"Letters" of Recommendation
November 19, 2010 3:45 PM Subscribe
What exactly do the new-fangled "letter" of recommendation forms e-mailed to recommenders look like?
Yes, it is me, and I am obsessing about grad school again!
For background: I am applying to five schools for a MS in Speech Language Pathology. Two professors of mine are serving as recommenders, and the third is a volunter supervisor I have worked under for several years. She has seen me interact and engage with the population I hope to eventually work with as an SLP, and can attest to my skills. When I did the initial ask, she seemed very excited about being a recommender, and said she'd be glad to.
However! I've filled her in on the details (that it's not a "letter" per se, and that I'm applying to five schools), and she's a little wary about having enough time to commit to that many forms. She's not a professional academic who sees writing LORs as part of her job description, and she doesn't have an enourmous ammount of experience writing these. Since it's not a "letter," she can't just write one, but, rather, has to respond to each one. Sending a letter is not an option, I've found out, and the schools require the form.
My question: What exactly do these forms look like? One school e-mailed me a copy of the recommender form, but the others are kind of weirdly cagely about letting me see them. The one I have seems pretty straightforward: 12 checkbox type questions, and then four longer form questions (one of which doesn't apply to her, since it's academic).
Is there a ton of variation among schools? Is this something she could just copy and paste large parts of, or do they require careful attention?
If does turn out to be a timesuck for my recommender, what other options might be available?
Yes, it is me, and I am obsessing about grad school again!
For background: I am applying to five schools for a MS in Speech Language Pathology. Two professors of mine are serving as recommenders, and the third is a volunter supervisor I have worked under for several years. She has seen me interact and engage with the population I hope to eventually work with as an SLP, and can attest to my skills. When I did the initial ask, she seemed very excited about being a recommender, and said she'd be glad to.
However! I've filled her in on the details (that it's not a "letter" per se, and that I'm applying to five schools), and she's a little wary about having enough time to commit to that many forms. She's not a professional academic who sees writing LORs as part of her job description, and she doesn't have an enourmous ammount of experience writing these. Since it's not a "letter," she can't just write one, but, rather, has to respond to each one. Sending a letter is not an option, I've found out, and the schools require the form.
My question: What exactly do these forms look like? One school e-mailed me a copy of the recommender form, but the others are kind of weirdly cagely about letting me see them. The one I have seems pretty straightforward: 12 checkbox type questions, and then four longer form questions (one of which doesn't apply to her, since it's academic).
Is there a ton of variation among schools? Is this something she could just copy and paste large parts of, or do they require careful attention?
If does turn out to be a timesuck for my recommender, what other options might be available?
Best answer: I write the letter just exactly as I would to print it out on letterhead. I then cut and paste it into data field. Voila.
posted by pickypicky at 4:13 PM on November 19, 2010
posted by pickypicky at 4:13 PM on November 19, 2010
Thirding brainmouse and pickypicky.
I don't know your field, and I don't know your posting history and maybe you asked a question about this, but think carefully about whether it's really in your best interest to have someone like the professional you described write a recommendation for grad school applications.
I'd ask her to write a letter as a supplement to whatever letters they are expecting from academics. In my field, history, we sometimes get letters like this and they are hard to evaluate for admissions purposes.
Ask someone who knows your field or don't worry about the issue I raised.
posted by vincele at 4:23 PM on November 19, 2010
I don't know your field, and I don't know your posting history and maybe you asked a question about this, but think carefully about whether it's really in your best interest to have someone like the professional you described write a recommendation for grad school applications.
I'd ask her to write a letter as a supplement to whatever letters they are expecting from academics. In my field, history, we sometimes get letters like this and they are hard to evaluate for admissions purposes.
Ask someone who knows your field or don't worry about the issue I raised.
posted by vincele at 4:23 PM on November 19, 2010
Not sure how relevant this is to you, but yesterday my boss showed me the SOPHAS form that she has to fill out for me. About 10 questions where she is supposed to rank various things from 1-5 (e.g., quantitative skills, communication, things like that), a general "do you recommend this applicant?" and a big blank space for a letter. Who knows about your speech pathology forms, but this one won't be any harder than a regular letter.
posted by teragram at 4:56 PM on November 19, 2010
posted by teragram at 4:56 PM on November 19, 2010
I do letters for college, not graduate school, but the forms are, I'd guess, similar. Before the switch to online things, there were still separate checkbox-type forms to fill out; those have just been moved online. Some teachers decline to do any of the separate forms and only send the letter; to the best of my knowledge, this does not hurt an applicant.
