an essay . It worked for me, but it may be totally inappropriate for you.

Now let's look at this essay's weaknesses.

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Looking at it with a more seasoned perspective, some parts of it are WAY too try-hard. I try too hard to show off my breadth of knowledge in a way that seems artificial and embellishing.

The entire introduction with the Rubik's cube seems bolted on, just to describe my long-standing desire to be a Renaissance man. Only three paragraphs down do I get to the Snooze button, and I don't refer again to the introduction until the end. With just 650 words, I could have made the essay more cohesive by keeping the same theme from beginning to end.

Some phrases really make me roll my eyes. "Always hungry for more" and "ever the inventor" sound too forced and embellishing. A key principle of effective writing is to show, not say . You don't say "I'm passionate about X," you describe what extraordinary lengths you took to achieve X.

The mention of Nietzsche is over-the-top. I mean, come on. The reader probably thought, "OK, this kid just read it in English class and now he thinks he's a philosopher." The reader would be right.

The ending: "with the extra nine minutes, maybe I'll teach myself to cook fried rice" is silly. Where in the world did fried rice come from? I meant it as a nod to my Chinese heritage, but it's too sudden to work. I could have deleted the sentence and wrapped up the essay more cleanly.

So I have mixed feelings of my essay. I think it accomplished my major goals and showed the humorous, irreverent side of my personality well. However, it also gave the impression of a kid who thought he knew more than he did, a pseudo-sophisticate bordering on obnoxious. I still think it was a net positive.

At the end of the day, I believe the safest, surefire strategy is to develop a Spike so big that the importance of the Personal Essay pales in comparison to your achievements. You want your Personal Essay to be a supplement to your application, not the only reason you get in.

There are probably some cases where a well-rounded student writes an amazing Personal Essay and gets in through the strength of that. As a Hail Mary if you're a senior and can't improve your application further, this might work. But the results are very variable—some readers may love your essay, others may just think it's OK. Without a strong application to back it up, your mileage may vary.

Want to build the best possible college application?

We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools .

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This is a really fun section. Usually you don't get to read your letter of recommendation because you sign the FERPA waiver. I've also reached out to my letter writers to make sure they're ok with my showing this.

Teacher recommendations are incredibly important to your application. I would say that after your coursework/test scores and activities/honors, they're the 3 rd most important component of your application .

The average teacher sees thousands of students through a career, and so he or she is very well equipped to position you relative to all other students. Furthermore, your teachers are experienced adults—their impressions of you are much more reliable than your impressions of yourself (see my Personal Essay above). They can corroborate your entire Personal Narrative as an outside observer.

The most effective recommendation letters speak both to your academic strengths and to your personality. For the second factor, the teacher needs to have interacted with you meaningfully, ideally both in and out of class. Check out our guide on what makes for effective letters of recommendation .

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Starting from sophomore year, I started thinking about whom I connected better with and chose to engage with those teachers more deeply . Because it's standard for colleges to require two teachers in different subjects, I made sure to engage with English and history teachers as well as math and science.

The minimum requirement for a good letter is someone who taught a class in which you did well. I got straight A's in my coursework, so this wasn't an issue.

Beyond this, I had to look for teachers who would be strong advocates for me on both an academic and personal level . These tended to be teachers I vibed more strongly with, and typically these were teachers who demonstrably cared about teaching. This was made clear by their enthusiasm, how they treated students, and how much they went above expectations to help.

I had a lot of teachers who really just phoned it in and treated their job perfunctorily—these people are likely to write pretty blasĂ© letters.

A final note before reading my actual teacher evaluations— you should avoid getting in the mindset where you get to know teachers JUST because you want a good recommendation letter . Your teachers have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of students pass through, and it's much easier to detect insincerity than you think.

If you honestly like learning and are an enthusiastic, responsible, engaging student, a great recommendation letter will follow naturally. The horse should lead the cart.

Read my How to Get a 4.0 GPA for tips on how to interact with teachers in a genuine way that'll make them love you.

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Teacher Letter #1: AP Chemistry Teacher

I took AP Chemistry in 10 th grade and had Miss Cherryl Vorak (now Mynster). She was young, having taught for fewer than 5 years when I had her. She was my favorite teacher throughout high school for these reasons:

  • She was enthusiastic, very caring, and spent a lot of time helping struggling students. She exuded pride in her work and seemed to consider teaching her craft.
  • She had a kind personality and was universally well liked by her students, even if they weren't doing so well. She was fair in her policies (it probably helped that science is more objective than English). She was also a younger teacher, and this helped her relate to kids more closely.
  • She was my advocate for much of the US National Chemistry Olympiad stuff, and in this capacity I got to know her even better outside of class. She provided me a lot of training materials, helped me figure out college chemistry, and directed me to resources to learn more.

By the time of the letter writing, I had known her for two full years and engaged with her continuously, even when I wasn't taking a class with her in junior year. We'd build up a strong relationship over the course of many small interactions.

All of this flowed down to the recommendation you see here. Remember, the horse leads the cart.

First, we'll look at the teacher evaluation page. The Common Application now has 16 qualities to rate, rather than the 10 here. But they're largely the same.

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You can see a very strong evaluation here, giving me the highest ratings possible for all qualities.

In today's Common Application, all of these Ratings are retained, aside from "Potential for Growth." Today's Common App also now includes Faculty Respect, Maturity, Leadership, Integrity, Reaction to Setbacks, Concern for Others, and TE Overall. You can tell that the updated Common App places a great emphasis on personality.

The most important point here: it is important to be ranked "One of the top few encountered in my career" for as many ratings as possible . If you're part of a big school, this is CRITICAL to distinguish yourself from other students. The more experienced and trustworthy the teacher, the more meaningful this is.

Again, it's a numbers game. Think about the 20,000+ high schools in the country housing 4 million+ high school students—how many people fit in the top 5% bucket?

Thus, being marked merely as Excellent (top 10%) is actually a negative rating , as far as admissions to top colleges is concerned. If you're in top 10%, and someone else with the SAME teacher recommender is being rated as "One of the top ever," it's really hard for the admissions officer to vouch for you over the other student.

You really want to make sure you're one of the best in your school class, if not one of the best the teacher has ever encountered. You'll see below how you can accomplish this.

Next, let's look at her letter.

As you read this, think— what are the interactions that would prompt the teacher to write a recommendation like this? This was a relationship built up in a period of over 2 years, with every small interaction adding to an overall larger impression.

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You can see how seriously they take the letter because of all the underlining . This admissions reader underlined things that weren't even underlined in my application, like my US National Chemistry Olympiad awards. It's one thing for a student to claim things about himself—it's another to have a teacher put her reputation on the line to advocate for her student.

The letter here is very strong for a multitude of reasons. First, the length is notable —most letters are just a page long, but this is nearly two full pages , single spaced. This indicates not just her overall commitment to her students but also of her enthusiastic support for me as an applicant.

The structure is effective: first Miss Vorak talks about my academic accomplishments, then about my personal qualities and interactions, then a summary to the future. This is a perfect blend of what effective letters contain .

