Letters of Recommendation can be the make-or-break difference in whether or not you gain admission to a particular graduate program. Here are some suggestions for obtaining the best possible letters:
- Make your request early so the faculty member has plenty of time to meet whatever deadlines you have (tell them what your deadline is). Provide a self-addressed, stamped postcard that they can drop in the mail to you at the time of submission.
- Make your request in person or at least over the telephone and follow up with a formal letter of request or even a formal email. Follow up with a thank you letter. Some faculty need to match your name with your face before they remember you.
- Request letters only from faculty members who have worked with you recently and/or who know your work or will have good reason to remember you (sending them a copy of an old paper with their comments on it is useful).
- Send faculty a copy of your resume, a copy of your statement of purpose or personal statement and tell them in a couple of well-written paragraphs why you are applying to that school and program and why you are asking them for a letter. (If you are applying to more than one school or program write a couple of different paragraphs about each one.) Sending these documents on a disk or as an email attachment allows the faculty member the ability to cut-and-paste if they want to—saving them time and using your carefully chosen words.
- Remind the faculty of your past work and how what you did is applicable to the graduate program(s) you are applying to.
- Give them enough information to write a personal letter about you not just some vague, generic note. Faculty will often be completing a form which asks them to discuss such things as your leadership abilities, your written and oral communication skills, your analytic abilities, your creativity, how long and in what capacity they have known you, your interpersonal skills, your maturity, your experience in working with diverse groups of people and their assessment of your capability for doing graduate work.
- In all of your correspondence with the faculty do NOT make any spelling or grammar errors and DO take the time to make your request, your resume and any other materials look like serious, professional documents.