1. Determine the recommender
Determining the appropriate recommender is the first step to a successful recommendation letter. step. Generally speaking, graduate school applications require 2-3 recommenders. How should these three recommenders be arranged?
The first thing to consider is what requirements the admission committee has for qualified recommenders. The recommender must be very familiar with the person being recommended and understand the person being recommended from a more comprehensive perspective. Only in this way can the recommender be given an objective and thorough stance to evaluate the person being recommended. Again, consider how to match these three recommenders. The goal of all-round and multi-angle matching is to have a full working image.
Considering the above two points, here are some suggestions:
1. Don’t blindly pursue the recommender’s position or title. Consider familiarity first. The admissions committee is willing to recommend recommenders who have had close contact with the applicant and have a good understanding of the recommender's academic level, scientific research ability, organizational ability, and leadership activity and work ability. Therefore, between a teacher who is familiar with you and an unfamiliar principal, students have to choose the teacher.
Also in an internship, your immediate supervisor has a better understanding of your work content and performance. Therefore, it is possible to have numerous relevant examples of these characteristics. You can't say that you should choose a company president with whom you have no shared opportunities. In this case, the recommendation letter will not be persuasive enough. Of course, if the familiarity is the same, recommenders with high titles are the first choice.
2. Avoid choosing the same type of recommenders, and demonstrate the students’ strengths and strengths from different aspects. Therefore, if you are a current student, it is recommended that you find two academic recommenders and one internship recommender; if you already have a full-time job, you can use two work-related recommenders and one academic recommendation letter.
Enrich the image of students through academic achievements, work ability and leadership skills. For example, as a student applying for a graduate degree in finance, you can choose a professional course/project teacher to show your academic ability; a department head/dean/head teacher to reflect your leadership or organizational skills in school activities; and find an internship supervisor to explain the practice. Ability to work.
2. How to communicate with recommenders
After determining the recommender, the next step is to contact the recommender as soon as possible. On the one hand, there are so many students studying abroad every year, and every teacher may receive many requests for letters of recommendation from students. Contact the teacher early to ensure that the teacher will agree to write a recommendation letter for you. Also, during the internship process, you need to communicate with your supervisor. If you want to apply for a graduate school in the United States, please help write a letter of recommendation. This can avoid contacting the recommender when applying, and the recommender forgets what you have done, or Not impressed at all.
The way you communicate with recommenders is also very important. We encourage all students to meet with recommenders in person. Ask recommenders face-to-face to help write letters of recommendation, and be enthusiastic and positive. Talk to your recommenders about your grades, the majors and goals you are applying to, and your future plans and development. Let the recommenders have a better understanding of themselves and the major they are applying for.
Remember to bring your resume and personal statement to the interview. On the one hand, it allows recommenders to know themselves better; on the other hand, it also allows recommenders to be more targeted when writing recommendations. If you don't have a chance, you can send an email. You can think carefully and organize your language well to avoid the tension and embarrassment of meeting the professor face to face.
After applying, it is also very important to contact recommenders in a timely manner. Inform the recommender of the time and deadline for the school to send recommendation letter invitations, and clarify the deadline for the recommender to submit the recommendation letter. This will not delay the students' application, but will also leave the recommender with sufficient time to submit.
3. Format and content of the recommendation letter
The content of the body of the recommendation letter is crucial. Generally speaking, students cannot see the content of recommendation letters.
However, when you have a detailed discussion with the recommender, you can first explain what characteristics the school to which the recommender is applying focuses on. For example, some schools focus on academic and research capabilities, while others value the school's leadership and organizational capabilities.
I hope my recommenders can write more about these aspects. Moreover, a letter of recommendation that is full of complimentary words without supporting examples is not what the admissions committee wants to see.
Therefore, a recommendation letter should basically consist of the following items.
1. Is the relationship between the recommender and the recommended person a professor? Or an internship mentor?
2. Familiarity: For example, the professor has taught 2-3 courses. , and is the instructor of the course paper.
3. The advantages and strengths of the recommended person; excellent academic performance and research ability; outstanding performance at work; special talents: such as language, art, sports, skills and other talents. The most important thing is that these characteristics need to be supported by examples. Some specific data are listed, and the examples give details, so that the admission committee can see the outstanding characteristics of the applicant from these examples. Appropriate comparisons can be used to highlight the advantages of the recommended person by comparing them with people of the same level.
IV. Tips
1. It is best to keep the letter of recommendation within one page, be concise, comprehensive and well-founded.
2. The letter of recommendation should be printed on the school/company letterhead and needs to be signed by the recommender.
3. Please remind recommenders that the link submitted in the recommendation letter has an expiration date.
4. Avoid relatives or family members. If you are interning in a family business and you must ask for a recommendation from a relative, be sure not to indicate your blood relationship when writing a recommendation letter.