On the micro-level, her diction and phrasing are precise and effective . She makes my standing clear with specific statements : "youngest student
top excelling student among the two sections" and "one of twenty students in the nation." She's clear about describing why my achievements are notable and the effort I put in, like studying college-level chemistry and studying independently.

When describing my personality, she's exuberant and fleshes out a range of dimensions: "conscientious, motivated and responsible," "exhibits the qualities of a leader," "actively seeks new experiences," "charismatic," "balanced individual with a warm personality and sense of humor." You can see how she's really checking off all the qualities colleges care about.

Overall, Miss Vorak's letter perfectly supports my Personal Narrative —my love for science, my overall academic performance, and my personality. I'm flattered and grateful to have received this support. This letter was important to complement the overall academic performance and achievements shown on the rest of my application.

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Teacher Letter #2: AP English Language Teacher

My second teacher Mrs. Swift was another favorite. A middle-aged, veteran English teacher, the best way I would describe her is "fiery." She was invigorating and passionate, always trying to get a rise out of students and push their thinking, especially in class discussions. Emotionally she was a reliable source of support for students.

First, the evaluation:

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You can see right away that her remarks are terser. She didn't even fill out the section about "first words that come to mind to describe this student."

You might chalk this up to my not being as standout of a student in her mind, or her getting inundated with recommendation letter requests after over a decade of teaching.

In ratings, you can see that I only earned 3 of the "one of the top in my career." There are a few explanations for this. As a teacher's career lengthens, it gets increasingly hard to earn this mark. I probably also didn't stand out as much as I did to my Chemistry teacher—most of my achievement was in science (which she wasn't closely connected to), and I had talented classmates. Regardless, I did appreciate the 3 marks she gave me.

Now, the letter. Once again, as you read this letter, think: what are the hundreds of micro-interactions that would have made a teacher write a letter like this?

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Overall, this letter is very strong. It's only one page long, but her points about my personality are the critical piece of this recommendation. She also writes with the flair of an English teacher:

"In other situations where students would never speak their minds, he showed no hesitation to voice questions, thoughts, and ideas."

"controversial positions often being the spark that set off the entire class"

"ability to take the quiet and shy student and actively engage"
"went out of my way to partner him with other students who needed"

"strength of conviction"
"raw, unbridled passion"
"He will argue on any topic that has touched a nerve."

These comments most support the personality aspect of my Personal Narrative—having an irreverent, bold personality and not being afraid of speaking my mind. She stops just short of making me sound obnoxious and argumentative. An experienced teacher vouching for this adds so much more weight than just my writing it about myself.

Teacher recommendations are some of the most important components of your application. Getting very strong letters take a lot of sustained, genuine interaction over time to build mutual trust and respect. If you want detailed advice on how to interact with teachers earnestly, check out my How to Get a 4.0 GPA and Better Grades guide .

Let's go to the final recommendation, from the school counselor.

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Now known as: School Report

The first piece of this is reporting your academic status and how the school works overall. There's not much to say here, other than the fact that my Principal wrote my recommendation for me, which we'll get into next.

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Counselor Recommendation

Now known as: Counselor Recommendation

Let's talk about my school principal writing my recommendation, rather than a school counselor.

This was definitely advantageous—remember how, way up top in Educational Data, the reader circled the "Principal." Our Principal only wrote a handful of these recommendations each year , often for people who worked closely with him, like student body presidents. So it was pretty distinctive that I got a letter from our Principal, compared to other leading applicants from my school.

This was also a blessing because our counseling department was terrible . Our school had nearly 1,000 students per grade, and only 1 counselor per grade. They were overworked and ornery, and because they were the gatekeepers of academic enrollment (like class selection and prerequisites), this led to constant frictions in getting the classes you wanted.

I can empathize with them, because having 500+ neurotic parents pushing for advantages for their own kids can get REALLY annoying really fast. But the counseling department was still the worst part of our high school administration, and I could have guessed that the letters they wrote were mediocre because they just had too many students.

So how did my Principal come to write my recommendation and not those for hundreds of other students?

I don't remember exactly how this came to be, to be honest. I didn't strategize to have him write a letter for me years in advance. I didn't even interact with him much at all until junior year, when I got on his radar because of my national rankings. Come senior year I might have talked to him about my difficulty in reaching counselors and asked that he write my recommendation. Since I was a top student he was probably happy to do this.

He was very supportive, but as you can tell from the letter to come, it was clear he didn't know me that well.

Interestingly, the prompt for the recommendation has changed. It used to start with: "Please write whatever you think is important about this student."

Now, it starts with: " Please provide comments that will help us differentiate this student from others ."

The purpose of the recommendation has shifted to the specific: colleges probably found that one counselor was serving hundreds of students, so the letters started getting mushy and indistinguishable from each other.

Here's the letter:

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This letter is probably the weakest overall of all my letters. It reads more like a verbal resume than a personal account of how he understands me.

Unlike my two teacher recommendations, he doesn't comment on the nature of our interactions or about my personality (because he truly didn't understand them well). He also misreported by SAT score as 1530 instead of 1600 (I did score a 1530 in an early test, but my 1600 was ready by January 2004, so I don't know what source he was using).

Notably, the letter writer didn't underline anything.

I still appreciate that he wrote my letter, and it was probably more effective than a generic counselor letter. But this didn't add much to my application.

At this point, we've covered my entire Common Application. This is the same application I sent to every school I applied to, including Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford. Thanks for reading this far—I hope you've gotten a lot out of this already.

If you keep reading to the end, I'll have advice for both younger students and current applicants to build the strongest application possible.

Next, we'll go over the Harvard Supplemental Application, which of course is unique to Harvard.

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For most top colleges like Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, and so on, you will need to complete a supplemental application to provide more info than what's listed on the Common Application.

Harvard was and is the same. The good news is that it's an extra chance for you to share more about yourself and keep pushing your Personal Narrative.

There are four major components here:

  • The application form
  • Writing supplement essay
  • Supplementary recommendations
  • Supplemental application materials

I'll take you through the application section by section.

Harvard Supplement Form

First, the straightforward info and questions.

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This section is pretty straightforward and is similar to what you'd see on a Columbia application.

I planned to live in a Harvard residence, as most students do.

Just as in my Common App, I noted that I was most likely to study biological sciences, choose Medicine as my vocation, and participate in orchestra, writing, and research as my extracurriculars. Nothing surprising here—it's all part of my Personal Narrative.

Interestingly, at the time I was "absolutely certain" about my vocational goals, which clearly took a detour once I left medical school to pursue entrepreneurship to create PrepScholar...

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I had the space to list some additional honors, where I listed some musical honors that didn't make the cut in my Common App.

Here are the next two pages of the Harvard supplemental form.

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The most interesting note here is that the admissions officer wrote a question mark above "Music tape or CD." Clearly this was inconsistent with my Personal Narrative —if violin was such an important part of my story, why didn't I want to include it?

The reason was that I was actually pretty mediocre at violin and was nowhere near national-ranked. Again, remember how many concertmasters in the thousands of orchestras there are in the world—I wasn't good enough to even be in the top 3 chairs in my school orchestra (violin was very competitive).

