Recommendation Requests

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.

• 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.