Helping students get edge in university admissions

Science teacher Rod Ziolkowski is spending his winter break working, just as he did Thanksgiving and practically every evening and weekend since the fall. Ziolkowski, dedicated as he is, is not preparing lesson plans but writing college recommendations for his students at Whitney High School in Cerritos. He expects to crank out 100 or more letters by the time admissions deadlines arrive in January.

He has plenty of company. At public and private schools from coast to coast, teachers are engaged in one of the most time-honored but overlooked aspects of the admissions process.

A strong teacher recommendation can add flesh, bones and personality to a packet of test scores and grade point averages and convince a college admissions director that a particular student would be a valuable asset on campus.

Many teachers -- already busy scoring exams, coaching, advising extracurricular clubs and performing other administrative duties -- find themselves swamped writing recommendations. They might be more stressed than ever because of the trend of students applying to more colleges, necessitating more letters.

"In times past we would discourage multiple applications because it would mean unnecessary work on everyone's part," said Michael Mulligan, head of the Thacher School, an Ojai boarding school whose 67 senior class members are all applying to competitive four-year colleges. "Now, unless they're outstanding in every way, students just don't know what's going to happen."

As a result, some schools are asking juniors to line up letter writers in the spring for the upcoming admissions season, holding workshops for teachers on how to craft the most effective recommendations, encouraging students to choose not their most popular teachers but those who can best describe their academic abilities, and suggesting that teachers limit the number of letter requests they agree to.

More schools are also beginning to compensate teachers who write an inordinate number of letters, usually with a comp day. At Whitney, a foundation set up by parents and alumni pays teachers for their efforts.

Yet for most instructors, the personal time devoted to letter writing is a tough, largely unpaid part of their job. Most public and private schools have few formal guidelines, other than encouraging students to request letters well in advance (and to enlist a teacher who is likely to write something positive).