I wanted to focus attention on my most important materials, which for my Personal Narrative meant my research work. You'll see these supplementary materials later.

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Additional Essays

Now known as: Writing Supplement

For the most part, the Harvard supplemental essay prompt has stayed the same. You can write about a topic of your choice or about any of the suggestions. There are now two more prompts that weren't previously there: "What you would want your future college roommate to know about you" and "How you hope to use your college education."

Even though this is optional, I highly recommend you write something here. Again, you have so few chances in the overall application to convey your personal voice—an extra 500 words gives you a huge opportunity. I would guess that the majority of admitted Harvard students submit a Writing Supplement.

After a lot of brainstorming, I settled on the idea that I wanted to balance my application by writing about the major non-academic piece of my Personal Narrative—my music training . Also, I don't think I explicitly recognized this at the time, but I wanted to distance myself from the Asian-American stereotype—driven entirely by parent pressure, doing most things perfunctorily and without interest. I wanted to show I'd broken out of that mold.

Here's my essay:

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Reading it now, I actually think this was a pretty bad essay, and I cringe to high heaven. But once again, let's focus on the positive first.

I used my violin teacher as a vehicle for talking about what the violin meant to me. (You can tell I love the concept of the vehicle in essays.) He represented passion for the violin—I represented my academic priorities. Our personal conflict was really the conflict between what we represented.

By the end of the essay, I'd articulated the value of musical training to me—it was cathartic and a way to balance my hard academic pursuits.

Halfway in the essay, I also explicitly acknowledged the Asian stereotype of parents who drove their kids, and said my parents were no different. The reader underlined this sentence. By pointing this out and showing how my interest took on a life of its own, I wanted to distance myself from that stereotype.

So overall I think my aims were accomplished.

Despite all that, this essay was WAY overdramatic and overwrought . Some especially terrible lines:

"I was playing for that cathartic moment when I could feel Tchaikovsky himself looking over my shoulder."

"I was wandering through the fog in search of a lighthouse, finally setting foot on a dock pervaded by white light."

OK, please. Who really honestly feels this way? This is clumsy, contrived writing. It signals insincerity, actually, which is bad.

To be fair, all of this is grounded in truth. I did have a strict violin teacher who did get pretty upset when I showed lack of improvement. I did appreciate music as a diversion to round out my academic focus. I did practice hard each day, and I did have a pretty gross callus on my pinky.

But I would have done far better by making it more sincere and less overworked.

As an applicant, you're tempted to try so hard to impress your reader. You want to show that you're Worthy of Consideration. But really the best approach is to be honest.

I think this essay was probably neutral to my application, not a strong net positive or net negative.

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Supplementary Recommendations

Harvard lets you submit letters from up to two Other Recommenders. The Princeton application, Penn application, and others are usually the same.

Unlike the other optional components (the Additional Information in the Common App, and the Supplementary Essay), I would actually consider these letters optional. The reader gets most of the recommendation value from your teacher recommendations—these are really supplementary.

A worthwhile Other Recommender:

  • has supervised an activity or honor that is noteworthy
  • has interacted with you extensively and can speak to your personality
  • is likely to support you as one of the best students they've interacted with

If your Other Recommenders don't fulfill one or more of these categories, do NOT ask for supplementary letters. They'll dilute your application without adding substantively to it.

To beat a dead horse, the primary component of my Personal Narrative was my science and research work. So naturally I chose supervisors for my two major research experiences to write supplemental letters.

First was the Director of Research Science Institute (the selective summer research program at MIT). The second was from the head of Jisan Research Institute, where I did Computer Science research.

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This letter validates my participation in RSI and incorporates the feedback from my research mentor, David Simon. At the time, the RSI students were the most talented students I had met, so I'm also flattered by some of the things the letter writer said, like "Allen stood out early on as a strong performer in academic settings."

I didn't get to know the letter writer super well, so he commented mainly on my academic qualifications and comments from my mentor.

My mentor, who was at one of the major Harvard-affiliated hospitals, said some very nice things about my research ability, like:

"is performing in many ways at the level of a graduate student"

"impressed with Allen's ability to read even advanced scientific publications and synthesize his understanding"

Once again, it's much more convincing for a seasoned expert to vouch for your abilities than for you to claim your own abilities.

My first research experience was done at Jisan Research Institute, a small private computer science lab run by a Caltech PhD. The research staff were mainly high school students like me and a few grad students/postdocs.

My research supervisor, Sanza Kazadi, wrote the letter. He's requested that I not publish the letter, so I'll only speak about his main points.

In the letter, he focused on the quality of my work and leadership. He said that I had a strong focus in my work, and my research moved along more reliably than that of other students. I was independent in my work in swarm engineering, he says, putting together a simulation of the swarm and publishing a paper in conference proceedings. He talked about my work in leading a research group and placing a high degree of trust in me.

Overall, a strong recommendation, and you get the gist of his letter without reading it.

One notable point—both supplemental letters had no marks on them. I really think this means they place less emphasis on the supplementary recommendations, compared to the teacher recommendations.

Finally, finally, we get to the very last piece of my application.

Let me beat the dead horse even deader. Because research was such a core part of my Personal Narrative, I decided to include abstracts of both of my papers. The main point was to summarize the body of work I'd done and communicate the major results.

As Harvard says, "These materials are entirely optional; please only submit them if you have unusual talents."

This is why I chose not to submit a tape of my music: I don't think my musical skill was unusually good.

And frankly, I don't think my research work was that spectacular. Unlike some of my very accomplished classmates, I hadn't ranked nationally in prestigious competitions like ISEF and Siemens. I hadn't published my work in prominent journals.

Regardless, I thought these additions would be net positive, if only marginally so.

body_harvardapp_suppabs1.png

I made sure to note where the papers had been published or were entering competitions, just to ground the work in some achievement.

body_road.jpg
  • Recommendation Letters: Hopefully you should have developed strong, genuine relationships with teachers you care about. The letters should flow naturally from here, and you will only need to do gentle prodding to make sure they meet deadlines.
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    How to Write a Formal Letter to a University: Your Ultimate Guide

    Navigating the process of writing a formal letter to a university can seem like an intimidating task. However, don’t let it overwhelm you! With a bit of foresight and planning, you’ll be able to craft a clear, compelling message that will get your point across effectively.

    First and foremost, it’s important to understand why you’re writing the letter. Are you requesting information? Is there an issue with your application or enrollment status? Or perhaps you’re petitioning for credit transfers or deferment due to unforeseen circumstances. Knowing the purpose of your correspondence will guide its structure and content.

    Remember, this isn’t just any casual email; it’s a formal communication with an institution that could play a significant role in shaping your future. Therefore, specificity is key when conveying your request or concern. Stay on topic and keep clutter at bay by avoiding unnecessary jargon or overly complex sentences.

    Understanding the Purpose of Your Formal Letter

    Before you begin drafting your formal letter to a university, it’s crucial to grasp its purpose. Knowing why you’re writing will guide not only the content but also the tone and structure of your letter.

