Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with gradschool and letterofrecommendation

Too little time?

Boydrop — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:44:54 -0800

Letter of Recommendation question - Will a very short notice request for a letter of recommendation in between semesters (now) end badly? More details inside... Here's the deal:

I've spent much of 2009 preparing myself to apply to professional graduate programs. I took the GRE, researched programs and career paths, interviewed folks in the fields I might be interested in, yadda yadda…. I also sent out a request in early November to a particular professor that I had a good relationship with and was sure would write me a strong letter. Happily, he agreed and requested further info to write the letter.

All good right? Well, problem is, I never responded back to him. Around the same time I sent the request, after many months of scrambling for ANY employment, I luckily (sort of) secured a very strenuous service-sector job. However, the job took much more out of me than I thought it would going in to it. Much of November and December was spent throughly exhausted, physically and (not to be too dramatic, but it's true) emotionally.

However, after finally getting myself together enough to focus on my longer term goals, I've realized I have most of the application completed for a particular program that I am very interested in joining. This particular professor's letter would really complete the application and I think really help me out. The problem is, that the supporting documents for the application are due January 15th, a short two weeks from now.

His response to my original request was for a list of the schools I was applying to, so it would be ideal to send him this list now, but I'm still undecided about whether or not I should wait an additional year to apply to these much more competitive programs. However, at this point, if I can gain admittance to this particular program I would happily take it, as the tuition is much more manageable.

Would it be crazily inappropriate to send him this request and expect a letter several days before the 15th? Would I be harming my chances for future requests for other programs with due dates further off in spring or next year?

How to ask for this letter of recommendation?

notswedish — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:12:56 -0800

Help me ask a former professor for a letter of recommendation. Complicating details after the jump. Asking for a friend:

I am a senior in college, currently beginning the process of applying to grad school. Last year, I took a couple of interdisciplinary classes related to my field from the same professor, and got to know her pretty well: I would often go to office hours and discuss the class as well as life in general. I did well in the classes, and I'm pretty sure she has a positive opinion of me, and I think she would be a strong recommendation for my grad school applications.

Last week, I emailed her asking if she had office hours this term, and, as I put it, whether I could "stop by and ask a few questions about grad school." In her reply, she informed me that she is doing research abroad this term, but that I could ask my questions over email.

The thing is, I don't really have any questions for her: all I wanted was the letter of recommendation. I only mentioned having questions about grad school because asking point-blank for a letter of recommendation seemed too blunt, or rude, to me. The obvious thing to do, of course, would be to ask questions to which I already know the answer, but complicating the matter is the fact that she went to grad school in field X, and I am applying for the unrelated field Y (it was only later that she got into interdisciplinary studies bringing her closer to my field). So I'm not sure what I could ask her that wouldn't sound stupid.

So I guess my question is this:

What's the best way to actually get this letter? Do I just say, "actually, I don't have any questions for you, except would you write me a letter of recommendation?" Do I try to come up with 'fake' questions for her? If so, what should I ask? Any other suggestions? I know she's a very busy woman and I don't want to bother her too much, but I really want this recommendation.

Thanks in advance!

Who gets to be the lucky person to write me a letter of recommendation?

carpyful — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:02:10 -0800

I'm applying to graduate school and need 3 letters of recommendations. However, I am having trouble deciding the right people to ask. HALP. I'm applying to MPA/MPP programs for the Fall of 2010. My work and academic careers have not been ideal and now I'm not sure what to do. Here's my situation:

I got my BA in May 2007 with pretty good grades (I got nearly all A's in my political science courses, which I majored in). Even though I did well, I was the type to do my work and leave class -- I never spent time talking to professors at all. It's now been 2.5 years since graduation and I feel uncomfortable asking any of my old professors for letters of recommendations. Also, I no longer live near my school so I'd have to do this all through phone or email. If I go this route, I'll be contacting my polisci seminar professor. I got an A in the class and an A on my thesis paper.

As an undergrad, I spent a summer interning at my local Congressman's office and my local state Senator's office (both in the same summer, part time with each). This was in the summer of 2006 which means that it has been a while. The only saving grace is that I used one of my internship supervisors as a reference to get my current AmeriCorps gig last year so I've had some communication there.

After graduating, I didn't really know what I wanted to do so I spent a little over a year working in unrelated fields. I did some private tutoring and freelance design to keep busy. Even though I did good work and have maintained some connections with my clients, I feel that the work is so unrelated and short-lived (most of my freelance work was 3-6 month gigs and my tutoring jobs lasted about 9 months) that they might not be great to use for applications.

