letters of reference

Who Should You Ask?*

The best letters of recommendation are written by faculty who know you, from whom you have taken multiple classes and/or have completed substantial projects and/or have received positive evaluations. Instructors provide insight into your academic competencies and aptitude as well as personality characteristics that may contribute to your potential to succeed in graduate school, such as motivation, conscientiousness, and timeliness.

Three things to consider before approaching faculty members

1. Know what graduate schools are looking for in their applicants.
This will help you select letter writers who can speak to those criteria.

In general, graduate schools seek applicants who demonstrate the following:

• Intellectual development through college
• Aptitude for independent thinking and research
• Analytical abilities and writing skills
• Leadership or creative qualities
  

However, do your own research and look through some graduate school applications to find out what criteria they want letter writers to speak to.

2. Think about which faculty know you well enough to write a letter that includes anecdotes or specific examples of your performance.

A letter that only includes general comments, such as, “She was a good student who participated in class and turned in her assignments on time,” indicates that the faculty only knows you superficially and is unable to talk about you with any depth or knowledge. A strong letter writer is a faculty member who knows you well, knows your educational and career goals, has a high opinion of you and who can

• evaluate your performance in your field of interest
• discuss your personal characteristics
• discuss your capacity to work with others
• discuss your leadership skills
• evaluate your level of professionalism (e.g., punctuality, efficiency, assertiveness)
• discuss your academic skills -- not simply experience, but evaluate your potential to succeed in graduate-level study

3. Choose a variety of letter writers.

No one person can speak to all of these criteria, so try to select a range of letter writers in order to present a more comprehensive picture of yourself. You could select one faculty member under whom you have done a research project or an independent study. Select another faculty member who is familiar with your experiences on a study abroad program or an internship. Select another faculty member you have had for several classes and is familiar with your aptitude in the field in which you are pursuing in graduate school.

*Note: Some of your references will likely not be faculty members. You could approach a teaching assistant, an internship supervisor, an employer, a supervisor/coordinator who oversaw your work on a volunteer or community service project, etc…

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What is the process for obtaining a letter of reference?

Requesting a Letter of Recommendation

• Request a meeting to discuss a letter of recommendation. Either in an email or in person, request a meeting to discuss a letter of recommendation. Avoid asking for a letter of recommendation in an email. Instead, request the letter and discuss your plans during the meeting.
• During your meeting with the instructor, be direct. Ask the instructor if she is able to write a strong letter to support your application to graduate school. A lukewarm letter won’t be helpful and will likely hurt your application, so if the instructor cannot offer a strong letter, it is best to ask someone else. If an instructor says no, do not be offended; she is doing you a favor.
  
  

If an instructor agrees to write a letter

• During your meeting, be prepared to discuss the following:
  
  • Why you are pursuing this particular program
  • What your goals are
  • How your undergraduate program has led you to this graduate path
  • Why you have selected this particular faculty member as a letter writer
  • Why you are a strong candidate for this graduate program, etc… It is particularly important that your letter writers understand your goals and your graduate program so that the letter they write will be tailored appropriately. For example, if you are applying for a program in neuroscience, you will want one of your references to write about your lab experiences whereas if you are seeking a degree in clinical psychology you may want one of your letter writers to discuss your interpersonal skills.
• In case the instructor agrees to write the letter for you, bring the following documents in a neatly organized folder (the folder should have your name and contact information on it)
  
  
  • Resume
  • Transcript (can be unofficial if it is simply for the instructor’s use)
  • List of activities/experiences, including outside activities like jobs (may want to highlight those that are relevant to area of study by putting those first). Mentioning that you worked 30 hours a week while going to school full time can be incredibly important to a letter writer as it speaks to your ability to balance a multitude of responsibilities.
  • For each school that you would like the instructor to write a letter of recommendation include the following in an individual, labeled folder: recommendation form, personal statement/essay, any information about the program that may be help him/her to tailor the recommendation, a cover sheet highlighting what you would like the letter writer to address in the letter.

Deadlines and reminders

• Give your letter writers at least one month to write your recommendations and be sure the deadline is clear. Instructors are extremely busy and have likely been asked to write letters for other students. By asking a instructor well in advance of the deadline, you are demonstrating not only that you are respectful of the instructor’s time, but also that you are able to manage your time and prioritize things that are important to you like graduate school. This also demonstrates maturity.
• Send friendly reminders, such as “Is there any additional information you need to complete my application for Harvard Graduate School by Oct. 22?” Instructors are very busy people and will appreciate gentle reminders; an irritated email, such as “I gave you the materials over two weeks ago, can you please get the letter in by tomorrow,” will likely only agitate the instructor rather than expedite the process.

