Questions on recommendation or reference letters received from faculty members when applying for graduate schools or faculty positions.
6
votes
2answers
122 views
Recommendation Letters for MS CS programs
I have graduated nearly 5 years ago and I want to get a Computer Science Master's degree from an above average school in U.S. or Canada, preferably a thesis based degree.
However, I am having ...
16
votes
3answers
333 views
How do I make sure I get strong recommendation letters for faculty positions?
I would like to ask Prof. X, a distinguished scholar at a top school, for a recommendation for a tenure-track academic position. However, I only want him to write me a recommendation if he is going to ...
8
votes
1answer
136 views
What is the best before date on a personal referee?
I am in the not completely unusual position of having an eight year period between my Master's and PhD degrees. During this time I was gainfully employed in a completely unrelated and non-academic ...
62
votes
18answers
6k views
Should I recommend a student with a bad ideology?
My problem is the following: I teach an honors course in an engineering discipline at a small university. (It is not exactly that, but "teaching an honors course" is a good approximation to what I ...
7
votes
2answers
220 views
Applying to PhD programs in mathematics: would a letter of recommendation from my department chair at the community college be of any advantage?
I finished my MS in mathematics 5 years ago. Over these years I have been teaching at a community college (primarily calculus 1,2,3 with analytical geometry and Ordinary Diff. Eqs). When I was in my ...
7
votes
3answers
672 views
Pros and cons of not having PhD advisor's letter of recommendation after postdoc?
I have finished my PhD and am currently a postdoc. Since receiving my PhD, I have not worked with my PhD advisor. I am planning to apply for jobs for after I finish my postdoc — mostly tenured-track ...
13
votes
3answers
344 views
How do I get recommendation letters?
I have had a different set of professors every semester and as batch sizes are pretty big ~80, and with every professor dealing with 3-4 separate batches of equivalent size, for barely 3-4 months at a ...
24
votes
4answers
876 views
Is it possible to give too much praise in a reference letter that supports a green card application?
I am currently writing a reference letter for a colleague applying for a US green card. Given that I don't know much about the process and expectations of the immigration bureaucrats who will handle ...
10
votes
4answers
549 views
Letters of recommendation: what information to give to a recommender
The head of our department is writing a letter of recommendation for me for MD-PhD (MSTP) programs. I have two graduate level classes with him. He is very busy and writes letters regularly for ...
1
vote
1answer
163 views
A LinkedIn Recommendation as compared to an Academic Recommendation
In what ways would a Professor's LinkedIn Recommendation differ from his Recommendation for Graduate School(Masters/PhD)?
In other words: In what was does the visibility of a Recommendation change a ...
14
votes
2answers
192 views
How much customization of letters of recommendation is necessary?
While I know that students are encouraged to "tailor" their applications to the particular school or program they're applying to, does the same hold true for the people writing letters of ...
12
votes
2answers
286 views
How to address the person being recommended in a recommendation letter?
How should one "address" the person for whom I am writing a recommendation letter in the letter?
Scenario:
I have known John Doe for many years and am familiar with his work. We address each ...
5
votes
1answer
361 views
Do professors recommend their students on LinkedIn?
Do professors recommend their students on LinkedIn? If they do recommend, isn't it considered a violation of FERPA?
Professors are typically required to recommend without fear or inhibition towards ...
17
votes
1answer
524 views
How long should letters of recommendation for students be?
I have recently (finally?) had some requests to write letters of recommendation for graduate students. However, it's not really clear to me how long a good letter of recommendation should be. I've ...
15
votes
2answers
667 views
Should I write a recommendation letter for a student at a previous job/institution?
I receive requests for recommendation many times, but I have received one from a student belonging at a previous affiliation of mine, asking for a favourable letter in view of their achievements.
I ...
8
votes
1answer
286 views
Should my references be famous if I want to get into top schools for PhD?
So I've been researching my field of interest and I'm increasingly getting drawn to apply to a few "top" departments (in pure math) -- it seems like such a strong fit at the moment given that I've ...
5
votes
1answer
144 views
Submission procedure for letters of recommendation
I intend to study for a Master Program in the US. I'm from foreign country, so I don't know what's the procedure to submit letters of recommendation.
My initial guess is, the ones who write the ...
12
votes
1answer
703 views
What to do if asked to write a letter of recommendation for a weak candidate?
How should a professor proceed when a student or colleague asks for a letter of recommendation and the professor does not have a high opinion of that person?
4
votes
4answers
672 views
Incentives for professors to write recommendation letters
Is one incentive their ability to communicate their perceptiveness to people in their general community?
Are there other incentives?
4
votes
1answer
150 views
Should recommendation letters be from the home university of a student? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Does a recommendation have to be from a professor from your university?
I am applying to an applied math graduate program in the US. I frequently interact with ...
18
votes
3answers
289 views
Does a recommendation have to be from a professor from your university?
Suppose I want to get letter of recommendation for a PhD program. Could this letter be from someone not from my institution? Could is be from someone I have collaborated with online? Or generally do ...
4
votes
1answer
109 views
How to get good recommendations in online courses?
I'm going to be starting a master's program soon that is all online. I have taken some online courses before at a community college, and the interaction with professors was rather limited. I'll be ...
8
votes
2answers
391 views
On giving gifts to LOR writers
Should one give gifts to those who one's close to, or those who one generally doesn't interact with very much?
If the professors who wrote my LORs seem reluctant to meet me again for some reason (not ...
13
votes
3answers
385 views
From whom do I get references when my original advisor leaves academia?
This is similar to a previously asked question, but deals specifically with addressing the problem on the CV. My adviser had a bit of a personal meltdown and left the department while I was finishing ...
15
votes
6answers
1k views
Points to remember when having to write recommendation letter yourself
While it is an unethical academic practice, it is a fact that most recommendation letters for MS degrees in US and Europe from countries like India and China are written by students themselves. ...
23
votes
5answers
1k views
How to acquire 3 recommendation letters to apply for jobs when working with 1 advisor?
We all know that usually when applying for a post phd academic position students need at least three recommendation letters. But what can we do if we have only worked with our advisor and we have no ...
12
votes
2answers
573 views
How ethical is it to view recommendation letters?
Most graduate applications provide a choice to the applicants for viewing their recommendation letters at a later date. There is a mention of some US mandate alongside.
Is it a better option to ...
9
votes
3answers
468 views
Do letters of recommendation typically include a biography of the writer?
A student asked me to write a letter of recommendation for graduate school admission in London and the student insisted that I include a short biography describing my job title and qualifications. I ...
32
votes
4answers
2k views
How to handle not having my PhD advisor as a reference?
I received my PhD in 2009 and my adviser will not provide a good recommendation for me. This is mostly because we have fundamentally different approaches to science, and in retrospect I see that I ...
11
votes
3answers
690 views
Difference between reference/recommendation
What is exactly the difference between a reference letter and a recommendation letter in Academia? According to Wikipedia:
Letters of recommendation are very specific in nature and normally ...