They have checkboxes to compare the student against others in his/her class year (for categories like "maturity," "intellectual promise," "writing ability," etc.), as well as a couple of short open-response questions ("How long have you known this student and in what context?" "What are the first words that come to mind to describe this student?"), and then a place to upload (in .doc, .pdf, etc. format) a letter, or to paste in the content of one. I choose the .pdf upload, because then I know what it will look like on the other end.
The forms do not take long to do (5 mins., if you're very diligent and thoughtful; easily less), and by far the greatest amount of time is spent on actually writing the letter. Reassure your recommender that she *is* in fact writing a letter, and it's not a million-hour form-filling-out enterprise!
posted by lysimache at 3:51 AM on November 20, 2010
They have checkboxes to compare the student against others in his/her class year (for categories like "maturity," "intellectual promise," "writing ability," etc.), as well as a couple of short open-response questions ("How long have you known this student and in what context?" "What are the first words that come to mind to describe this student?"), and then a place to upload (in .doc, .pdf, etc. format) a letter, or to paste in the content of one. I choose the .pdf upload, because then I know what it will look like on the other end.
The forms do not take long to do (5 mins., if you're very diligent and thoughtful; easily less), and by far the greatest amount of time is spent on actually writing the letter. Reassure your recommender that she *is* in fact writing a letter, and it's not a million-hour form-filling-out enterprise!
posted by lysimache at 3:51 AM on November 20, 2010
I second what vincele has to say. In fact, I've started to get quite blunt with applicants and tell them non-academics rarely write the types of letters that academic admissions committees find helpful.
As for your other questions, my program isn't in speech pathology but:
1. Our on-line application was designed in-house. Mostly from scratch. Therefore, I'm sure it doesn't look much like the on-line application for any other program in our field.
2. If you asked to see it, I would have a hard time showing it to you because the only way into the recommender module is as a recommender. Or I'd have to generate a dummy application with myself as a recommender and send you screen shots, which is honestly way more work than I'm willing to put in for one of the many applicants who special snowflakes me every day.
3. Our recommender form consists of a bunch of questions with radio buttons, rating the student's ability in various areas, and then the recommender is supposed to attached PDF of a letter.
4. My program will also accept a paper letter, with our old cover sheet, as a fax or email or snail mail from the recommender. We then scan this and attach it to your application in the database.
5. If your recommender isn't willing to put in the work, find someone else to ask. And ask the programs if perhaps a letter from your volunteer supervisor could be added to your application under supplemental material or something.
posted by Squeak Attack at 5:12 PM on November 20, 2010
As for your other questions, my program isn't in speech pathology but:
1. Our on-line application was designed in-house. Mostly from scratch. Therefore, I'm sure it doesn't look much like the on-line application for any other program in our field.
2. If you asked to see it, I would have a hard time showing it to you because the only way into the recommender module is as a recommender. Or I'd have to generate a dummy application with myself as a recommender and send you screen shots, which is honestly way more work than I'm willing to put in for one of the many applicants who special snowflakes me every day.
3. Our recommender form consists of a bunch of questions with radio buttons, rating the student's ability in various areas, and then the recommender is supposed to attached PDF of a letter.
4. My program will also accept a paper letter, with our old cover sheet, as a fax or email or snail mail from the recommender. We then scan this and attach it to your application in the database.
5. If your recommender isn't willing to put in the work, find someone else to ask. And ask the programs if perhaps a letter from your volunteer supervisor could be added to your application under supplemental material or something.
posted by Squeak Attack at 5:12 PM on November 20, 2010
Response by poster: If anyone is still reading:
Three of the programs have, either on their website or to me, said that they prefer one letter be from someone besides a professor. Would it be better for them to receive a letter from someone who knows me well and would write a good letter, yet doesn't have a lot of experience with writing one, or from someone who writes letters a lot, but who doesn't know me well?
posted by Ideal Impulse at 10:21 PM on November 20, 2010
Three of the programs have, either on their website or to me, said that they prefer one letter be from someone besides a professor. Would it be better for them to receive a letter from someone who knows me well and would write a good letter, yet doesn't have a lot of experience with writing one, or from someone who writes letters a lot, but who doesn't know me well?
posted by Ideal Impulse at 10:21 PM on November 20, 2010
Ideal Impulse, if your programs request such a letter, then they know what they're getting, and I'd say the letter from your volunteer supervisor would best.
You can always call the programs and ask. Also, perhaps if you could give the volunteer supervisor examples of academic letters, it would help her out.
posted by Squeak Attack at 7:50 AM on November 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
You can always call the programs and ask. Also, perhaps if you could give the volunteer supervisor examples of academic letters, it would help her out.
posted by Squeak Attack at 7:50 AM on November 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
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posted by brainmouse at 3:48 PM on November 19, 2010