Recommendations

I am happy to recommend a student, by survey or letter, for a position (job, program, award, etc.) if I can make a strong case and have a reasonable amount of lead time (~2 weeks).

Who to ask?

In their letters, instructors will report key information, including:

• your grade and relative standing. I suggest asking instructors with which you had an A and were in the top 25%.
• how how long they’ve known you. I suggest asking instructors you’ve taken multiple classes with.

Not every writer needs to fit these suggestions, especially if you need a few letters, but the more who do so the better.

How to facilitate a strong letter?

The quality of a letter increases with the amount of information you provide about the position, your aspirations, and the relevance of the coursework to the application. (Michael Ernst’s has worthwhile advice on requesting a letter; I typically follow his advice on writing a letter.) I ask that you:

• give me all the necessary contact and submission information.
• remind me which courses (title and semester) you took with me, the course topics you liked, the assignments that you excelled at and how they relate to your aspirations. For example, perhaps you wrote an essay about a topic related to the position, or you learned a skill that will be helpful.
• tell me about the position and why you want it. Send me a link to a description if possible. How would the position fit into your larger career or life aspirations? If you’ve written a personal statement or essay for the position, share that with me.
• tell me what you’ve been up to since our class, including any activities or honors that might be related to the position.
• speak to the attributes of initiative, professionalism, collaborative ability, responsiveness to feedback, problem-solving, and trustworthiness. We are often asked to rate students on these attributes (especially by law and business schools) and any recollections you can share are helpful, especially those connected to our work together.

Finally, let me know what happens and what you thought of the experience. First, I’d like to hear from you and, second, is this something I should recommend other students for?