The only place I am confident in getting letters of recommendations from is the place that I am working at now: I am an AmeriCorps VISTA at a nonprofit doing work I enjoy. I know a few higher-ups in my workplace that would probably write me letters. I am tempted to get more than one person from my organization to write me a recommendation but I would imagine that isn't the best idea ever.

Finally, I am in a cohort with other VISTAs (we are all in different workplaces and meet twice a month for trainings) and the supervisor of that program would write me a letter, as well. I worry that getting a letter from my work supervisor and my VISTA supervisor would be confusing and detrimental.

So to summarize my questions:
Which 3 people do I ask for letters of recommendations?
Is it worth asking professors from undergrad who I never really spoke to (but got A's in the class)?
Is it worth asking people I interned for in 2006?
Is it worth asking clients that I did work for in unrelated fields?
Is getting a letter from more than one person in a workplace weird?
If I get a letter from my work supervisor and a letter from my VISTA supervisor, will that be seen as negative (since most people won't know the difference)?

As you can see, I am in need of guidance.

How do I ask for letters of recommendation?

BuddhaInABucket — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:23:32 -0800

When and how should I ask for letters of recommendation? I am applying to grad school this year, and applications are due in December. I will be asking professors and people I've worked for for letters of recommendation... I just haven't got the slightest clue how to go about doing it, as I've never done anything that's required a letter of recommendation before.

Should I get letters of recommendation signed across the envelope?

GPF — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:31:37 -0800

In applying to grad school, the folks writing letters of recommendation didn't sign the flap of the envelope and one doesn't have a postmark because it was sent via FedEx. How big of a deal is this? I don't know what happened. They had a form that indicated they should sign across the flap of the envelope. I mentioned it in an email and letter. I talked to two of them in person, yet none of them did it (!).

They sent the letters to me as I am to include them with my application. The signature requirement is obviously a check against dishonest applicants, which I am not. The first one that came in I didn't worry about because it had a postmark from a distant place so I thought that might be good enough. But another arrived overnighted from FedEx, so the stamped envelope that I provided didn't get postmarked.

The deadline is December 1 (16 days). Should I resend these envelopes for their signatures - with a return envelope? Ask them to print them out again and send them to me? Chill out, and send the admissions committee what I have? Ask my recommenders if I may sign their name by permission?

I guess I'm curious if the admissions committee is going to really treat them as suspect without the signatures? I suppose they should.

My first thought is to send them back for signatures ASAP.

Mildly stressful as the deadline approaches...

A polite reminder to a forgetful recommendation-writer?

wreckingball — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 16:08:37 -0800

How might I go about com[posing a polite "reminder" email for a... forgetful recommendation-letter writer? I'm in the process of applying to grad schools, and the deadlines are fast-approaching. About a month ago, I made my requests to three of my undergrad professors, and all three agreed without hesitation. Since then, two of my letter-writers have written their recommendations, let me know that they'd done so, and mailed them off. I've heard nothing from the third.

One of my deadlines was Saturday, and I received an automated email from the school informing me that the letter from this third character had not been received. I'd been meaning to write him a reminder note since at least a couple weeks ago, after not hearing back from him (I acknowledge that I'm partly in a bind of my own making), but I'm incredibly skittish about email (and equally so with phone calls--I'm basically just shy to a pathological degree), and I was doubly concerned about "nagging" him about the status of his letter, when he was, after all, doing me a favor.

Well, in any case, now I know for a fact that he hasn't sent it off, as promised, and one deadline has already passed, potentially jeopardizing my application. I need to get in touch with him pronto to make sure that letters get to the remaining four schools in time.

Any guidance on wording, style, tone, etc. would be much appreciated. As would, to be honest, a sample email, outright. I need something that is both exceedingly polite, deferent, flattering, etc., but also, at this stage in the game, pretty firm. This whole mess is making me incredibly anxious, and without a little guidance, I'm just going to go further into a self-perpetuating spiral of second-guessing, and nothing will ever get done.

For context: this is a professor whose class (a twelve-hour, once-a-week, one-semester painting class) I took in the spring of 2005. We were on good terms, and we always have a friendly conversation if we run into one another. He's pretty busy, and maybe a bit high-strung (that is to say, "touchy"), however, and he's located out of Baltimore, while I'm currently living in Florida.

Thanks, guys.

Duplicating Letters of Recommendation

cribcage — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 18:51:16 -0800

I'm planning to apply to many, many graduate schools, and I need letters of recommendation. Asking each person to sign 20+ copies seems unreasonable. It is acceptable to submit photocopies?