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STRATEGIES FOR OBTAINING STRONG LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION Most graduate programs and potential employers require a minimum of three letters of recommendation as part of their application process. Many provide applicants with forms for recommenders to complete, although a few simply request letters. Choosing those who will recommend you is a crucial process that you should base on the following criteria.
How well do they know you? Almost every recommendation form begins by asking how long and in what capacity the recommender has known the applicant. You will want to choose recommenders who have known you for at least two years and from whom you have taken several classes or worked with on research or departmental projects. Admissions committees and personnel directors are not impressed with recommendations from persons who do not know you well. They make the assumption that either you have done nothing to allow your teachers/adviser to know you well or that those who know you well do not think highly enough of you to write you a letter of recommendation. Do not allow them to make these assumptions about you! How positively can they recommend you? Do not simply ask faculty members if they will write you letters of recommendation. Ask them if they will write strong letters of recommendation for you. A mediocre letter of recommendation is a death sentence to job or graduate school application. You may have good grades, strong GRE scores, and a creative personal statement, but if one of your carefully selected recommenders writes a letter that paints a weak picture of your potential for success, no graduate school or potential employer will want to take a chance on you. Work hard to give faculty reasons to write you strong letters; then do everything in your power to help them do just that. How impressed will a graduate admissions committee or potential employer be with your recommenders? Do not ask for letters of recommendation from your family members, high school counselor, physician, or priest/minister/rabbi. They may be able to describe many of your strong personal qualities (e.g., loving, concerned, healthy, and devout), but these qualities are not those about which a graduate admissions committee or potential employer is primarily concerned. Graduate faculty are evaluated by the quality and quantity of their research publications and employers' success is measured by their productivity; they will be looking for students who will help them in their efforts to achieve success. Choose recommenders with whom you have been involved in research, who have instructed research-oriented courses you have taken (e.g., Statistics, Experimental Psychology, and Research in Psychology), or who can vouch for your initiative, persistence, and creativity. These are the people who can write positively about what you have done or about your potential as a successful future scholar/researcher or employee. |