academic recommendations

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by lkillick, Aug 26, 2005.

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  1. lkillick

    lkillick New Member

    I am nearly finished with my Psych BA at TESC and plan to go on to some sort of grad program in a couple of years. I'm considering a second BA in Business, but I might just go straight to an MBA.

    It seems as if the best grad programs require at least one academic recommendation - usually on their own form. Since I do not yet have the 2 year work experience they require for the grad school entrance, I am not applying straight to grad school from my BA. Should I ask if one of my professors would write me a recommendation now? I'd hardly expect them to remember me in 2 years - but would a recommendation do me any good if it isn't on the university's own reference sheet? I'm at a bit of a loss of what to do here - would appreciate any advice.

    Thanks,
    Lindsay
     
  2. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    (1) Grad schools typically require three letters of recommendation. How many of those must be from professors and how many must be from employers often varies. Usually they are not too picky about whether it is on their own form or no.

    (2) Many grad programs will take you straight out of your undergrad. Or were you speaking of a specific grad program?

    (3) Two possible strategies here. You could ask your professors to write letters of recommendation now and ask your department to keep those in your student file. Another possibility might be to keep a file of all your old term papers so you can mail same to your old professors years later and Prof. X can remember that you wrote a paper on, say, Slavery among the Cherokee Indians for his Civil War class or whatever.
     
  3. ashton

    ashton New Member

    I'm not familiar with TESC but the brick and mortar universities I've attended have a placement office that has lots of experience with letters of recommendation, resumes, and so on. See if TESC has something like that.
     
  4. qvatlanta

    qvatlanta New Member

    Here's a good general method of getting recommendations:

    Put together a package to mail to the professor/supervisor. The package should contain:

    1) An introduction and request for a letter of recommendation, followed by a summary of your contact with the person. For example, "Dr. X, I took your class in XYZ in the Summer of 20XX. I greatly enjoyed your class and respect your judgment, and therefore I would like to ask you the favor of writing me a letter of recommendation for ZZZ program." Add any details that would make you stand out or make the professor remember you. Add a bit about yourself and why you are applying to the program, and what qualities the program is looking for in an applicant (maturity, dedication to the field, etc.). Basically, try to make things super easy for the recommender by practically writing the letter for them... all they have to do is copy bits and pieces from your letter if they agree that you have those qualities the program is looking for. Also enclose any work you might have done if you think that will help, as someone else suggested.

    2) Instructions on how to create the letter (university letterhead?), then how to sign and seal the letter, and how many copies are necessary.

    3) Blank envelopes. When the recommender is done with the letter they will need to sign it, put it in the envelope, seal the envelope then sign across the seal on the back. A lot of programs will require this for greater assurance of authenticity.

    4) A self-addressed, stamped manila envelope into which they will put those sealed letters and mail them back to you.

    This is the best way to get a good letter out of someone who may be very busy with other work.

    If you want to make sure all your recommendations are positive, request one more copy than is necessary. Open that copy, read it and file it. If it is positive it may come in handy as a letter of recommendation for a more informal situation. If it's negative you'll know not to send the other copies in! This may seem a bit shady but you're not really deceiving anyone by doing this. I strongly believe that if a professor doesn't think you are a good applicant, they should refuse to write you a letter and then tell you exactly why, not write a negative one and secretly sabotage you.
     
  5. Rivers

    Rivers New Member

    I never realized it was that difficult to get letters of recommendations. I asked the professors in the classes I did well in if they would be kind enough to write a letter and of course they obliged. As a matter of fact both my professional and academic references wanted my feedback on their recommendations before submitting them.
     
  6. lkillick

    lkillick New Member

    Thanks very much. I'll find out if my school has a careers center or something of the like, and failing that I'll ask for a couple recommendations now and provide what qvatlanta mentioned.
     
  7. Orson

    Orson New Member

    It's at their option whether or not they share a rec letter's contents directly with you.

    Old school: they never do this - all is confidential. ("Silence makes it more sacred" is the attitude)

    New school (esp since the 70s): collaborate!

    -orson
     
  8. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    George Washington's admission application was totally online, including soliciting letters of recommendation. You gave them the name and email address of your reference, and they contacted them in an automated fashion to solicit the recommendation. It went very smoothly for me.

    -=Steve=-
     

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