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How do you get to know faculty?

Getting to know faculty who can write strong letters of recommendations is a long process that should begin early in your academic career. Consider pursuing the following avenues to get to know faculty and for them to get to know you.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCES

UM offers many opportunities to get involved with research through programs like the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) faculty research within departments and university-wide research programs like MHIRT. Committing to a research project for at least one year can be a good way to get to know a faculty member and for a faculty member to get to know you. However, be as selective as you can (within reason); choose a project that suits your interests and strengths and that pairs you with a faculty member who is researching a subject that appeals to you. As you become more familiar with the project, look for ways to become more involved and to assume more responsibility without being pushy. Engage the faculty member with questions relevant to the project. Ultimately, it is important that your research experience is supervised, documented and evaluated highly by a faculty member who will then write a letter of recommendation.

Ways to Make the Most of Your Research Experience

• Document your experiences; journaling can be a good way to do this
• Talk with faculty about how your research experience ties into your personal, academic and career goals and/or how your research experience has changed/shaped your goals.
• Seek constructive criticism on your performance and be open to criticism.
• Be open to learning
• Be sure to keep a record of your work and your experiences for future reference.

APPLIED/FIELD EXPERIENCES

Applied/Field or “real world” experiences can also be a good place to get to know faculty. Programs such as Camp Davis, NELP, BioStation and GIEU (Global Intercultural Experience for Undergraduates) are a few examples of such programs. While these experiences may be too short in duration to establish a strong relationship with a faculty member, they are can serve as a foundation upon which you can build that relationship in future semesters. During your applied/field experience, be sure to do the following:

• Document your experiences; journaling can be a good way to do this
• Talk with faculty about how your field experience ties into your personal, academic and career goals and/or how your field experience has changed/shaped your goals.
• Seek constructive criticism on your performance and be open to criticism.
• Be open to learning
• Be sure to keep a record of your work and your experiences for future reference.

CLASSROOM EXPERIENCES AND OFFICE HOURS

Perhaps the most obvious place to get to know faculty is in the classroom. However, a faculty member will not have the opportunity to get to know you from the other 300 students if you simply attend lecture. You will have to find a way to engage the course material and the instructor. Here are some ideas…

• Be on time and sit near the front of the class. This allows you to focus on the instructor and the course material. If you are close enough, the instructor will be able to make eye contact with you and will see that you are engaged in the lecture. Even this nonverbal interaction creates a connection.
• Be prepared for class by reading assigned materials, writing required papers, and completing problems so that you can ask intelligent questions and follow the lecture more closely. If you are behind on the readings or the homework it can be more difficult to ask thoughtful questions in class. Instructors very quickly identify students who are well prepared for class.
• Tie current events into lecture material. After class or during office hours, approach your instructor to discuss a news article, documentary, or news radio program that recently published/aired an article/story related to a topic covered in class. This shows the instructor that you are not only interested in the course but that you are making connections between the classroom and current events.
• Take a couple classes with the same instructor. Not only is it important to take more than one course with the same instructor, but it is also important to take at least one seminar course with the instructor. Taking a seminar (usually enrollment is around 25 students) will give you the opportunity to get to know the instructor on a much deeper level.
• Use office hours, and use them effectively. This means it is best to have first grappled with the material, the reading, the problems first before seeing the instructor so that you have a better idea with what you are struggling so they can better help you. Write down your questions and try to be as specific as possible. If you are prepared, you will feel more confident and you will benefit more from your meeting. In addition, the instructor will also learn something about you—that you are an organized student with good questions who is concerned about doing well in the course and who is a conscientious student. (see Using Office Hours Effectively).

CAMPUS/DEPARTMENT EVENTS

Departmental colloquia, public lectures, receptions, and events are a great place for students to connect with instructors on an informal basis. It is a chance for the students to present themselves to the faculty as “junior colleagues,” especially for students interested in pursuing graduate school.

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Resources on Campus

Career Center

• Career Center for Students: http://www.careercenter.umich.edu/students/index.html
• The Career Center’s Reference Letter Service (RLS) offers University of Michigan degree-seeking students and alumni/ae the opportunity to have letters of reference on file to use in support of their application to graduate/professional school or employment. http://www.careercenter.umich.edu/students/refletter/index.html

Alumni Association

• Jobs Section: http://alumni.umich.edu/jobs/job-resource-center/diplomas-transcripts-and-reference-letters

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