    Your formal letter could serve various purposes. Perhaps you’re appealing a decision, requesting information, or expressing interest in a program or course. Each scenario demands a different approach:

    • If you’re appealing a decision , such as an admissions outcome, your goal is to present compelling reasons for reconsideration. You’ll need evidence supporting your case and a respectful yet persuasive voice.
    • In cases where you are requesting information , clarity is key. Be specific about what details you seek and give some context so that the recipient can provide accurate responses.
    • When expressing interest in a course or program, demonstrate enthusiasm without sounding desperate. Show them how their offering aligns with your academic aspirations.

    In every situation, remember: this isn’t just any correspondence; it’s an interaction with an institution of higher learning. Bring out your professionalism and respect for their time by being concise yet comprehensive.

    Also note that while these are common reasons for writing formal letters to universities, they aren’t exhaustive. There could be other scenarios based on individual circumstances and needs — always tailor your approach accordingly.

    Lastly, don’t forget that this is part of creating an impression about who you are professionally and academically. So keep it factual and avoid exaggerations or misinformation at all costs!

    Gathering Necessary Information Before Writing

    Before you dive into writing your formal letter to a university, it’s crucial to gather all the necessary information. This ensures that your letter is not only well-informed but also addresses the right individuals and departments.

    First off, know who you’re addressing . This could be an admissions officer, a professor, or a department head. Make sure you’ve got their name spelled correctly and know their official title. A quick search on the university website should provide this information.

    Next up: understand the purpose of your letter . Are you inquiring about application procedures? Seeking admission? Requesting information about specific programs? Being clear about why you’re writing will help shape the content of your letter.

    Also, don’t forget to gather all relevant personal details . Your full name, contact details, student ID (if applicable), and any other pertinent information should be at hand when drafting your letter.

    In case you’re discussing specific courses or programs within the university, have their accurate names ready as well as any course codes if applicable:

    Lastly, ensure that you have current dates ready for inclusion in your letter where needed.

    Let’s summarize what needs gathering before writing:

    • Recipient’s name and title
    • Purpose of your letter
    • Your personal details
    • Specific course/program names and codes
    • Current date

    Armed with these precise details, you’ll write a formal letter that ticks all boxes for professionalism and appropriateness.

    Establishing a Respectful Tone in Your Letter

    When you’re penning down a formal letter to a university, it’s essential that your tone is respectful and professional. Let’s delve into how you can achieve this.

    First and foremost, address the recipient properly . If you know their name or title, use it. If not, ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ will fit the bill. This shows respect right off the bat.

    Next up is keeping your language formal . Stay clear of slang or colloquialisms – they’re too casual for this setting. Stick with standard English and remember, your grammar and spelling should be spot on.

    Your choice of words can also set the tone of your letter. Opt for polite phrases , whether you’re requesting information or expressing concern about something. Phrases like “I would appreciate if”, “Could you kindly” or “I am interested in” work well here.

    It’s also important to be concise yet comprehensive in conveying your message – don’t ramble on unnecessarily but ensure all necessary details are included.

    • Be precise: Clearly state why you’re writing.
    • Set out clear actions: What do you hope to achieve by sending this letter?
    • Sign off respectfully: ‘Yours sincerely’ when addressing someone directly (e.g., Dear Professor Smith) or ‘Yours faithfully’ when using ‘Sir/Madam’.

    Now let’s talk about structure because yes, even that contributes to tone! A well-structured letter is easier to read so it helps get your point across smoothly:

    Lastly, remember to proofread before sending it off! It never hurts to double-check everything from addresses and names, through grammar and punctuation errors, down to the overall flow of your sentences.

    By keeping these tips in mind while crafting your letter, you’ll effectively establish a respectful tone throughout its entirety – making sure it doesn’t just end up as another piece of paper in the university office!

    Structuring Your Formal Letter Effectively

    When it comes to structuring a formal letter, there’s an established order of components you should follow. Let’s break down each of these crucial elements.

    First off, your contact information is a must-have. Include your name, address, phone number, and email at the top right corner. It’ll enable ease of correspondence between you and the university.

    Next up is the date . The American standard format is Month Day, Year (e.g., August 31, 2022). Place it a line below your contact details.

    Afterward comes the recipient’s information . Here you’ll detail the name and address of the person you’re addressing – in this case, the relevant university department or specific individual therein. This section makes sure your letter lands in the right hands.

    A critical part that follows is the salutation . Aim to use a specific name if known; otherwise “Dear Admissions Committee” or similar will do just fine.

    The core of your letter is next – the body text . Try splitting this into three parts: introduction (why you’re writing), main content (details about why you’re suitable or what issue needs addressing), and conclusion (thank you note/saying goodbye).

    Finally, end with a closing statement , followed by your name and signature.

    Here’s how it looks:

    Remember to keep paragraphs short for better readability – around three to five sentences each works well! Also remember each paragraph should convey one idea only; don’t mix topics within them.

    So now that we’ve tackled structure let’s dive deeper into how to make your writing crisp and compelling so that it stands out from all those other letters landing on the admissions desk!

    Writing the Opening Paragraph of Your Letter

    When you’re writing a formal letter to a university, your opening paragraph is crucial. It’s this first impression that sets the tone for the remainder of your letter and helps establish respect and rapport with the reader.

    To begin with, address your recipient properly. This may seem like an obvious point, but it’s essential to get it right. If you’re unsure who will be reading your letter, use a general salutation such as “Dear Admissions Committee.” However, if you know the name of your reader or their role in the university (like Dean or Director), then personalize it by using titles like “Dr.”, “Prof.”, or “Mr./Ms.”. Remember not to use first names unless explicitly asked to do so.

    Next up, introduce yourself briefly. Mention who you are, your current educational status and why you’re writing this letter. You might say something like: “As a prospective student interested in biology programs at XYZ University
”

    Think about grabbing their attention from these initial lines. A compelling opening would make them want to read on.

    Now comes an important aspect: express enthusiasm about their institution specifically. Show them that you’ve done some research about their school and are excited about what they have to offer.

    • Address properly
    • Introduce yourself
    • State purpose
    • Show enthusiasm

    By following these guidelines on how to write an effective opening paragraph for a formal letter to a university, we believe that you’re off to a good start!

    Crafting the Body of Your Formal Letter to a University

    Now that you’ve nailed your introduction, it’s time to focus on crafting the body of your formal letter. This is where you’ll detail your purpose for writing and provide any necessary supporting information. It’s important to keep things concise while ensuring your message is clear.

    Start by outlining why you’re writing . Maybe you’re applying for a program or requesting specific information. Whatever it is, make sure this key point stands out early in the body of your letter.

    Next, delve into the specifics. If you’re applying for admission or a scholarship, discuss what makes you an excellent candidate. Highlight any relevant achievements or experiences and don’t be shy about proclaiming what sets you apart from other applicants.

    • Academic accomplishments
    • Leadership roles
    • Community involvement
    • Relevant skills

    If instead, you’re seeking information about a course or program at the university, state clearly why this particular institution appeals to you and how it fits into your future plans. Be specific – universities appreciate when students have done their homework!

    While sharing all this information, remember to maintain a formal tone throughout. Also ensure that each paragraph serves its own purpose in advancing your narrative – one might introduce who you are, another could explain why you’re interested in this particular university or course.

