Recommendation Letter Requests
Many students ask me for letters of recommendation for grad schools, summer research opportunities, jobs and internships. I love writing letters for excellent students I know well. Don't hesitate - this is part of my job!
But before you ask me, first think about whether I'll be a good letter writer for you. Whenever you’re asking for letters of recommendation, be sure to specify if the letter writer can write a good letter of recommendation for you.
You can start by answering these questions for yourself to decide if I would be a good letter writer. Then, ask me in advance and provide the answers I need to the questions and prompts below.
1. How well do I know you?
First, a good recommendation letter will have vivid details that show what an excellent student and/or leader you are. To write a very good letter, I need to have examples of demonstrated excellence. Please provide at least two examples of your demonstrated excellence in my classroom or lab or in a senior design project or student club that I supervised. For example, describe a class discussion that you led. Or explain how a paper for my class or group meeting opened your eyes to a new research area (that you might be including in your research statement). Then please estimate how many times we met and communicated outside of regularly scheduled meetings / class.
Second, there may be questions that I’ll have to answer about you. Almost all applications ask me to compare you to all other students that I’ve taught or supervised over the years. Others are very specific: “Describe a specific situation where you have observed the applicant using analytical skills or applied a new skill” or “How would you describe the applicant’s leadership skills?” or “Rate this student’s originality and intellectual creativity.” If I don’t know you well enough to speak to these questions, you probably should find someone who does to write a letter for you. If possible, tell me the exact questions that recommenders are asked to answer. I may ask you to draft answers for these.
Third, have I read your writing? I will also be asked about your writing ability. For graduate school recommendation letters, I need to have read at least 1 page of your individual original writing. Similarly, in my courses that are more team activity-based, it will be difficult for me to speak to your individual writing. If I have not read your writing but we had a close relationship in office hours, I am still willing to write a letter for you, but I will have to mention that I cannot speak to your writing ability. You can decide for yourself.
2. How big was the class that you were in and what type of class was it?
If our only interaction was in a large lecture class (i.e. BENG 1000) or a class that was driven by team/group activities, it will be harder for me to write a letter about you and answer questions about your skills and abilities. You may want to consider asking a faculty member who intereacted with you in a different setting and can write about these things.
3. Did you do well in the class?
I will mention your overall grade and grades on any major assignments in my letter. But merely receiving a good grade in my class is likely insufficient for a good letter that will help your application and get you into your desired program or job.
4. What do you want me to add to your application?
I need to know what specifically I can add to your overall application. Is it related to my research expertise? Were you a research assistant for me and you need to demonstrate a particular set of skills? Are you hoping for me to provide some information that other letter writers cannot? If there are particular details about our interactions that you want me to highlight, remind me of them.
If after answering the above questions you believe I will write you a good letter, here are your next steps:
- Please give me as much advance notice as possible – three weeks at the minimum. And it is even better if you talk to me months before the letters are due about your possible need for letters.
- If at all possible, let’s talk face-to-face about your application.
- Include the following in your initial email: the semester and year and the name of the course(s) you took with me.
- If it has been more than a year since you took my course or worked in my lab, please fill me in on what you’ve been doing since I last saw you.
- Tell me why you’re applying to this particular program or job.
- Send me a copy of your resume and a copy of the essay and/or personal statement that you're using.
- Tell me exactly what you’re applying to so that I can address it properly in my letter. And give me a link to the program. “I highly recommend Stephanie Lee for your program” is not as good as “I highly recommend Stephanie Lee for the Duncan J. Watts Fellowship at Hogwarts.” If you’re applying to multiple programs, please give me the list of all of them at once so that I can most efficiently write your letters.