Recommendation Letters in Signed, Sealed Envelopes

Recommendation Letters in Signed, Sealed Envelopes Graduate and undergraduate schools alike often require hopeful students to include recommendation letters with their applications, with many graduate programs requiring the envelope containing the letter be signed and sealed by the recommending writer. Often students will ask the letter-writer to return their recommendations, each in a separate signed and sealed envelope, but many students also wonder if its too much to ask for the mentor to do- is organizing all that paperwork unreasonable? The short answer is no- its almost required in order for the contents of the letter to remain private from the students they are about.   The Standard for Recommendation Letters For most academic institutions accepting applications that require recommendation letters, the standard is that students are not to have contact- be able to read- their letters of recommendation. Traditionally, programs required that faculty submit recommendation letters independently of the student or give them to students in sealed and signed envelopes. The problem with asking faculty to send recommendations directly to the admissions office is the possibility of losing a letter, and if a student does choose this route, it would be best to contact the admissions office to determine that all expected letters have arrived. The second option is for the faculty to return their letters of recommendation to the student, but the letters are confidential, so admissions committees ask that faculty seal the envelope and then sign over the seal, assuming that it will be obvious if a student opened the envelope. Its Okay to Ask for Signed, Sealed Envelopes Admissions offices often prefer that applications arrive complete, with faculty recommendations in the packet, and most faculty  members know this, so dont feel that youre asking faculty to do too much work. Because this is and has been a standard part of most college application processes, the letter writer will likely understand the official preferred process. That said, a student can make it easier by preparing an envelope for each program he or she is applying to, clipping the recommendation form and any relevant material to the envelope. Recently, electronic applications have become very common, possibly even the norm, making this whole process almost obsolete. Instead of the traditional sign, seal, deliver process, a student will complete his or her application online then send the person writing the recommendation letter a link to submit it online. The student will be notified if and when the letter is received and can, therefore, contact the faculty member if any problems arise. Dont Forget to Say Thank You After everything is said and done, the recommendation letter and complete registration packet submitted, its important for students to take the time to thank the person who wrote his or her recommendation letters and helped him or her in the application process.   Although not required, a token of appreciation like flowers or candy goes a long way in returning the faculty members consideration of the student- plus, who doesnt like getting a little thank you gift?

How to Calculate Your ACT Composite Score, Plus 5 Strategies

How to Calculate Your ACT Composite Score, Plus 5 Strategies SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Your ACT Composite Score is an important part of your college applications. In this guide, we show you how exactly to calculate your ACT Composite Score from each of your section scores. More importantly, we give you custom strategies on how to use your Composite Score to adapt your ACT prep. Read on... Calculating Your ACT Composite Score The ACT has four core sections (English, Math, Reading, and Science), with one optional section (Writing). Each of the four sections has a score that ranges from 1 (lowest) to 36 (highest). The Writing score is a separate score, ranging from 2 (lowest) to 12 (highest). Your Composite Score is the average (the arithmetic mean) of your four core section scores, with these important points: The Composite is rounded to the nearest whole number. Scores ending in 0.5 or higher are rounded UP to the nearest whole number. Here are a few examples of ACT section and Composite scores: Test English Math Reading Science Average Final Composite Test 1 21 23 24 19 21.75 22 Test 2 23 23 22 25 23.25 23 Test 3 24 24 23 23 23.5 24 Get the hang of it? The ACT also uses a combined English/Reading/Writing score, called an ELA score. Honestly, this isn't used that often and isn't that important for college admissions, so I would suggest not worrying about it. Before diving too deep into your ACT prep, you should also know your target ACT Composite Score, which is largely based on which schools you'll be applying to. Calculating an ACT Composite Score is pretty simple. The more important part is knowing what ACT Composite Scoring means for your study strategy. 5 Strategies for Raising Your Composite Score Your goal on the ACT is to get the highest Composite Score possible. The Composite Score is by far the most important ACT score used in college admissions, beyond any individual section score. Colleges will use this score to compare you to the thousands of other applicants to that school. This means that raising your Composite Score can have a disproportionate effect on your admissions chances. We all know that raising your score overall by getting better at the test is the obvious way to improve your score. But let's dig into more specific strategies: Even just one extra point on a single section can increase your Composite Score. For example, in the Test 2 example above, if the student re-took the test but improved his English from a 23 to a 24, his average would increase from a 23.25 to a 23.5, and his final Composite would increase from 23 to 24. You can bet this increase makes a difference in college admissions. Therefore, if you've taken the ACT just once or twice, definitely retake the test because your Composite Score is likely to improve. Focus your initial prep on your weakest section,which will give you the most room to grow. For example, if you scored a 16 on Science but a 24 on all the other sections, your Science section is clearly dragging your Composite Score down. If you improve your Science section by four points, your Composite will increase by a point. Writing is less important than the four core sections. If you have limited time to study, concentrate that time on raising your Composite Score. Your target schools may emphasize either English/Reading or Math/Science. Given the same Composite Score, engineering schools will favor a higher Math/Science score over English/Reading. If you plan to major in the humanities, the opposite is true. Focus your time on the sections that are more important for your college goals. Some schools use the 'highest combined Composite Score', aka the 'superscore.' This basically means that the school will take your best section score across all your tests, then combine them into your best possible Composite Score.If you're applying mainly to schools that use the superscore, you can focus on improving one section at a time, then combine all your tests together into your maximum Composite Score. Now that you know the importance of the ACT Composite Score and understand targeted strategies to improve it, read more to get deeper into our philosophy of how to improve your ACT scores. What's Next? Which colleges superscore the ACT?Check out our list of every college that uses ACT superscoring. What’s a good ACT score? Read our article on good, bad, and excellent ACT scores so you can identify and prepare for your target score. Need help on a specific section of the ACT? Read our guides to getting a 36 on ACT English, ACT Math, and ACT Reading. I also highly recommend this free guide to picking up some extra points on the ACT: