thegradstudent

This entry contains a lot of what may seem like common sense, but strong letters of recommendation are critical to any grad school application so it seemed like advice well worth repeating.  For what it’s worth, here are my pieces of advice:

Give professors enough time. Give them 2-3 weeks at least, though the more time the better, especially during busy periods of the semester. The best person to ask about an appropriate timeline of course is the professor in question.

Give professors enough information. Hopefully the professor knows you well (since why else would you be asking him or her for a letter) but make it easy on them. Send them a draft of your personal statement and copies of any good papers that you wrote for them in past classes. This way you can help to shape what kind of statement they write for you. Also the more information you give them, the less you and they have to rely on their memories; and we’ve all seen how fickle professorial memories sometimes are.

In the same vein, you should talk to your professors about why you want to go to grad school and where you’re thinking of applying. It makes them feel more involved in your search, leading to better letters, but they also probably have good advice about different schools and the application process in general.

During those conversations find out who your professors know at your institutions of choice. Networking can suck, but this is one of the easier ways to do it. Connections aren’t going to get you into a program, but they can help. Logically if someone on the admissions committee reads a glowing recommendation letter from a close colleague it will have more of an impact, and they might even contact your letter writer about you. Your professors’ connections can also give you helpful inside information; maybe the star of your field is actually a pompous prick who’s impossible to work under or a predatory sketchball on his way down. Such things are incredibly helpful to know if you are choosing a university primarily based on one or two faculty members.

Explain any personnel gaps. Admissions committees probably know the main professors in your field at your school, and if they don’t they can easily find out, so if you don’t have letters from these major figures it will look confusing or suspicious. If you never took a class from the big name professor(s) in question, consider subtly explaining why in the cover letter or on one of the free response sections on some applications (“While I became interested in the Medieval period late in my undergraduate career…” or “While I was unable to take Dr. Jonson’s poetry seminar due to scheduling conflicts, I incorporated his research in…” or “While resident Joyce scholar Bill Smith was unfortunately on sabbatical my senior year, having Nigel St. Nigel as my thesis director…”). If you did take a class with a big name professor but feel that he or she will not write a glowing recommendation letter you’re in a decidedly more difficult spot. My advice in that case is to make sure your other letters are very strong.

And remember that while letters of recommendation are very influential, they aren’t the only aspect of your application. If you have an amazing writing sample, for example, much can be forgiven. Just give your utmost to every aspect of your application and then cross your fingers that the crap shoot that is the grad school application process will work out in your favor. Good luck to you.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS