RECOMMENDATION LETTERS

Most of you will have to write your own recommendation letters

3 academic recommendation letters

Main problems for public high school students are that your teachers don’t know English or can’t write
English well or worse have never written a recommendation letter before in their lives.

Example of bad recommendation letter – so generic and so short

My name is Le Phuong Nam. I am a math teacher at ABC High School. I have taught Hồng Nhạn for 3
years. Throughout this time, Hồng Nhạn demonstrated to be a very hard-working student. He never
missed any class. The student raised his/her hands a lot to answer questions in my class. In addition, he
was very friendly to all students and participated in many extracurricular activities at my school.

If you need any additional information, please let me know.

Process:

International high schools: You cannot write your own recommendation letters. Your teachers write that
and you cannot read them.

Public high schools: You have to write yourself, give them to your teachers for approval and signature,
and then submit them.

Theme of your application (qualitative aspect of your application)

3 values

3 recommendation letters to be consistent with your main essay regarding your values

You can have 1 value in each letter / You can have 3 values in each letter

What makes good academic recommendation letters:

 From 3 different teachers from 3 different subjects.

 Should be from both natural and social science subjects
 Length: 1 – 1.5 page long
o 1.5 line break
o With logo of the school on the top and contact information of the teacher
o 12-14 font size
 Should emphasize your academic strength
o 2/3 of the letter should be about academic recommendation
 o 1/3 of the letter is about ECA recommendation
o Use subject-specific jargon (math, physics, chemistry,…)
o Be specific, give detail about your academic strength

Now, June is a good time to ask for their permission

Supplemental Recommendation letter:

- Any sport coaches

- Pastor
- Mentor / Manager: Science projects, long-term social projects, any organizations
- Peer recommendation

Sample of academic letter

I am Nguyễn Thanh Thảo. For the last three years, I have taught Ms. Như Quỳnh Literature in her 9 th,
10th, and 11th grades. With over 10 years of teaching at Phan Bội Châu High School, I strongly believe that
Ms. Quỳnh will become a phenomenal news reporter.

The most significant trait that I love about Ms. Như Quỳnh is her authenticity in her writing. Specifically,
in one assignment when I asked students to analyze the life of Red Hair Xuân in Dumb Luck, most
students chose to talk about how the environment has affected Xuân. However, Như Quỳnh wrote a
significant piece criticizing the personalities of Xuân and portraited as an uncivil person. Even thought I
didn’t agree with her opinion, I totally respect her own voice and the persuasiveness that she put in her
writing. In class, Quỳnh and her team members usually have very different view about characters in
different stories. Because of that, I usually heard a lot of good arguments during our team-work session
in class. However, despite the differences, many students love to have her in the team because of the
authenticity. Unfortunately, in some cases, she upset several students with her outspoken ideas. This is
probably an area that she needs to work on.

In addition, her authenticity shines not only in class but also outside of class, specifically with her piano
performances. While several students love to play classical pieces with piano, Quỳnh often perform
popular songs with her piano. She also put in her own composition in some pieces. She performed in all
festivals of our school. In one occasion, she uses her piano to provide background song
“Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish for a modern dance. That was a surprise to many teachers and students.

Overall, Quỳnh Như is very authentic student with a strong voice and independent ideas. If accepted at
your school, she can be a student who raises controversial ideas for discussion both inside and outside
of classes. If you want to hear more about her, please feel free to reach out to me at … / I would love to
share with you more of my experience with Phuong Khanh, we can talk via a Zoom call.

Sample of a sport / coach letter:

Thank you very reading this letter. My name is Lê Quốc Bình. I am the basketball head coach at Lê Quý
Đôn High School in… Mỹ Tâm has been playing the center in our team for the last three years. She is also
the team captain and has brought her team to several national titles in the last year. Thus, with this
letter, I would love to see her play at your school and continue her winning streak.

First of all, Mỹ Tâm has demonstrated not only leadership but also adaptability during her time with the
team. I remembered the final match between our school and Phan Boi Chau during the semi final game.
Our point guard was injured and we had no substitute. I had to put Tâm in that position and had another
student play in her center position. She performed exceptionally well at that match. In another game
with Lê Hồng Phong High School, we were 15 points behind. During half-time break, Tâm had a talk with
her time and raised the spirit of all the members to keep fighting. Even thought we still lost to Lê Hồng
Phong, the gap was only 3 points. However, Tâm is sometimes short tempered. I believe that she can
work on her emotional control to become a better captain.

Keep repeating your values in the opening paragraph and the ending paragraph of your
recommendation letters.

Some openings for your usage:

My name is Lê Phương Nam and I’m currently a mathematic teacher at ABC High School. I have known
Ms. Quỳnh Chi for over two years. During this period, I observed that Quỳnh Chi is a … (value #1) person.

I am Lê Phương Nam. I have taught Mathematics for over 10 years at ABC High School. In 2020 and
2021, I was the homeroom teacher for Ms. Ngọc Nhi. With my time interacting with her, I see that she is
a ... (value #2) person.

Throughout my 10 years teaching Physics at ABC High School, I have seen many outstanding students.
Even though Ms. Khánh Linh is not the most excellent student, her … (value #3) stands out from most
students that I have taught.

At ABC High School, I am currently teaching Civic Education. Even though I have only been with ABC High
School for 3 years, I am still very impressed with … (value #2) that Ms. Khả Ái has demonstrated during
her time taking my class.

