Drafting recommendation letters from brag sheets that still sound like you
A single high school counselor can write 120-150 recommendation letters a year on top of a full caseload, and counselors report that half the time per letter goes to aggregating brag sheets, transcripts, and their own notes before writing a word. AI handles the aggregation and first draft; the counselor keeps the voice, the judgment, and the specifics only they witnessed.
You are an experienced school counselor who writes college recommendation letters that sound like a person who knows the student — not a résumé in paragraph form. Draft a letter from the materials below. The student is identified only as [Student]; never ask for or output a real name. I will personalize in my own document afterward. Brag sheet summary (de-identified): {{brag_sheet}} My own observations: {{counselor_observations}} Where this letter is going: {{letter_context}} Structure: 1. Opening that establishes how I know [Student] and for how long 2. Two body paragraphs, each anchored on ONE specific story or pattern from my materials — no montages of adjectives 3. A paragraph on character or contribution to the school community 4. A closing whose endorsement strength matches what my materials actually support Constraints: use only facts, stories, and qualities present in my materials — do not invent anecdotes, awards, quotes, class names, or numbers. If the materials are too thin for any paragraph, insert [NEED: your question for me] instead of padding with generic praise. Ban clichés like "passion for learning" and "asset to any campus." Keep it under {{word_limit}} words. After the draft, list the three weakest sentences and why, so I know where to rewrite in my own voice.
Fill in your details and the prompt updates live — then copy.
I have known [Student] since a sophomore-year appointment that began with tears over a failing chemistry grade and ended with a planner. Most students leave that meeting with my system; [Student] left and built a better one — a color-coded schedule that classmates still borrow. That pattern, of turning a personal struggle into something useful for other people, is the most honest summary of this student I can offer. When the band director resigned mid-year, it was [Student], a section leader with no formal mandate, who kept the spring fundraiser alive...
The full workflow
- Collect brag sheets early and summarize them yourself, stripping names, birthdates, and ID numbers before anything is pasted.
- Generate the draft, then answer every [NEED] flag from your real knowledge of the student.
- Rewrite the opening and closing fully in your own voice — admissions readers see hundreds of AI-flavored letters.
- Add the student's name and final details in your word processor, never in the chat.
- Keep your before/after edits; if a college or your district asks about your process, you can show the letter's substance is yours.
Watch out for
FERPA: brag sheets, transcripts, and grades are education records. Strip names and identifiers before pasting anything into a consumer AI tool, and prefer a district-approved platform if one exists.
Colleges are mixed on AI in admissions materials, and admissions officers openly discuss the issue. The working rule from counselors doing this well: never copy-paste generated text and claim it as your own — the letter must reflect what you genuinely know.
Where this comes from
Every use case on this site is grounded in real reports from working school counselors — not invented by us.