A girl I became friendly with after supervising this summer has asked me to write her a letter of recommendation (from a supervisor’s pov, not a character reference) for grad school. I’ve agreed to do so, but I’ve never written one before. What sort of things in a letter of recommendation catch your eye? Obviously I can talk about how she was a good employee, but what else? I know that mentioning that she was an entertaining person to go to the pub with is out, but what about my admiration that she pursued her dream to move to France to teach English this year?
And what about format? Is something formal like this preferable, or a letter that takes the form of a narrative?
You want (I presume) to make her seem attractive to grad schools, so stress what they want in a grad student: intellectual ability (which it doesn’t sound like you’re in a position to judge), work ethic (which you are), seriousness, general people skills, communication ability (which can come in handy if she’s trying for a TA-ship or some such), stubbornness (grad schools don’t want people dropping out when the going gets tough, which it will get for years on end) and reliability. Compare her to other students you’ve dealt with in a similar situation, and say why she’s impressed you compared to them. As to the moving to France bit, that’s good, but it would be better if you can say how the experience changed her (for the better) while citing it as an example of her stubborn stick-to-it-iveness: she had a plan, she carired it out despite many obstacles, and she grew as a result in the following ways: X, Y, Z etc. A sentence at the end about her pleasantness etc. would not be inappropriate, and one at the beginning IDing yourself (as her supervisor, for how long you worked with her) likewise. If you have any special insight into the program she’s going into (you went to the school yourself, you’ve worked with graduates in the past, etc.) you can also mention that.
That sample letter is a bit over the top. “Honor” and “pleasure” are too much.
I strongly recommend the previous post. (!)
Think of the first few paragraphs of the letter as “hitting bullet points.”
First sentence is how strongly you recommend the person.
How long/well you know them, what capacity. (Which would lead into who you are and what qualifies you for recommending.)
Saying something like “Mary Sue is the best student in I’ve seen in the last X years” or some such is great. If not, work the percentages: " in the top 10%" etc.
Then get into filler material. For grad school, anything thing that highlights this student being different from the regular students is great. Especially for any project that she proved independent thought, action and writing.
If there is any oddity that can be explained, be sure to point that out. E.g., “Mary Sue didn’t do well in winter quarter '02 due to a death in the family.”
And, if you want to help her, spin it in her favor, always remembering to be honest: “Mary Sue faced personal adversity in the winter quarter of 2002 when her mother died during a particularly difficult class. While her grades temporarily suffered as a result, she didn’t give up. She rededicated herself to her education and quickly brought her GPA back to the rigorous standards she set for herself.”
“Mary Sue faces personal challenges head on. As her innate reading ability is below average, she made a plan to see a tutor twice a week and carried it through while maintaining a heavy class schedule and a part time job. As her ability grows, she continues to set new goals for herself and meets them regularly.”
Hey, even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while!
And yes, the dross-into-gold gambit is a good one. I actually had a student whom I had flunked for plagiarism asking me for a letter of recommendation. (I can only imagine what she did in her other professors’ classes, if she’s asking me, but anyway…) I wrote a letter praising her for learning from the experience, passing the course when she took it again w/o plagiarisng, etc.
I did try to talk her into getting a letter from someone who was not honor-bound to mention plagiarism, but she insisted. And she got into the grad school!
Specificity is good, because anyone who reads many recommendations finds that the vague ones, however complimentary and sincere, run together after awhile and lose their effectiveness.
Saying Mary Sue is a clear writer is good; it’s even better if you can be specific by following that up with more, such as the fact that your office recieved a budget increase due to her persuasive, clear proposal for funding. Moving to France may be one of those specific examples you’ll use to describe her determination or guts or what have you.