Where Can Professors Upload Lors for Grad School

It'southward a trivial known fact that the more than competitive your target grad school, the more than of import your LORs will be. Applying for a master'due south at Podunk State Technical University? LORs won't matter that much. They'll focus on your quantitative metrics – GPA, test scores, transcripts, etc. But Stanford? Princeton? Schools where every applicant has insane grades and research experiences? In this case, your admission may depend entirely on your SOP and grad schoolhouse letters of recommendation.

Unfortunately, LORs oftentimes seem similar they're completely out of our control. They aren't similar the SOP where you can spend months tailoring a luminous, intelligent self-portrait of your goals. Instead, they're left to the easily of a poorly dressed, manic-haired professor you may not have spoken to in a long time.

Luckily, with this guide, y'all'll learn how to have command of your LORs. This isn't a guide to the role and process of grad school letters of recommendation. You lot're a grown up. Y'all should know this already. Instead, it's a guide to getting the maximum impact from your LORs.

Because this is your goal: to take professors, advisors, and managers submit raving, interesting, and (most importantly) persuasive letters that convince grad schools you're the right candidate for them. Let's go started.

Who to ask?

Consider this your difficult-and-fast rule:

You will non ask for LORs from people who aren't dedicated to helping you succeed.

Every year, hundreds of students across social media ask whether information technology'southward better to get an LOR from 1) a chipper assistant professor who adores them and knows their work, or two) some stodgy Professor Emeritus who barely knows their name, but is an icon in the field.

Choose the chipper banana professor every time.

The fame of your LOR writer has virtually nothing to do with your success. Their fame is their fame. It's not your fame. The purpose of the LOR is to build your fame, and the only fashion to build fame is to accept raving fans. It doesn't matter if the letter author won a Nobel Prize. If they tin can't speak intimately about your potential as a scholar, if they aren't eager to assistance you succeed, it will accept zero positive consequence on your admissions chances.

Whether choosing amid former professors, lab PIs, or corporate managers, yous should enquire yourself 3 questions before deciding who to ask for LORs:

1. Does this person know me well enough to write persuasive details and anecdotes that no one else could write?
2. Volition this person say vibrant, positive things nigh me?
3. Can I trust this person to submit my LORs in an organized way, long before deadlines, or are they the twitchy, suspicious sort who tin can't even call back to lucifer their socks in the morn?

Remember, yet, that grad schools will expect messages from your key advisors – your lab PIs, thesis advisors, or direct supervisors at work. If they don't send an LOR, then admissions committees may scent something fishy in the water. Some students have horrid experiences with PIs and assume, reasonably, that this isn't the best person to ask. In such cases, you may consider explaining why yous haven't asked them – politely and professionally – in your Boosted Info section.

How to ask for fantastic grad schoolhouse messages of recommendation?

Kickoff things kickoff, don't simply show upwardly at random function hours, staring at your omphalos and mumbling, "Excuse me, sir, just could you write me a alphabetic character?" Instead, testify upwards just as prepared every bit you will for Zoom interviews with PhD advisors. Bring a school list. Bring a folder that includes everything they need to know nigh yous and your goals. Go far easy for them.

What materials should yous provide?

1. Your Statement of Purpose: Make sure it's polished, edited, and vivid. If y'all're a practiced applicant, you'll have finished this the summer before you utilize. If you're procrastinating, don't worry. You can still get a practiced LOR, but you missed a great opportunity.

2. Your Transcripts: Print these off and highlight of import classes, those most relevant to your academic field, and those in which you lot earned the best grades.

3. A Sample of Your Piece of work: This may be a enquiry newspaper or a lab study. Including this volition let the letter author to really dig in and highlight your potential. Information technology gives them "ammo" to write positive things about yous.

4. Resume or CV: Make sure to include work and internship experiences that your letter writer may non know about (only endeavour to keep them related to your bookish field). Likewise include whatsoever relevant skills like coding languages, lab techniques, professional certifications, or strange language proficiency that will be necessary to your work in grad school.

5. Listing of People You Plan to Enquire for LORs: This may non be entirely relevant if yous're a Big 4 auditor request your managing director, only it's peculiarly important if you're asking professors. It gives them more context about you lot, your work, and the people who know you lot well.

6. Highlights and Talking Points: Help your letter of the alphabet authors think of positive things to say about you. They're simply suggestions, but a polite nudge tin can go a long way. They may not know about your tutoring experience and your eagerness to TA in grad school. They may not be fully aware of the sub-niche you're moving into. They might not even be from the same academic field. Emphasize your strengths and goals so all parts of your application can link upwards. If you've already written your SOP, include your "Sentence of Purpose."

7. List of Dates When You Volition SUBMIT Your Applications: Don't give your professors a listing of awarding deadlines. That'due south cutting it too shut. Things happen. Also many students have to frantically call professors ii hours before a deadline and remind them to submit. I promise you, this never generates skilful LORs. Instead, give them the appointment (hopefully one month in advance) when You lot plan to submit.

When to Inquire?

