Questions tagged [recommendation-letter]
Questions on recommendation or reference letters received from faculty members when applying for graduate schools or faculty positions.
1,266
questions
3
votes
1answer
154 views
How essential is having my advisor's letter for postdoc application (and, in future, for tenure-track positions, etc)?
I am a PhD student in Economics at one of the top five universities in India. I am on the job market now, applying for postdocs pretty much anywhere in the world (as long as there are people with ...
0
votes
1answer
67 views
I'm applying for a job for an Asst. Prof in Canada, and not sure of the protocols for reference letters. Am I supposed to send them, or my referees?
The language in the job posting says, "Applicants must arrange for these and three letters of reference to be sent directly to." I have already requested three referees to directly email ...
8
votes
3answers
344 views
Potential PhD applicant contacts me, mentions someone I know, can I contact such colleague?
A potential PhD applicant has contacted me for an informal chat about a PhD project I am offering. The candidate mentions he wrote an MSc dissertation under the supervision of Prof. X. I happen to ...
3
votes
2answers
111 views
Professor has not responded to request for letter of recommendation, what to do next?
I am in the process of applying for a Masters programs and I am trying to get my letters of recommendation squared away. One of the professors I have asked has failed to respond to my emails. I sent ...
2
votes
1answer
159 views
Possible options for an unhappy graduate student
I am a first year PhD student in Mathematics at a US university but I cannot adopt myself to the environment of my current program. I feel this program is not right for me. Unfortunately, I have to ...
3
votes
0answers
101 views
Is a letter of recommendation from a member of defense committee helpful and acceptable?
I am an assistant professor in a developing country. Previously, in 2019, I graduated from a university in my home city. In my Ph.D., I was able to publish 3 JCR papers with impact factors 6 or ...
4
votes
2answers
223 views
Applying for a job with former PhD supervisor - what to do about references?
It looks like I'm about to apply for a postdoc position to go back to my former PhD supervisor, with only one PI in between.
Normally as a Postdoc going for a 2nd (or 3rd depending on how you count it)...
1
vote
2answers
104 views
Asking For Letters of Recommendation
I am applying for multiple internships over the summer and most of them require 2 LOR's, is it okay to ask one professor to write me a LOR for each? I am a freshman and don't have many teachers who ...
2
votes
2answers
199 views
How to handle requests to draft your own grad school recommendation letter when the application explicitly forbids this?
As discussed previously, having applicants draft their own recommendation letters (or at least provide inputs) seems to be quite a common practice.
However, I have noticed that a few (American) ...
1
vote
0answers
127 views
What to say to admissions committee to mitigate impact of missing recommendation letters?
I have just finished applying to 8 graduate programs this Fall, all of which had deadlines on Dec. 15th (today is Dec. 23rd). It has been pretty smooth except for one thing I'm concerned about.
I ...
1
vote
2answers
78 views
Is it appropiate to ask for a recommendation letter in a visiting institution?
I expect to finish my BSc in Mathematics this year so I am going through the process of applying to Master Programmes. Apparently, if you want to study as an international student a letter of ...
1
vote
1answer
143 views
about the number of recommendation letters
I submitted the required documents in order to apply for a postdoc position in Germany. In the application form they had asked for at least two referee's contact details. I put the details of two ...
1
vote
1answer
56 views
Can editor be reference in hiring
I think it is clearly true that an editor of a journal can be a reference for the author of the paper he is managing since he could know the quality of the paper very well. So this question may seem ...
0
votes
1answer
110 views
Can hiring committee directly contact editors of journals
Normally, a hiring committee gets references from those an applicant provides to them. However, in some cases, I wonder if a hiring committee can directly contact the editor of a journal who is in ...
1
vote
1answer
113 views
How to ask for a recommendation letter from your current professor without ruining your chances to extend your contract?
I am currently a postdoc in a research group and I would like to move to another group and leave the current one. I would like to ask my current PI for a recommendation letter since another PI is ...
1
vote
1answer
70 views
Letter of recommendation writer didn't reply follow-up messsages
I am an undergraduate student studying in the U.S. and applying to graduate programs. One of my reference letter writers agreed to write me a letter, and we have talked about my application plans ...
3
votes
2answers
165 views
What is the faculty member who I presented my undergraduate dissertation to called?
