This webpage contains advice for people asking for a letter of
recommendation from me (or any other faculty member).
You likely have a lot of things on your mind right now, and this is
the last thing you want to worry about, but this deals with a central
part of your application, whether it be for jobs, graduate school,
or a summer program.
Letter-writing is an important part of my job.
The following statement is rather obvious, but a reasonable number of
people seem not to have considered it: it is in your interest to make
your busy letter writer's job as easy as possible.
Please give me as much notice as possible so that I can write as
detailed a letter as I would like. For job and graduate school
applications, please have all of your material to me at least three
weeks before the first deadline, and six weeks is preferable. For
summer programs that require a shorter letter, two weeks is
okay. If you give me less time than this, then your letter may be
submitted late. Sending me your support materials a week before the
deadline is not a good idea.
Here is a list of things that you should send to me in order to help
me to write the best possible letter for you. I will likely only
start writing your letter once I have all of your information.
-
Items that everyone should provide
- Everything that you will submit with your application
(e.g. personal essay, research summary, research proposal,
teaching statement); very good drafts will do in a pinch. These
can be PDF documents or hard copy. Corollary: finish your part of
the application early.
- Deadlines. When is the letter needed?
- Who else is writing you a letter? (This may help me to mention
things that otherwise might not be be covered.)
- Is there any other information that might help me in
writing a letter for you. Is there anything in particular you
would like me to address?
-
If you are applying for post-docs and/or tenure track jobs
- CV/resume
- If you have taken course(s) with me: please remind me which
class(es) and which semester(s)
- If you are applying to any schools that do not use MathJobs, send
me exact information on how I should send my letter. (Will they
contact me? Do I send it to some email address?) If there are
any schools that require snail-mail hard copy, give me addressed
and stamped envelopes well in advance.
-
If you are applying to graduate school
- Transcript (may be unofficial)
- If you have taken course(s) from me: please tell me what
class(s) during which semester(s), and what your grade(s)
were. Note: if you did not get an A from me, you may wish
to consider asking someone else for a letter instead.
- A list of where you are applying, with at most one school per line.
Make this list easy to read. If it contains links or email addresses,
make sure that they are correct.
-
If you are (1) an undergraduate applying to a summer program, such as an REU;
or (2) a graduate student applying to a short program
- Information about the program(s) to which you are applying,
and what they are looking for. Include link(s) to the program website(s).
- How should I send the letter? Will they contact me? Will you provide
email addresses?
- If you have taken course(s) from me, please tell me what
class(s) during which semester(s), and what your grade(s)
were.
For other peoples' advice concerning letters of
recommendation, visit the pages of
Keith Conrad,
Rob Pollack,
and
Ravi Vakil.
I have heavily borrowed from their webpages in creating this page.
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