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[quote=Anonymous]I have an introvert - he picked the two teachers he had for his two strongest subjects junior year (one STEM, one humanities, as recommended). One of them he had previously so that was helpful. They have the kids fill out a detailed questionnaire for the teachers and I made my kid do a very thorough job on it - the goal was to end up writing 1-3 paragraphs for each answer, giving the teachers some details, stories, academic experiences they could use in their recs. Colleges need all types of kids, not just extroverts who suck up all the oxygen.

Make sure he tells the teachers things they might not know - eg, my ds did not talk a lot in class and rarely went to office hours, he preferred working alone rather than in teams or groups when given the choice. But he regularly helped classmates with their work, I would hear him on calls basically teaching them material. When friends or classmates were out sick - one was on medical leave - he made a point of helping them catch up. His math teacher never would have known that about him if ds hadn't told him and I bet the teacher wrote about it in the letter. If he really likes Forensic Science and Psych, he should ask one of those teachers.

I would have him ask his coach, mentor or boss to write a rec as well, since many schools accept a third rec from a coach, mentor, boss, etc. My ds did this and it was a key letter for him because the person knew him in a way no one else did and could speak to his passion and leadership.

Don't fret too much about this - the LORs are important for selective schools, but there are many ways your ds can work to make them strong. Also, joining a school club is overrated - it sounds like he has a nice assortment of activities. Depending on what the community service and job are, he may want to lean more into them, or into an academic interest (Forensic Science? Psych?) or something else, maybe find something he enjoys doing outside of school - it does not have to be a club.

He sounds like good kid who works hard and this will all turn out okay! Most kids are not the "once in lifetime student" in teacher recs, and the teachers do genuinely want to help the kids. They are good at speaking to their strengths.[/quote]

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