    Tip: To maintain flow and cohesiveness between paragraphs, try using transition words like “furthermore”, “in addition”, “on another note” and so on.

    Finally, as with all written communication today – proofread! You’d be surprised how often simple errors slip through our initial checks. After spending time perfecting your letter’s content, don’t let spelling mistakes diminish its impact!

    Remember: When writing to universities more than anything else they value clarity of thought & strong organization skills reflected in good grammar & succinctness.

    Concluding Your Formal Letter Positively and Professionally

    You’ve made it to the end of your formal letter, but how do you wrap things up? How do you leave a lasting impression that’s both positive and professional? Let’s delve into these questions.

    First off, you must restate your purpose . It’s vital to remind the reader why you wrote the letter in the first place. By doing so, you keep them focused on the issue at hand. Be sure not to introduce any new information here.

    Next, make a point to express gratitude or appreciation . Thanking your reader for their time and consideration goes a long way in maintaining goodwill and fostering relationships with universities. Remember, “please” and “thank you” are magic words even in written communication!

    Consider this simple example: Thank you for considering my application.

    Following this, be sure to include a call-to-action (CTA) . A CTA guides your reader on what they should do next after reading your letter – whether it’s contacting you or looking forward to future discussions.

    For instance: I look forward to hearing from you soon.

    Lastly, don’t forget about your closing salutation ! Something as straightforward as ‘Sincerely’, ‘Yours faithfully’ or ‘Respectfully yours’ can work wonders.

    Bearing all these points in mind:

    Here’s an example of how everything comes together:

    I am writing this letter for my scholarship application . Thank You for considering my request . I look forward to hearing from you soon . Sincerely Yours , [Your Name]

    Remember though – every situation is unique so tailor each conclusion based on context while retaining its basic structure.

    Remember: restating purpose , expressing gratitude , including a strong call-to-action and signing off with an appropriate salutation are key markers of a well-concluded formal letter!

    Proofreading and Editing: Ensuring Clarity and Accuracy

    When you’re crafting a formal letter to a university, it’s crucial that your message is clear, concise, and error-free. Proofreading isn’t just an afterthought – it’s an integral part of the writing process. So, let’s dive into some tips that will help you make sure your letter is on point.

    First off, don’t rush through this stage. You’ve spent considerable time forming your thoughts and drafting them; now give yourself ample time to polish those words till they shine. It’ll be worth it when you submit a well-crafted piece with confidence.

    One trick to catch mistakes is reading your letter out loud. This technique helps bring attention to awkward phrasing or misplaced words that your eyes might skim over during silent reading. And if possible, enlist another pair of eyes – fresh perspectives can spot errors you might have missed.

    Keep an eye out for common pitfalls like homophones (words sounding alike but having different meanings) or misused phrases; they can drastically change the meaning of your sentence! For instance:

    • “Their” vs “They’re” vs “There”
    • “Your” vs “You’re”
    • “It’s” vs “Its”

    Make sure every sentence contributes something valuable and moves the message forward. If it doesn’t add value or seems redundant, cut it out.

    Next up: editing . This step goes beyond correcting grammatical errors – it’s about improving clarity and coherence too.

    Pay attention to paragraph structure; does each one convey a single thought or argument? Also check for transition words between paragraphs – these create flow in your writing.

    While editing, remember brevity is key in formal communication – universities receive countless letters daily so aim for conciseness without compromising on quality content.

    And lastly, ensure all information provided is accurate – double-check dates, names of people or departments referenced in the letter etc., as mistakes here could harm credibility.

    Remember proofreading and editing aren’t just about fixing what’s wrong but also enhancing what’s already good!

    Getting Ready to Send: Final Checks and Considerations

    You’re almost there! Yet, before you click that “send” button or drop your letter into the mailbox, you’ll need to double-check a few things. It’s not just about dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s; it’s about ensuring your letter will make an outstanding impression.

    Firstly, proofread . You’d be surprised how many errors can slip through unnoticed. Run spell check and grammar software, but don’t rely on them entirely. They’re good for catching typos but often miss issues like incorrect word use or awkward phrasing. Reading out loud can help catch these subtleties.

    Secondly, ensure all details are correct:

    • Check addresses (both yours and university’s)
    • Verify dates
    • Ensure names are spelled correctly
    • Confirm you’ve included necessary attachments

    Make sure every piece of information is accurate as inaccuracies can hurt your credibility.

    Additionally, consider getting a second opinion . Having someone else review your letter gives fresh eyes to spot any overlooked errors or ambiguous phrases.

    Lastly, mind the format:

    • Follow guidelines provided by the university.
    • Use professional-looking fonts.
    • Keep margins even.
    • Make sure everything aligns properly.

    If sending electronically, send yourself a test email first to make sure formatting stays intact when opened on different devices.

    In summing up this section:

    • Proofreading is essential
    • You must ensure all details are correct
    • A second pair of eyes is invaluable
    • The format matters

    By following these pointers carefully, you’ll present a well-crafted formal letter that clearly communicates your intent in applying to their institution with professionalism and sincerity. Now get ready for hitting ‘Send’!

    Wrapping Up: The Impact of a Well-Written Formal Letter

    You’ve made it to the end of our guide on how to write a formal letter to a university. Now, let’s discuss the potential impact your well-crafted correspondence can have.

    The importance of a well-written formal letter can’t be underestimated. It’s not just about getting your point across; it’s about creating an impression. That first impression could make all the difference when it comes to securing admission or funding for your education.

    Remember, universities receive thousands of letters each year from prospective students and scholars around the globe. Your goal is to stand out in that crowd. A well-drafted letter showcases your ability to communicate effectively, demonstrating both professionalism and respect for the recipient’s time.

    It’s also important to consider long-term impacts. A compelling, carefully crafted letter sets a positive tone for future interactions with university officials – think scholarship interviews, job applications, even networking opportunities down the line.

    Let’s summarize some key points:

    • First impressions matter: A concise, error-free formal letter immediately establishes you as professional and detail-oriented.
    • Stand out among thousands: With countless applicants reaching out every year, differentiate yourself through effective written communication.
    • Long-term benefits: Good impressions last and may benefit you during subsequent interactions with university officials.

    A final word? Don’t rush this process! Take your time crafting your message—it’s often one shot at making an indelible mark on those who hold keys to your academic future. You’ve got this!

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    20+ Sample College Application Letters – PDF, DOC

    College application letters are used in various academic applications when college students request an entrance or transfer. It may be a requirement of the academic institution where they currently attend or it can also be used for special functions that the college or university student would like to undertake. Whether it’s nursing, engineering, architecture, accounting, or medical students, application letters are prominent in college enrollment processes.

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    • A college leave application letter is written by a student who will have a temporary absence in the course that he or she is currently studying due to valid reasons.
    • A college admission application letter is used by a student who would like to apply for an academic slot for a specific course offered by a school. You may also see Academic Letters
    • College scholarship application letters are written by students who would like to get a scholarship grant—be it from the high school template, a government institution, or any other entity offering education assistance.
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    • College application reference letters are written by the references of a student applicant so that there will be a supporting document that may be used either for admissions, enrollment, or other special academic functions.
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    • The kind of teaching commitment that the applicant can provide to the academic institution
    • It can be used to apply for a part-time job. You may also see Admission Letters .
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    David and his friends

    In early October 2020, David Andrade ’23 wrote the following email to Bill Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid.

