As a part of the application process, TCU requires two letters of recommendation for first-year applicants (recommendation letters are optional for transfer applicants). One must come from a teacher and the other from a school counselor. These letters provide our admission team a chance to get to know who you are as a person beyond the numbers we see on the application. We have a few tips when it comes to this important part of your app.
Recommendation letters can come to us electronically or via mail and they must be submitted by your recommenders. There are a couple different ways your teacher or counselor can submit those, so they can choose whatever option is most convenient. After you apply, you can provide the email of your recommenders on their MyTCU portal and we will send those forms directly to the teacher and counselor. Teachers and counselors may also email the forms directly to frogmail@tcu.edu. Although we provide a form that teachers and counselors can fill out, we will also accept a letter that’s already been written or utilizes a different format.
One of the most important things students can do to ensure a strong recommendation is to ask for one early on in the process. Our first round of applications will close on November 1 and this is an extremely busy time for both teachers and counselors. If you’re waiting until the last week of October to ask for a letter, you run the risk of your recommender sending your letter after the deadline or feeling rushed and not fully sharing what makes you a great applicant.
You may also want to provide a “brag sheet” that shares some of the things you’re involved in or passionate about outside of school. Especially if you attend a larger school where your counselor might not know you individually as well, this is your chance to give them more information to work with. Your counselors and teachers want to see you get admitted and a brag sheet can help them do that for you.
TCU will also accept additional letters of recommendation if you would like to submit an extra one. If you have a mentor, employer, coach, religious leader or someone else who can attest to your character, we’re happy to take that. Only 7 percent of our applicants submit one of these extra letters, so it won’t make or break your application. It is simply an opportunity that’s available to you. One year, an applicant sent in an additional twenty letters of recommendation. Please don’t do that!
Once you have requested those recommendations from your teacher and counselor, you will be able to see on your MyTCU portal when they are uploaded. If a recommender tells you they’ve submitted it and your portal does not reflect this change, please reach out to us and let us know. We’re happy to get in touch to troubleshoot with you. And, of course, we’re always here to answer any other questions you may have, about recommendations or any other part of the application process!
Dalton Goodier is a Senior Admission Counselor. Once in Little League, he broke up former TCU All-American pitcher Matt Purke’s perfect game by drawing a walk. It remains his greatest athletic accomplishment to this day.