Currently, I am falling short on recommenders for my PhD applications in the United States. I don't want to ask the professors with whom I only took a few classes as I know those letters could be weak....
0
votes
1answer
82 views
Suggesting edits in recommendation letter
I asked a professor months earlier for a recommendation letter for a summer school, he accepted but in turn, he asked me to draft my own recommendation letter, I did that since I was only applying for ...
2
votes
1answer
149 views
Should I include 'Fixed-term' in writing professor's title?
I am an undergraduate student applying to graduate schools. One of my recommenders is my math professor. On the university's webpage and outlook email, his title is 'Fixed Term Assistant Professor'. ...
0
votes
1answer
86 views
Asking for a recommendation letter, when I am only close with Professors that handle practice classes
I started my studies in fall 2019. On my second semester covid hit, and all classes were turned online. Even after restrictions started to be lifted and classes can be held offline, a lot of classes (...
26
votes
4answers
7k views
Are "short bios" at the end of a letter of recommendation the new thing?
I noticed that a recent teaching faculty candidate's LORs from an institution outside the US all had not-so-short and shamelessly hagiographic "short bios" appended onto the end. One went ...
3
votes
1answer
148 views
Is it a good idea to ask my postdoctoral mentor for a recommendation letter when they have extended my contract yet do not seem impressed by me?
I am a postdoctoral fellow, working in a rather prestigious institute in Asia, for about a year. To be frank, I was rather surprised to get a position here, as many people here have spent at least ...
0
votes
1answer
64 views
Getting a LOR without any mention of the work in the SOP
Background: CS Undergrad applying to CS PhD Programs.
I have an internship experience under a HOD of a department in my university. The work was on computer vision, there was a paper published at a ...
4
votes
2answers
548 views
Professor not Responding to Letter of Recommendation Emails - Is it Time to Look for an Alternative?
I am applying to graduate (doctoral) programs for this fall with the first deadlines for application materials being December 1st (as of writing this post it is November 19th).
I asked a professor, ...
2
votes
1answer
143 views
asking professor for letter of reccomendation and then not using it
I just realized I'd like to apply for graduate school. This gives me about 1.5 weeks to get everything together. I think I have most things in order, but I need to ask professors for letters of ...
4
votes
2answers
312 views
On the request to see the content of the recommendation letters which are issued to support my tenure-track applications
I am applying for a tenure-track position in a university located in California. While sending the auto-request emails to my recommenders, I just noted that the following information is automatically ...
16
votes
3answers
6k views
Reconnecting with a previous professor then asking right away for a reference letter
I am in the process of applying for a Ph.D. and the application process requires several reference letters. Since I only have done significant work with only one supervisor so far in my Master's, I ...
5
votes
1answer
77 views
Governmental and Scientific Institution Recommendation Letters
I was requesting some recommendation letters to be submitted to a governmental institution. I am surprised that two of my professors refused to provide me recommendation letters while giving me same ...
2
votes
1answer
82 views
What happens if a letter of recommendation for a grant contains a mistake about the title of the proposal?
I submitted a proposal for a grant. My advisor read the first "final" version of the proposal and approved it. He really knows the project as we both have been working on it for months. Then,...
5
votes
2answers
666 views
Applying to math graduate schools. Should I submit a letter of recommendation from a physics professor?
For starts, I'm a math major and physics minor.
TLDR:
I'm applying to math graduate schools. Should I submit a letter of recommendation from a physics professor?
Longer version:
I'm applying to math ...
0
votes
1answer
95 views
What should I do when my LORs are submitted for a previous application?
I want to apply for a Ph.D. position in a US university (X) this year. Last year I started the application but did not finish and submit it. But my recommenders already sent their LORs and its ...
1
vote
1answer
86 views
I switched advisors during my Master's, but I need a recommendation letter from my ex-advisor, is it possible?
I've recently finished my Master's. I'm going to apply to some PhD programs, and I need another recommendation letter. I'm thinking of contacting my ex-advisor in my Master's to ask for a letter. Even ...
6
votes
2answers
248 views
Is the reference letter from PhD supervisor important in the future?
I just submitted my doctoral thesis yesterday. I finished my project two years ago and published it in a high level journal. My supervisor asked me to give the co-first author position to a postdoc, ...