    We are sharing his story here with his consent.

    October 2, 2020 Dear Dr. Fitzsimmons and Harvard Admissions, 

    My name is David Andrade. I am currently a rising sophomore looking to major in Mechanical Engineering. I am writing this email today both as a reflection and as a thank you for giving a little Hispanic boy from Little Havana in Miami, FL a chance. I am not sure who admitted/advocated for me on the admissions committee specifically, but it says Dr. Fitzsimmons on my acceptance letter. I would like whoever admitted me to receive this note as well, as a thank you to them. Growing up, I did not have much. My mom’s a housekeeper; she has been since the day she came from Honduras over 30 years ago. She came to this country in pursuit of the American Dream, cleaning houses for the types of people she once dreamed she would be. However, reality turned out much different than we had hoped. I grew up during the housing crisis- not the best time for a housekeeper. Even through the strife and realities of poverty, I tried to see the good in my experiences. Sometimes, the only food in our cabinet were Vienna sausages; however, you could not deny that they were absolutely delicious. Because of the cost, we never went to any restaurants or private parks or the movies – but basketball, educational Vsauce/SciShow videos, and board games occupied my time. I remember having toothaches, and, instead of going to the dentist (too expensive), we would tie my tooth to the door and slam it shut so that my tooth would fall off! I felt lucky to get Burger King if I went to the doctor and there was nothing wrong with me at the checkup. In fact, I went to my first real “restaurant” when I was 17 with my teacher, who wanted to celebrate my high score on the ACT. It was so weird. I did not know how to act in the restaurant, what to ask the server, or how I wanted my meat done. It was my first time; I did not know any better! 

    David's mom and brother

    My mom and brother made large sacrifices when I was young so we could live with food on the table, and I am eternally grateful.

    But I cannot deny that some of my childhood could not be looked at lightly in this reflection. I remember waking up every school day at 4 AM. The bus driver would pick me up in her car, drive to the bus depot where all the school buses are parked, get on the bus and continue picking up kids until 9 AM, when I was dropped off for school. I woke up so early because my mom herself took 3 buses to get to work; she did not trust me waiting alone outside for the bus in my neighborhood. I remember getting harassed by a school cop after school hours because I was in a teacher’s classroom late after finishing an ACT Bootcamp session for my peers. I was still packing up from finishing that evening, but the cop did not believe me- who would think that someone would hold such a session at this school? I remember a teacher telling my entire classroom that we were not good enough to go to college in 10th grade. I remember multiple instances in which my smart black peers, desperate to be challenged, would rot away in regular and intensive classes- teachers did not believe in them and refused to put them in honors classes because of the color of their skin. In a 90% Hispanic school. 

    David and his teachers

    My two high school teachers, Mrs. Munguia and Dr. Hueck, were the people that made me believe I had potential, and I wouldn’t be here without them

    I remember the good, the bad, and the ugly of my childhood experiences. 

    You hear stories like this all the time probably. Stories of poverty, strife, and eventual redemption. You know what comes next after all this narration: I am poor, I hate to see my mom working at the age of 64, and I want to help her to achieve the American Dream. So, I study hard, get good grades, make impact in my clubs and organizations, develop leadership skills, and voila, I am applying to your prestigious institution. 

    My experiences are relatively common in America, unfortunately- you can find thousands of copies of me across the nation. But out of all those kids, you accepted me. I look at my friends with similar backgrounds and accomplishments, and they did not get in. I look back at what I did, and I compare it to what my peers did in high school. Why me? I do not know. I do not know how this admissions process works, and I do not know what separates me from them. But I thank you. I do not know where I would be today without you believing in me. I know there is some other person like me who was rejected, and I hope they are doing well somewhere else – sometimes, I reel at the fact that you chose me over them. I wish all students who went through similar things as I were able to experience the amazing experiences I have had thus far at this institution. Alas, we are systematically oppressed, and need to desperately reform the public education system in America, promoting and working towards increasing opportunities and support for minorities to succeed in high school to be able to apply to such prestigious institutions.

    I cannot begin to explain how fortunate I have been to attend this place. I love it. I feel at home. I feel like I belong. I love learning from others. I love hearing their passions and using that energy to improve myself as well. Harvard students constantly elevate each other. I love that support. Harvard taught me how to learn, how to be proactive, and how to ask for help. I have learned how to reach out to professors and have grown to not be afraid to ask questions in class. I learned how to lead and how to listen. 

    Most importantly, Harvard taught me to believe in myself and my passions. Growing up, I was taught that I could be only a lawyer, doctor, or engineer- only those people earn money, and as a poor person, money is your life support, so you believe this false statement. Old me would have never taken someone seriously if they said they were working toward being an astrophysicist as a career- where is the job applicability there? But now, I hope to understand the cosmos and improve the human condition on Earth, building one spacecraft instrument at a time – I am pursuing my dreams, even if far-fetched, because I believe in myself and believe I can be the best at what I do. Harvard allowed for that.

    I have had a fantastic freshman summer working in the Stubbs Group designing a filter scanner calibration system for a telescope in Chile. I have taken a lead role on the Harvard Satellite Team, building Harvard’s first CubeSat. I have a leadership position at the Harvard College Engineering Society, developing freshman engineers to be the future leaders of the SEAS community. I have started green-training and welding training for machining things in my own time and I am CNC mill and lathe certified. I have thoroughly enjoyed the mechanical engineering and electronics classes I have taken so far, and the content is something I would have never seen in a high school classroom. I have even explored political bipartisanship clubs and started an education project to increase publicly accessible course materials at Harvard. I have taken advantage of every single opportunity here at Harvard thus far, and hope it propels me into my career path – in fact, it already has, as I was fortunate to accept an offer to work at SpaceX this summer.

    I think if me from two years ago saw me today, I would be unrecognizable. I am more confident, comfortable in my own skin, and I feel at home for the first time, probably ever. And I have you to thank for this opportunity. Thank you. From the empty cabinets of Little Havana to the telescopes atop the Science Center, high above the city of Cambridge- I am home. 

    Sincerely, 

    David Andrade

    David has also shared additional commentary to supplement his original letter below: 

    Of course, my story is not unanimous among all FGLI students at Harvard. Some just do not feel at home at a PWI like Harvard and question the level of diversity on campus. Some have spoken about the lack of mental health support that administrators and CAMHS provide for them. Some criticize Harvard for not doing enough to help our community, amplified during the pandemic with storage relief and lack of housing for those with domestic instability. I am fortunate to have found my place at Harvard but hope this institution provides more support to FGLI students to feel at home in the future, just as I wished some of my high school peers received support in an environment not always conducive to growth and learning. 

    • Financial Aid

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    University Student Cover Letter Example

    Boost your chances of getting hired & learn creative tricks to use in your own cover letter with our free, expertly drafted University Student cover letter example. Use this cover letter example at no cost or modify it in any way using our job-landing cover letter creator.

