GUIDE TO GETTING GOOD GRADUATE SCHOOLS ADMISSIONS RECOMMENDATION LETTERS: Articles for Tips & Advice for Requesting Recommendation Letters from Employers or Professors
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Recommendation Letters & Personal Statement
- We've covered two components of your application to graduate school, the transcript and standardized test. Now we move on to the other two components.
requesting letters of recommendation
- Make requests courteously. You may want to set up a counseling session first to find out if that person feels that they can write a strong recommendation for you.
Advice on Letters of Recommendation - Although grade point averages and Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores play a central role in graduate admissions and job opportunity, most graduate programs and employers do not base their decisions on numeric scores alone. In fact, highly competitive programs may simply use these scores as a screening device to reduce the size of their applicant pool. In such a situation, letters of recommendation can be extremely important.
Getting Recommendations - For some people, getting recommendations can be the most intimidating part of the graduate school application process. This doesn't need to be the case, however, and with a few simple pointers, you can maximize the impact of your recommendations.
Letters of Recommendation- An Overview - Most undergraduate and graduate school applications require two or three letters of recommendation. Depending on whether you are applying to an academic program or professional degree-- for instance, business or law school -- these letters should come from former or current professors, employers, or supervisors who are familiar with your work and performance.
Recommendations for Graduate School - To insure that your recommenders write the most up-to-date letters possible, provide them with the following.
Letters of Recommendation - Most grad schools ask for letters of recommendation in their application package. Who you select for your letters of recommendation and how you ask them will have a significant impact on the quality of the recommendations.
How to get a good Reference Letter - Besides submitting transcripts, supplementary materials and those all-important application fees you shouldn't downplay the importance of reference letters. It may be difficult to ask a professor for a letter of reference or recommendation but reference letters could make the difference between getting in to the graduate program you want and being turned away.
Tips & Info: Getting Good Recommendations - Who should you ask for a recommendation? How do you approach that person to ask for the recommendation? What steps can you take to help you get a strong recommendation? What information should a recommendation contain? Here are some suggestions.
Guidelines for Requesting Letters of Recommendation - These letters are used by law school and graduate school admissions committees, and by employers hiring interns or permanent employees. The Political Science faculty is happy to provide you with such letters, but needs your help in taking care of a few matters that will enable us to be as complete as possible in our evaluations and thereby increase the chances that our students will receive top placements.
About Recommendations - You should request three recommendations from individuals who are familiar with your academic achievement and potential. If you have been out of school for a number of years and are unable to contact former professors.
How to Get Good Letters of Recommendation- Most of the materials you submit for the evaluation of your application to a graduate program are objective and quantitative: grade-point average, Graduate Record Exam scores, class standing, and so forth. Letters of recommendation are the important exception; they should mention all your positive qualities not revealed by objective data such as GRE scores. A substantive letter from an informed referee can often be very persuasive to graduate admissions committees, especially in "borderline" admissions decisions.
Recommendations should be requested - Recommendations should be requested from members of the instructional or administrative staff of an institution of higher learning who know the personal and scholastic qualities of the applicant. Special recommendation forms (3 for the master's and 4 for the doctorate) are provided for this purpose and these should be mailed by the writers directly to the Director of Graduate Studies of the Shepherd School.
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