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As part of your application, the school requires you/ your teachers(or whichever recommendor) to submit letters of recommendation. This will shed some light on what those are and how they should look.

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It is one of the most important parts of your application that isn’t written by you.
A great recommendation letter both raves about your awesome qualities and opens a window into your personality and character.A strong letter of recommendation can be an important tipping factor when admissions committees are comparing students with similar SAT scores and grades.

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Basically the person recommending you has to answer a couple of the following questions:

• What is the context of your relationship with the applicant? If you do not know the applicant well and are only able to write a brief summary, please acknowledge this.
• Has the student demonstrated a willingness to take intellectual risks and go beyond the normal classroom experience?
• Does the applicant have any unusual competence, talent or leadership abilities?
• What motivates this person? What excites him/her?
• How does the applicant interact with teachers? With peers? Describe his/her personality and social skills.
• What will you remember most about this person?
• Has the applicant ever experienced disappointment or failure? If so, how did he/she react?
• What specific anecdotes you can share to illustrate your assessment and help the student come alive in the eyes of the reader.
• Are there any unusual family or community circumstances of which we should be aware?
• Above all else, make sure to go beyond a student's grades and academic performance.
• How does the candidate compare to others you’ve worked with in similar positions (a.k.a., why she stands out).
• Support your conclusions with facts and anecdotes whenever possible. A story or incident that conveys the character or merit of the individual is more telling than a mere statement like "Mary is mature."

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Because you want a strong application, you don't want letters that will take away from your application. As such, there are certain kinds of letters you should advise(in a polite way of course) your recommendors to avoid writing for you.

• Letters that are too short, that fail to provide specific examples or instances of points mentioned.
• Generic letters or letters for another purpose sent without regard to the specific fellowship, course of study, or project proposed.
• Letters that merely summarize information available elsewhere in the application or that only present the student’s grade or rank in a class.
• Letters that consist largely of unsupported praise. Kind words that do not give admission officers a strong sense of how applicants have distinguished themselves.
• Letters that damn with faint praise. It is not helpful to say that a student did what might be expected e.g (completed all the homework) or that point to qualities e.g (punctuality, presentability) that are not really important.
• Letters that just present facts and figures.

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This is another dilemma that most applicants face. Like who is going to write me recommendation letters? Is there anyone who would be really willing? You would actually be surprised at all the opions that are available to you.

• It is also good to get a recommendation letter from a teacher in the subject that is relevant to the course study you intend to pursue.
• Avoid recommendation letters from well-known or influential people who don’t know you well or personally.
• It’s better to have recommendations from people who know you very well and can expand on your academic and extracurricular strengths and accomplishments.
• A teacher, clergy or peers.

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Goodluck on your quest for greatness!