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ADVICE ON HOW TO GET GOOD RECOMMENDATIONS
- personal from Roc Ordman

Here are my suggestions on how to get good recommendations. Obviously, you should select professors who will write good ones, starting out as soon as possible to get to know the professor personally, letting her/him know about your interests, abilities, concerns. If you like a prof or do well in a course, maintain contact by visiting periodically so they will be able to write a better letter. Also, after you graduate, keep in touch in case you need one later in life.

Here is the letter I give everyone asking for a recommendation. I suggest that you follow the guidelines in asking for a letter from anyone.

Dear Friend,

You have asked me to write a letter of recommendation for you. Below are a few hints that will allow me to write a better letter, and increase your chances to be admitted to the program.

1. Please make sure that you have read and filled in all of the blanks on the recommendation form. If you do a sloppy job, should I be expected to do any better?

2. Please provide a stamped, addressed envelope to mail it in. That way I will know where to mail it.

3. Make sure the program you are applying for is shown somewhere, so I know if you are applying for a Ph.D. in Chemistry or nursing certification.

4. Put your name on it somewhere, or on a separate sheet. When 10 people ask me to write letters, it is hard to keep track of who is applying where.

5. Write down the due date for the letter, and ask me to write it at least 1 week, preferably two, before the deadline. We all have busy times, and I will write a better letter if it is not a last minute rush.

6. The best recommendation is an informative and informed one. FIRST, WHY HAVE YOU SELECTED THIS PARTICULAR PROGRAM? What have you done to prepare yourself for this program? Why do you feel you should be selected for this program? Please describe briefly on one page responses to these questions as well as your main strengths, and especially your weaknesses (bad grades, etc.). If you have some poor grades, for instance an F in Chem. 230, I can help eradicate that by explaining the unusual circumstances that term. If you don't tell me, and the admissions committee sees that bad grade, but I am unaware of it and say how well you did in organic, they will assume I don't know you, or that you deceived me, or both.

7. I recommend that you not apply to too many schools. While opinions on this differ, no one can apply to more than 5 schools properly. For to apply to a school, to write an adequate applicqtion, you should definitely look over the faculty, decide for whom you would like to work, and write a personal letter to one or two such individuals expressing your interest in working with them. Go and visit the campus for an interview. Those two steps can make a difference between being rejected by your last choice and accepted by your first choice.

8. I am very responsible about writing letters, but occasionally faculty lose your request. It is best to provide me with a card to return to you in campus mail when I have mailed the recommendation, so that you have confirmation that I have sent the letter. Otherwise, check a day before the deadline to insure I wrote it. It would be a shame if you were not considered for the position because your application was incomplete because they had not received my letter or that of another professor.

I will be happy to discuss the above with you. But please help me write you a letter which is worthwhile by complying with as many of the above items as possible.

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