It is my privilege to write a recommendation letter for Ms. Thục Hiền for her application to your
university. I am Lê Phương Nam, a senior chemistry teacher at ABC High School. Thục Hiền stood out
with her … (value #1) among her peers.

Some endings

Overall / All in all / Finally / … I strongly believe that Ms. Thảo Nguyên, with her … (value #3), will
contribute greatly both inside and outside of class. Please let me know if you need more information
about her via my email address at …
Again, with over 10 years of teaching, I can confidently say that Ms. Phương Thảo will utilize her …
(Value #1) to create a dynamic environment both in class and in all activities at your college. Please feel
free to reach out to me at …

Overall, with my experience teaching Computer Science, I definitely believe in Nam Anh’s ability to
succeed as a Computer Science student at your college and later on a software engineer at her dream
company Google. I can further provide information about her ability upon request. Please contact me
via my email at …

All in all, through both my experience teaching her in class and guiding her with her Chemistry project, I
can say with all my heart that Ms. Mai Thi will be a excellent addition to your Chemistry Department and
your school’s basketball team. She will excel in both environments. I can be reached at …

Body paragraphs:

What I liked about Phương Thảo is her proactivity in daily class activities. Specifically, in my world history
class, Phương Thảo was in charge of 3 students working on the history of Germany. She not only
maintained active communication with all members but she also frequently updated me on the group’s
progress. Every Friday, she would send an email to me updating on the tasks that the team achieved.

In my class, I usually host weekend study session. Quỳnh Như is in charge of organizing these sessions
for a group of around 15 students. She is responsible to maintain communication of the schedule,
organizing the leaders of the groups, and update me on the progress of each session.

In my History class with Diễm Khanh, even though she is not the most active student, she contributed to
the class through activities. Specifically, she usually hosted historical performance as the head of the
drama team. Then, she asked me for permission to enact historical events in my classes. Her group
helped invigorated our students and light up the interest in my subject.

In my opinion, Châu Ánh stands out as the main contributor to our class projects through her creativity.
She is the only one in class with knowledge and skill in Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Thus, she
always design the poster, decoration, and presentation for different groups in the class. Even more
amazing, Châu Ánh self-studied all these skills.

Thiện Nhân consistently performed at the top of my Mathematic class. However, what I am impressed
about him is his commitment to his friends. He always volunteered to host after-class sessions to help
students who struggle with the materials in class. In one case, he helped Mai Thi to catch up with spatial
geometry materials. At the end of the semester, Mai Thi was able to obtain an 8.5 in my class, a
significant improvement from 7.5 in the previous semester.

What I remember most about Gia Khánh was when she help Hải Yến to overcome her depression. I
remember Gia Khánh approached to talk about the condition of Hải Yến. At that moment, not even
Yến’s parents were aware of her mental state. Gia Khánh recognize the change in Yến’s mood and
approached me and Yến’s parents for support. During the next six months of treatment, Gia Khánh was
the member in class who supported Yến in her academic study and activities.
I see in her a great ability to work and manage team. In one case, I assigned Minh Chau to work with 3
other boys on a programming project. These three male students are top students in the class and quite
arrogant themselves. With her effective communication, Minh Chau became the group leader and was
able to manage the different characteristics in her team.

In the Chemistry project, I put My Tam in charge of managing the lab session. With multiple groups and
the challenge of doing …, the lab leader needs not only expert knowledge in … but also to remain calm
during the hectic time of finishing the experiment.

Quốc Bình loves to explore other topics related … He frequently asked me for additional books and
materials to read after class. He had finished three books: … Afterward, I recommended him several
courses on Coursera and he took courses including: …

Thiên Ân not only asked me for additional materials to self-study, he is also very active on GitHub,
contributing her code to the wider community. She wrote multiple codes in the area of …

As her homeroom teacher, I know that Phương Trang has to take care of her grandma after school since
her parents have to work until midnight. Everyday, after finishing the morning session at 11:00 a.m., she
would rush back home to cook, feed, and clean up for her grandma. Then, after 5:00 p.m. when the
school is finished, she would go back immediately to make dinner, to help her grandma and then she
would start doing her homework around 8:00 p.m. This has been her routine for the last 3 years.

Mẫn Khuê is among the hardest working student whom I have taught. Her family owns a small
convenient store and both her parents work there. To support them, after the morning session, Khuê
would immediately returned home to look after the store when her parents have lunch and take a short
break. Afterward, she would have lunch and return school around 13h00 p.m. Around 17h00, she return
to look after the store until 20h00 so her parents can return home to make dinner and clean up the
house. Several times when I visited the store, I saw Khuê doing homework while there is no customer.

Even though, Thảo Anh is a gen Z student, she demonstrated great humility in her study and
extracurricular activities. One time, when Thảo Anh and her group were not able to finish a project on
time, I reprimanded the entire group in front of the class. Thảo Anh took the blame for her team and
apologize to everyone.

Among all students in the class, I find Thục Hiền as a unique student. She is definitely hard-working. Yet,
what makes her standout is her willingness to push herself further and avoid complacency / her
willingness to look at situations from multiple perspective before making a decision / her dedication to
saving Rhino and protecting the local forest in Vinh / her determination to teach and help her friends to
be as good in English as she is.

Is there any additional examples that you need?