    Milan Ć arĆŸĂ­k — Certified Professional RĂ©sumĂ© Writer

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    Write an eye-catching resume as a university student

    University Student Cover Letter Example (Full Text Version)

    Dear Hiring Manager,

    My name is Cheng Kun and I am pleased to be applying for the Software Intern job at your company. As a Computer Science student, I possess various skills and knowledge needed to execute all duties associated with the role and therefore I believe that I would be a great fit to your team.

    I am a fourth-year student at the University of Waterloo and during my studies of the above-mentioned subject, I've developed extensive knowledge of the field and multiple qualities which help me to not only get the job done but also critically analyze problems and come up with creative solutions. With a GPA of 3.96, I'm among the top 10% of students and was awarded multiple times for achieving exceptional academic results. Besides studies, I also like to engage in extracurricular activities and I'm currently part of Astronomy Society, Physics Society, and Engineering Society, where I can learn even more about the subject.

    What's more, I possess valuable industry experience as well. While working at the Intel Corporation, I had a chance to see and feel what's it like to function in a fast-paced and deadline-driven business environment. Besides working on the development of new software applications, I also performed multiple other tasks, such as providing engineering support to colleagues and completion of reports on the progress of the assigned projects. For my hard work and great results, I was awarded Employee of the Month which was an amazing satisfaction for all the effort and dedication I put in.

    I am proficient and skilled in multiple coding languages, including JavaScript, C++, and Java and offer various other important skills, such as the ability to work and perform well independently or in a team and exceptional work ethic. I look forward to hearing from you and would be happy to come in for an interview. Thank you for your time and consideration.

    Milan Ć arĆŸĂ­k — Certified Professional RĂ©sumĂ© Writer

    Milan Ć arĆŸĂ­k, CPRW

    Milan’s work-life has been centered around job search for the past three years. He is a Certified Professional RĂ©sumĂ© Writer (CPRWℱ) as well as an active member of the Professional Association of RĂ©sumĂ© Writers & Careers Coaches (PARWCCℱ). Milan holds a record for creating the most career document samples for our help center – until today, he has written more than 500 resumes and cover letters for positions across various industries. On top of that, Milan has completed studies at multiple well-known institutions, including Harvard University, University of Glasgow, and Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.

    Edit this sample using our resume builder.

    Don’t struggle with your cover letter. artificial intelligence can write it for you..

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    Similar job positions

    Natural Sciences Student Humanities Student Professions And Applied Sciences Student Instructor Special Education Teacher Social Sciences Student Tutor School Counselor High School Student Teacher Formal Sciences Student Professor

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    • My UCalgary
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    International students at UCalgary

    Provincial Attestation Letters

    Take the next steps on your journey to becoming an international student at UCalgary!

    Current Details about Study Permits and Provincial Attestation Letters  

    Page last updated Mar. 7, 2024

    As of Jan. 22, 2024, a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL) may be required to apply for a study permit. If you require a PAL, the University of Calgary will work with the Province of Alberta to issue your PAL once you accept your admission offer and pay your admission deposit.

    UCalgary has a diverse campus community with international students from more than 140 countries. We're committed to offering our international students a range of high-quality programs and an exceptional student experience. 

    Thank you for choosing to learn, research and grow at UCalgary. We're so excited to welcome you to our campus! 

    What is a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL)?

    Moving forward, provinces and territories will be issuing Provincial Attestation Letters (PAL) to some groups of international students. The attestation letter serves as proof that the  student has been accounted for under a provincial or territorial allocation within the national cap.  

    If required, a PAL must be included with your study permit application when you submit your application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).   

    Details about PALs can be found on the IRCC website .

    Who needs a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL)?  

    According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) , students who fall under the groups listed below do need a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL):  

    • International undergraduate students whose study permit applications were received by IRCC after 8:30  a.m., ET, on Jan.  22, 2024  
    • Most non-degree granting graduate programs (for example, graduate certificates, graduate diplomas and International Professional Programs)  
    • All visiting/exchange undergraduate and course-based graduate students and ESL/FSL students who will be at UCalgary for longer than six months
    • Graduate Visiting Student Researchers (VSRs) on a study permit, regardless of length of stay
    • Visiting Student Researchers (VSRs), please visit the ISS website for what immigration documents you will need
    • Anyone else not included in the “who does not need a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL)” exception list 

    Who does not need a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL)?   

    According to IRCC , students who fall under the groups listed below do not need a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL):  

    • All international undergraduate students who have submitted a study permit application before 8:30  a.m., ET, on Jan.  22, 2024 
    • Master’s or doctoral degree students, regardless of when study permit applications were submitted 
    • Visiting/exchange undergraduate and course-based graduate students and ESL/FSL short-term programs under six months 
    • Graduate Visiting Student Researchers (VSRs) on a work permit
    • In-Canada study permit and work permit holders (includes study permit holders applying for an extension)  
    • In-Canada family members of study permit or work permit holders  
    • Primary and secondary school students  

    Zainab's UCalgary Experience

    With students from more than 140 different countries attending UCalgary every year, you'll find a vibrant, lively and welcoming campus community. Our campus is located in the heart of Calgary, a student-friendly and affordable city. While we think choosing UCalgary is the right choice for international students — don't just take our word for it, hear from Zainab, a computer science student from India.

    Which type of international student are you?

    Undergraduate student.

    I'll be completing a bachelor's degree

    View Undergraduate Student Information

    Graduate Student

    I'll be completing a master's degree, doctoral degree, graduate certificate or graduate diploma

    View Graduate Student Information

    Continuing Education Student

    I'll be completing an International Professional Program or English Language Program with Continuing Education

    View Continuing Education Student Information

    International Undergraduate Students

    Provincial attestation letter (pal) frequently asked questions, when do i get a provincial attestation letter (pal).

    Once you've accepted your offer and paid your deposit, UCalgary will request your PAL from the Province of Alberta. Once your PAL is available, the university will send an email to the email address you used on your application to let you know that your PAL is available for you to download in your Student Centre (my.ucalgary.ca).

    How can I access my Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL)? 

    Once we've prepared it for you, you'll be able to access your PAL in your Student Centre (my.ucalgary.ca). You'll also receive an email when it is available for you to download from your Student Centre. 

    View a how-to guide (PDF) on how to access your Provincial Attestation Letter.

    What will I do with my Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL) when I have it?

    Once you’ve received your PAL, you will submit it along with your study permit application to IRCC.  IRCC will return any application that does not include a PAL, unless the applicant is otherwise exempt (exemptions are listed on the IRCC website ).

    I'm currently studying in Canada. Do I need Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL)?

    In-Canada students studying at a secondary or post-secondary school in Canada do not need a PAL. View more details on the IRCC website.  

    If you're currently in Canada and are eligible to make an in-Canada study permit application , you will not need a PAL. 

    Do visiting/exchange undergraduates need a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL)?

    Visiting/exchange students studying in Canada less than six months can enter Canada as a visitor. Students do not require a study permit or PAL if they enter Canada on a temporary resident visa (TRV) or an electronic travel authorization (eTa) for short-term studies. 

