eSigning Letter of Recommendation for Graduate School Made Easy

E signature letter of recommendation for graduate school

Hi my name is Danine Farquharson and I'm the associate dean of Graduate Studies at Memorial University. One element of graduate applications that students worry a lot about is the letters of reference, so let me help. You're putting together your application packages and have to get two maybe three letters of reference many students have the same first question, who do I ask for a letter? The answer is, that you want to ask professors or researchers who know your work very well. You want to ask people who have taught you more than one class is ideal or worked with you in an academic setting. You want to ask professors from classes in which you have received high grades. Basically you want people who can write about your intellectual achievement and your potential to succeed in graduate school. The next question, is how best to ask these people. Bear in mind an important fact here, faculty and researchers are busy people and they probably want to help you out but you must give them lots of notice and you must be highly organized. Make the process of writing you a strong letter easy for them, so let's start with what not to do. Hi Danine! How are you?" Would you write me some letters for grad school? That would be awesome because I loved your class. Let me know. Okay? Steve. Right, please don't do that. Believe me that email is all too common in tone and style and it will never endear you to the person you're asking to do something for you. Put simply this message is not professional, it lacks specifics and it results in the professor having to ask a bunch of questions that you should have already answered. So here's a much better way to ask, Hello Professor Farguharson, This is Joanna Smith. I took English 3175 with you in the fall of 2016 (I earned a final grade of 85 percent). I'm writing to see if you would be willing and able to support my graduate school applications with strong letters of reference that attest to my academic ability and research potential at the graduate level. I'm applying to four schools and the earliest deadline for the letters of reference is December 22 2017. If you can do this for me, I will follow up with a detailed list of the schools and the deadlines and how to submit each letter. I look forward to hearing from you soon, Joanna. This one works so much better because you introduce yourself and you give important information. Even if you know the professor really well always be professional. This message also says how many letters you need, what the deadlines are and the kinds of details you need included. Now the faculty member can answer quickly with either yes I can do this for you or I am sorry I'm unable to help. Asking for a strong letter with deadlines gives them the option of saying no. Most professors will agree right away, but if something prevents them from writing for you do not take it personally. You need people who will readily agree for whatever reasons, so always have backup possibilities. When they agree to write you need to follow up immediately with a thank you and clear directions. The best way to give those directions is in a table like this one. This is a tidy list with dates and how to complete the letters. This also indicates what programs you're applying to and that's very important for letter writers so they can tailor their letters to your applications. In your follow-up email with this kind of table I suggest one more thing. Tell them that you will check in four working days before each deadline, to make sure all as well and then do it. It's okay to remind your letter writers, but do it only once. Things can happen to delay letters but only you were in control of your application package. You need to be the one to ensure every piece is in place by the graduate schools deadline. So to recap. Ask early, be professional, be precise and you'll get great letters of reference.