2
votes
1answer
100 views
Comparisons in Recommendation Letters
I am writing a recommendation for a student for an MS in CS. Can I make comparisons like 'Y is better than X whom I recommended last year and is admitted to your school' ?
2
votes
1answer
93 views
Do US universities with rolling admissions evaluate an application only when they receive all the recommendation letters for that application?
I recently submitted an application to a PhD program at one US university. One of my former professors, however, who initially agreed to recommend me, have not yet submitted to the university her ...
14
votes
4answers
3k views
How should I answer a question asking to compare the applicant to students previously sent to the university, if there are none?
One of my students is applying to Caltech for a PhD. He asked me for a recommendation letter. I haven't written a recommendation letter before. He is a bright student and I want to help him.
On ...
34
votes
7answers
6k views
What are the best practices for writing a letter of recommendation for an absolutely excellent student?
I’m writing my first recommendation letter for a student (for grad school) who is excellent. I’d like to, thus, write a very good recommendation letter. Are there informal guidelines for writing ...
25
votes
3answers
6k views
Is it inappropriate to contact my Master’s supervisor on Facebook or Instagram for a reference while she’s on maternity leave?
I am currently applying for a PhD degree in Canada and one of my potential supervisors from the UK asked if he could ask my Master’s supervisor for reference. So I emailed my ex-supervisor about this ...
4
votes
1answer
82 views
Recommendation letters in different fields
Currently, I'm applying for PhD positions at several universities in pure mathematics and computer science. Despite the fact that these two fields are content-wise different and do not have too much ...
2
votes
1answer
212 views
Explaining low GPA in recommendation letter
For application to a PhD program, both undergraduate and graduate transcripts are required. If the master's GPA is pretty good but the bachelor's is low as the student was recovering from an health ...
3
votes
1answer
96 views
Who will be more suitable as recommender?
I want to apply for Ph.D. positions next year. I have research experience of more than five years, so I am considering applying for research-based universities mostly. Now I am confused about who I ...
1
vote
1answer
132 views
Can secretary of a faculty upload letter of recommendation on behalf of the letter author?
I am applying for Ph.D. positions in the USA and for that I have asked the department head of my past institute to write a LOR for me. He agreed to write one for me but the problem is I am applying to ...
0
votes
1answer
115 views
Should I find my advisor for letter of recommendation if I obtained a low grade in thesis? [closed]
I am a master student in Germany. My thesis obtain 3.0 in German grade, which is a low grade I think. My original plan is to find my advisor to write the letter of recommendation for my application to ...
4
votes
1answer
338 views
Advice on pursuing higher education after working for 7 years
I completed bachelors in Mechanical engineering in 2013 and have been working since Jan 2014. My current job as a 'manufacturing engineer' is a non-technical back office job (because I'm from India ...
28
votes
4answers
9k views
Asking a former supervisor if they killed my postdoc application
I received a PhD in the US a bit more than a year ago. Recently I interviewed for a postdoc position. The interview went very well, and I think there was a great match between the planned research ...
13
votes
4answers
4k views
Is it appropriate to provide my recommenders with a spreadsheet to keep track of applications?
Is sending a shared spreadsheet with the university names, deadlines, and a box to check when completed be something beneficial or appreciated by my recommenders? I thought maybe it would be nice for ...
12
votes
2answers
2k views
What should I do when my supervisor refuses to write a recommendation letter for applications to institutions outside my country?
I want to apply for a PhD position in country X. My supervisor lives in country Y and wants me to apply only in Y. He is the corresponding author of my 4-5 publications. He said if I want to apply for ...
2
votes
0answers
176 views
What does a reference letter for a postdoc/tenure-track position in math look like?
I find myself in the unenviable position of having to draft the body of my own reference letter. I trust the recommender in question to actually treat it as a draft, and I know that they think highly ...
-1
votes
1answer
112 views
Whom should I take recommendation letter from?
I am applying for a Ph.D. position in US universities. I am confused about whom should I use as one of my recommenders? One of them is from the school from which I graduated and he is the department ...
12
votes
8answers
10k views
Should I even ask my physics instructor for a letter of recommendation for my common app if I committed academic dishonesty in his course?
I go to a high school that allows us to attend college classes to obtain an associate's degree. I had this instructor for both physics 251 and physics 252 (calculus-based physics). I feel like he ...