Try to requite your LOR authors at least 6 weeks earlier you want them to submit. But, be respectful of their time. Don't ask at the semester'due south commencement or end when they're typically extremely decorated. A good dominion of thumb is 10-12 weeks before your application deadline. Remember, don't tell THEM your application deadline. Tell them when You program to submit – iv weeks early on – and enquire for letters 6-eight weeks earlier that.

Embrace Clumsiness

When you visit your potential LOR authors, fix to ask them – honestly – what they would say about y'all. This might exist painful and bad-mannered, but it's necessary. Some professors will be brutally honest. Others may dearest you to pieces, but if they tin can't quickly think of bang-up things to say about you, they may not be the best LOR writer for you. Either way, if someone is going to write a potentially lukewarm or even negative LOR, y'all want to discover out early and move on. Better to bargain with a niggling clumsiness than to get rejected from grad schoolhouse because of a dull LOR.

Follow Upward

Afterwards 2-3 folks agree to write your grad schoolhouse letters of recommendation, you lot should send them a polite reminder email once a week. Professors are busy people. Information technology's upwards to yous to make sure y'all don't get lost in the ever-growing stacks of newspaper on their desks. It likewise reinforces the idea that you're an organized, mature student dedicated to success.

Elements of a Great LOR

Fantabulous grad school letters of recommendation volition comprise some mixture of the following elements:

1. Detailed assay of the candidate's intellectual capacity, via anecdotal testimony

This usually involves a personal story where the professor details something awesome you did in class or in the lab. If you're a student with a depression GPA, you may want to remind your professor of your nigh successful projection, and ask them to focus on this in their writing. If a trustworthy professor is willing to emphasize such an achievement, it can go a long way toward making a low-ish GPA disappear.

2. Superlative comparing to other students

"Jennifer is 1 of the five all-time research assistants I've ever had."

"Mr. Pakala is easily among the top x% of students I've ever taught."

When meeting with your LOR authors, ask them to quantify their opinion of you this way. If they seem uneasy, it will feel embarrassing, simply it volition let you know that this person may non be the best LOR writer for you.

3. Positive comments on the applicant'southward social and behavioral characteristics

If you've read Structure Is Magic, you know that grad schools are looking for expert people. Academia is intense, collaborative, and occasionally savage. They need to know that you're going to be a productive and friendly member of the customs (hence, the value of Personal Contribution and Diversity Statement essays). In this regard, an effusive note from a professor will deport more weight than whatever other part of your application.

Work habits. Organizational skills. Teamwork. Cheerfulness. Willingness to give 110%. Obstacles you lot've overcome in your life. Peachy grad school letters of recommendation highlight these personal, human qualities (and hopefully requite examples).

4. References to a "weakness" to maintain objectivity (often slyly turning it into a strength)

Though you want your LOR authors to be raving fans, they can't really come across like goggle-eyed K-pop Stans. Thus, professors will often contextualize their recommendation by mentioning something you need to meliorate.

This is fine. Information technology's expected. Information technology's okay.

Usually, professors will backtrack and imply this "weakness" is anything just weak. For example, they may say y'all spend too much fourth dimension working in the Educatee Regime, and will take to learn to prioritize in graduate school, merely considering that you still take iv.0 GPA this shouldn't be a problem. They may say that you concord your peers to an incredibly high standard, and this sometimes seems brusque, but won't be a problem in Competitive Dream University where everyone works as hard every bit y'all.

5. Assurances of the applicant's futurity career success

For grad school admissions committees, the game is all about finding immature stars who volition make an impact in their field, become on to stellar careers, and increase the section's contour. This is how schools climb the rankings. For them information technology'southward a dream come truthful when an LOR writer says, emphatically, "Joaquin is going to be a star in biostatistics and I have no doubt he'll contribute to meaningful cancer research in the time to come."

The best LORs will not only say this, only show it by highlighting unique accomplishments you've made as an undergrad. This is related to points 1 and 2 to a higher place, where an LOR author might merits: "Yiling'due south thesis on Nietzsche's inspiration in the opera of Wagner was among the best honour's projects any undergrads in this section have ever written, and I am sure she will go along this impressive level of achievement throughout her career in philosophy."

What if my professor asks me to write a letter for them?

Sigh…lazy professors.

If your professor asks you to write the letter for them, chances are, this wasn't the right person to ask. Just mayhap y'all come from a country where this is standard? That's a shame, because the best LORs are highly personal, and you can't put highly personal statements in the professor's oral cavity. (Luckily, if you come from such a country, the admissions committee will already know what to expect.)

In either case, the following template will aid. It's not the simply way to write an LOR, but it's a fine place to first. Endeavor to include as many complementary and fascinating details every bit you tin can, without putting words in the professor'southward mouth. And so, sit down and discuss it together, allowing them space to fill in their own details.

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To Whom It May Business organisation:

Paragraph 1 – Introduce Your Relationship

• Be very specific in describing how the professor knows you lot. Consider listing the classes or labs in which y'all've worked together.
• End with a positive affirmation of your skills, intellectual capacity, and readiness for grad schoolhouse.