    Visiting/exchange students studying in Canada for longer than six months will need a study permit and a PAL. Learn more on the IRCC website. 

    Visiting Student Researchers (VSRs), please visit the ISS website for what immigration documents you will need.

    Which office should I contact if I have questions about PALs?

    For questions about your offer of admission, paying your admission deposit, or obtaining and accessing your PAL, please contact undergraduate Admissions for assistance.

    Study Permit Frequently Asked Questions

    When can i apply for my study permit.

    We encourage you to apply for a study permit as soon as possible. Keep in mind that to apply for your study permit, you must have:

    • accepted your admission offer
    • paid your admission deposit
    • and received your PAL from UCalgary

    Apply for your study permit by July 1. That will ensure you're eligible for a deferral of admission if your study permit doesn't arrive in time for your admission term. 

    What happens if I can't get a study permit in time for the start of classes?

    UCalgary and the Province of Alberta have worked together on this issue. PALs are issued shortly after a student accepts their admission offer and pays their deposit. You should accept your offer and pay your deposit as soon as possible so you can receive your PAL and apply for a study permit . 

    Students who apply for a study permit by July 1 and don't receive it in time are eligible for a deferral. Learn more about admission deferrals.

    Which office should I contact if I have questions about study permits?

    You can contact International Student Services for assistance.

    Other Frequently Asked Questions

    I haven’t yet applied to ucalgary. should i still apply.

    Yes, intake for undergradaute international students attending in fall 2024 has been extended until April 1. We recommend you submit your application as soon as possible. 

    If you receive an admission offer, be sure accept the admission offer and pay your admissions deposit as soon as possible. That will allow us to work with the Province of Alberta to issue a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL), which you'll need to submit with your study permit application.

    I haven’t accepted my admission offer from UCalgary. Should I still accept it?

    Yes, we recommend that you accept your admission offer and pay your admissions deposit as soon as possible. After accepting your offer, UCalgary will work with the Province of Alberta to issue a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL), which you'll need to submit with your study permit application.

    Do these changes impact current international students?

    Current international students do not need PALs. These changes also do not impact international student applicants whose applications were received by IRCC before 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2024 . View more details on the IRCC website.

    As an international undergraduate student, can I work in Canada?

    In order to work in Canada as an international student, you must be enrolled as a full-time student and have a valid study permit to be eligible to work. Details can be found on the ISS website.

    International Graduate Students

    Frequently asked questions, do graduate students require a provincial attestation letter (pal).

    A PAL is NOT required for: Master’s and doctoral degree students; Short-term course-based visiting/exchange students (under six months); VSRs on work permits.

    A PAL is required for: Graduate certificate and diploma students; Longer-term course-based visiting/exchange students (over six months); VSRs on study permits regardless of length of time at UCalgary.

    Learn more on the IRCC website

    Do these changes impact current international graduate students?

    Current international graduate students do not need PALs.

    Many programs still have intake opportunities for international graduate students attending in fall 2024. If your program of interest is still accepting applications, we recommend you submit your application as soon as possible.

    If you receive an admission offer, be sure to accept the admission offer and pay your admission deposit as soon as possible. This will allow you to apply for your study permit immediately. 

    If you're a certificate/diploma student requiring a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL), your timely response will allow us to work with the Province of Alberta to issue your PAL so you can submit it with your study permit application.

    Yes, we recommend that you accept your admission offer and pay your admission deposit as soon as possible. This will allow you to apply for your study permit immediately.

    If you are a certificate/diploma student requiring a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL), once you have accepted your offer and paid your deposit, UCalgary will work with the province of Alberta to issue a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL), which you'll need to submit with your study permit application. If you have any questions, please reach out to your Graduate Program Staff as soon as possible.

    Will my spouse/common-law partner be eligible for an open work permit?  

    If you are a full-time graduate student at UCalgary, your spouse or common-law partner may be eligible for an open work permit. View more details on the IRCC website .

    As an international graduate student, can I work in Canada?

    To work in Canada as an international graduate student, you must be enrolled as a full-time student and have a valid study permit to be eligible to work. Details can be found on the ISS website .

    How long of a post-graduation work permit (PGWP) will I be eligible for?

    You may be eligible for a PGWP after graduation; the length of the PGWG can vary. 

    As of Feb. 15, 2024 , students who graduate from master’s degree programs of less than two years (eight months minimum) may be eligible for a three-year PGWP.   Details can be found on the IRCC website .

    Once you've accepted your offer of admission and paid your deposit, UCalgary will request your PAL from the province of Alberta. Once your PAL is ready, the university will send an email to the email address you used on your application to let you know that your PAL is available for you to download in your Student Centre (my.ucalgary.ca).

    Once you’ve received your PAL, you will submit it along with your study permit application to IRCC.  IRCC will return any application that does not include a PAL, unless the applicant is otherwise exempt (exemptions are listed on the IRCC website ).

    In-Canada post-secondary students studying at a designated learning institution do not need a PAL. View more details on the IRCC website .

    If you're currently in Canada and need to make an in-Canada study permit application, you will not need a PAL. 

    Graduate students: For questions about your offer of admission or paying your deposit, please contact your graduate program .

    If you are graduate student with questions about your PAL, please contact the Faculty of Graduate Studies .

    We encourage you to apply for a study permit as soon possible. Keep in mind that to apply for your study permit, you must have:

    • Accepted your admission offer
    • Paid your admission deposit
    • And received your PAL from UCalgary

    If you are a graduate student, it is recommended that you apply for your study permit as soon as possible.  

    If you are a graduate student, it is strongly recommended to connect with your program to explore admission deferral as programs cannot start until obtaining an approved study permit.

    Feel free to contact International Student Services for assistance.

    International Continuing Education Students

    Do continuing education students require a provincial attestation letter (pal).

    Students applying for International Professional Programs (IPP) or English Language Programs (ELP) that are more than six months long require a PAL. 

    How do I obtain an attestation letter from the Government of Alberta?

    Upon registration and payment in your program (IPP or ELP), the University of Calgary will request your Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL) from the Province of Alberta. Once your PAL is available, Continuing Education will notify you via the email address we have on file. You will then be able to upload your PAL as part of your study permit application.  

    Will my spouse be eligible for an open work permit?

    No. International Professional Programs  are considered  post-diploma graduate programs at the undergraduate level  and do not qualify the spouses of students for the open work permit that has been previously available. 

    Our  English Language Programs  are ESL/FSL programs, and the spouses of students do not qualify for open work permits. 

    Do IPP students need a PAL to extend their study permits for a second year?

    No, current students who are looking to  extend their study permits  do not require a letter of attestation. 

    Why UCalgary

    Make Calgary your home

    Picture this – weekends spent visiting Banff and the majestic Rocky Mountains, summers filled attending the many festivals Calgary has to offer, and days experiencing campus with friends you’ll keep for life.

    Looking for details about Provincial Attestation Letters?

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      1. Write your name and street address. At the top of your cover letter, write your first and last name. On a separate line include your street address, followed by your city, state and zip code on another line. 2. Include the date. Below your contact information, write the date you plan on sending the cover letter.

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