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Guidance & Counseling » Requesting Letters of Recommendation

Requesting Letters of Recommendation

 
Teachers are not required to write letters of recommendation, but do so out of courtesy to their students.  Teachers must be given at least 15 school days to turn in their recommendation letters to the Guidance Department.  Please provide all teachers sufficient time and all of the material necessary to complete your recommendation.
 
Letters of recommendation are submitted by teachers on Naviance. Prior to submitting request on Naviance for a letter, make sure that you have already asked the teacher/instructor/coach/advisor to write you a letter of recommendation and that they have agreed. If they require additional materials, such as the Student Contribution Form, be sure to send them promptly.
 
Click here to watch a video presentation regarding letters of recommendation, who to ask, and how to request them on Naviance.
 

Click here to see screenshots of Naviance for each step.

  1. From the home page in Naviance Family Connection, students will navigate to the “Letters of Recommendation” section. (see screenshots below)

  2. On the recommendation request page, students will click on the blue Add Request button to submit their requests, one teacher at a time.
    • Step 2a: The student should select a teacher from the drop-down list. If the teacher is missing from the drop-down list, the teacher may not be using Naviance and students should contact the staff member or counselor.
      • If student is requesting a letter from someone who does not work for Bordentown Regional High School, the student should have the recommender email the letter of recommendation directly to the student’s guidance counselor (preferably in PDF format).
    • Step 2b: Student should review the colleges listed directly from the “Colleges I’m applying to list” and check one or more boxes to indicate where the teacher’s letter of recommendation should be sent to.
      • In most (but not all) cases, the student will want to check the box that says “Choose specific colleges from you Colleges I’m Applying To list.” This will allow the student to assign certain letters of recommendation to go to certain colleges. There are a few reasons a student may want to select this option:
        • Not every college requires a letter of recommendation.
        • Some colleges only accept a limited number of letters, and so the student will want to send only the most important letters.
        • Some letters of recommendation may be specific to a particular college or program:
            • If one of your recommenders is an alumni of the college you are applying to, they may choose to write a letter specific to that college.
            • Certain programs require letters of recommendation from specific individuals (such as a dance coach or theater director for an arts program).
        • If you do not select “Choose specific colleges from you Colleges I’m Applying To list” and a school only accepts 1 letter of recommendation, Naviance will automatically send whichever letter is uploaded first into Naviance. It is important to review the requirements for letters of recommendation for each college!
    • Step 2c: Students can add a personal note (up to 3000 characters) to the teacher, highlighting any important aspects of their applications (such as first choice schools, early decision applications, intended major or degree of study), that they may want the teacher to consider when writing a letter of recommendation.

  3. Students should click the Save button at the bottom of the screen which returns them to their recommendation status page. At the top of the screen, a green status bar shows the teacher's name and the number of request for the student.

  4. From here, student will see the status for all Teacher Recommendations requests that have been made.