Paragraph 2 – Illustrative Chestnut

• Tell the story of your greatest experience(s) together. This should include one of the shining moments of your academic career, and information technology should reveal your intellectual potential and compare you positively to other students.
• Don't put words in the professor's mouth, but try to include memorable details. If you were prototyping a robotic arm, help usa run into it. What problems would it solve? If you worked together on an accolade'due south thesis, make certain we know the topic.
• Emphasize your soft skills: speaking ability, teamwork, arrangement, bailiwick, motivation, etc.
• Brand sure the reader knows why this experience was your "shining moment." Did it win you lot an laurels? Did it lead to a poster presentation? Emphasize that this was an accomplishment not many students have. Give qualifying and/or quantitative details.

Paragraph 3 – Analogy of Your Readiness for Grad School

• If possible, highlight an advanced assignment or project that's academically related to your future graduate piece of work.
• Emphasize this academic readiness. Where previously you discussed soft skills, here discuss your high-level grasp of visual servoing, photonic circuits, ii-way sociological networks, or radical universalism in Southern literature.
• Once more, don't put words in the professor'southward mouth, but try to emphasize that you're already doing graduate-level work.
• Mention a "weakness" to remain objective, but give a sly wink to note that this may not actually be a weakness. For case: "If Mr. Wayne has any weaknesses, it's doing excessive piece of work that goes beyond the parameters of his assignments – doing more than was asked."

Paragraph 4 – Decision, Superlatives, Comparison

• Recapitulate the hard and soft skills mentioned throughout the letter of the alphabet.
• Affirm that you have a brilliant career in [whatever your field].
• Close with a bare infinite, and ask your professor to insert a quantitative comparison to other students they've taught in their career. For case: "Mr. Crane is easily among the top 10 psychology students I've taught in my x-year career at Gotham Academy."

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A Powerful, Persuasive Sample LOR

To Whom Information technology May Business:

I take the greatest pleasance in writing this alphabetic character of recommendation for Ms. Arkina Shahinian for admission to the M.South. Program in Sustainability and Evolution. Ms. Shahinian has been my educatee 3 times – starting time in a large survey class, Global Change, second in Environmental Conflicts: Energy and Power, and lastly in her independent report award's thesis, for which I was her advisor. Thus, I accept given Ms. Shahinian an A+ three times.

In our earliest encounters, Ms. Shahinian distinguished herself, immediately, equally a atypical and marvelous pupil. In the kickoff calendar week of classes, she showed rare powers of articulation, request questions about assigned reading and so fascinating, showing such insight and comprehension, that I can nevertheless recall them today. In a lecture hall of 100 undergraduates, she already seemed like a graduate student, prompting my head TA to remark: "That ane has the spark, doesn't she?" Yet, with her easy manner, Ms. Arkinian never seemed to intimidate her classmates; instead she became a rare souvenir in the classroom, a student who generated give-and-take instead of bringing it to an end. Unsurprisingly, her writing soon proved to be just as remarkable, and past mid-semester, I actually looked forward to grading her piece of work.

Clearly, I have a maintained a close relationship with Ms. Shahinian ever since. Her recent thesis comparing the EU4Energy Program and policy options in the Eye East possesses subtlety and intellectual courage, and we take already discussed how its deep theoretical concerns could generate new topics of inquiry in graduate school. I am also highly impressed by her adaptation of the material in a mainstream commodity for The New Statesman, to be published side by side month – an unbelievable accomplishment for an undergraduate.

With her fiery intelligence, curiosity, remarkably elegant speaking ability, intense motivation, and cheerfulness among peers and teachers, I accept no doubt that Ms. Shahinian will accept a very bright career in public policy. I claim with all honesty and pleasure that she is among the ii or 3 best students I've ever encountered in my twenty-year career at Stark University.

**Hot Tip:See the resources in the conclusion below for more sample LORs!

What to do subsequently?

After your LOR author has submitted your references, yous need to practise 2 things:

1. Transport a thank you card or pocket-sized souvenir. This is thoughtful. Information technology's what civilized people do. Don't go overboard, but do something to show your gratitude. When in doubt, a small, handwritten give thanks you card is always well received.
2. Let them know your results! This professor has taken time to assistance you lot reach your goals. When yous're accustomed, share that achievement with them, and limited your gratitude once again.

Conclusion and Resources

Grad schoolhouse messages of recommendation are important. Maybe more than important than yous know. The primal to success is planning early, asking professors or managers eager to help you succeed, and giving them all the info they need to write highly personal, persuasive letters.

If you want to learn more than about generating impactful LORs, the following resources may assistance:

Reddit notes from Donald Asher'south expansive Graduate Admissions Essays (with chapter on LORs)

Sample LOR from UC-Berkeley

Harvard University'south LOR Guide for Faculty

Oh, and if you're starting early and really want to make certain your professors call up you're a rock star in the making…terminate your Argument of Purpose early and give them a re-create. I'd dear to help.

How are you lot planning to generate LORs that blow advertisement comms away?

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Source: https://writeivy.com/grad-school-letters-of-recommendation-the-ultimate-guide/

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