Questions tagged [recommendation-letter]
Questions on recommendation or reference letters received from faculty members when applying for graduate schools or faculty positions.
1,188
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How can I ask for a recommendation letter from a lecturer for my postgraduate study that is a different field from my undergrad studies
So I basically did an undergraduate study in Nursing and I'm applying for a MSc in Software development. I have always had a passion for all things software and the fact that you can create websites ...
0
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1answer
211 views
How does a Professor contact another professor regarding a PhD student?
I sent my CV to a Professor regarding a PhD position. He asked me to send the name of three referees. I could have sent him the names, but here is an issue.
I have worked in Germany for 2 years as a ...
21
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2answers
3k views
Can’t get a Letter Of Reference with signed seal
I’m kind of in a rut right now with my admissions for a program. I’ve requested for a LOR from a professor and they had no issue to do it for me. However, they’ll be sending it to my email. The only ...
6
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2answers
390 views
When do the application reviewers contact my references (PhD application)?
When applying for a PhD position in Germany typically one of the required documents is:
Contact details of at least 2 academic references
This is just contact details (e.g. email addresses) of the ...
0
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2answers
154 views
If the Professor who recommends me somewhere has coauthored papers with professors there, would the LORs hold tremendous value?
I heard somewhere a few days ago that while selecting a college for an M.Sc., it would be great for me to look up with whom the professors there have coauthored papers. This would mean that the two ...
4
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3answers
268 views
Advisor's Postgraduate Career Machinations
I have been applying to postdoc positions, but I'm concerned about my advisor's recommendation letter.
I have been a productive researcher under his supervision and had a good, but stressful PhD ...
2
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1answer
137 views
Three reference letters, two academic and one professional [duplicate]
I am applying to a highly prestigious university in the UK for a PhD position. The usual norm here is that PhD's usually (unlike the US) require 2 rec letters, however this specific program asks for 3,...
2
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2answers
171 views
Solliciting letter of recommendation from student for tenure paquet
A colleague of mine in a US institution included letters from some of his (undergraduate) research assistants in his tenure packet.
I was wondering
If such practice was common,
What should the letter ...
1
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1answer
264 views
Should I ask professor for recommendation letter for graduate school if a month earlier he declined to give me recommendation for some internship?
One year earlier I did a project under a Professor, I asked him for a recommendation letter for an internship program, but I couldn't get selected. Then this year I asked him for an internship program ...
4
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3answers
840 views
Letter or recommendation of supervisor who gave you a bad project [closed]
If your supervisor gave you an unviable project that was a dead end in honors or masters, do you think that they will write badly about you in a letter of recommendation to make themselves look good?
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2answers
127 views
Should I include a letter of recommendation in my dossier for teaching positions?
I'm a full professor in a STEM field about to go on the job market for teaching professorships because of a terminal financial emergency at my current institution (a liberal arts college). I am ...
6
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3answers
4k views
Professor wants to include a specific (maybe unnecessary) issue and focus less on other necessary ones in LoR. Please share your perspective
I am applying to a PhD program in humanities/social sciences. I asked a professor I know (we are outside the US) to write a strong letter of recommendation for me and he said he would be glad. ...
4
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1answer
150 views
Collaborating with professors after graduation
As I mentioned in the title, I was wondering if it's possible to collaborate with professors on any research paper if I have graduated and now working in the industry?
Here are a bit more details on ...
0
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1answer
87 views
Waiting for approval from professor to write letter of recommendation
I am applying to a university teaching position, and I would like one of my committee members to write a letter of recommendation for me. During my initial interview with the head of the department at ...
0
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1answer
108 views
Can I change the referee once the letter of reference has been submitted? [closed]
I am applying for a PhD position in US universities. I started an application for a specific university and suggested my referee names. My referees have already submitted their LORs. But I did not ...
0
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1answer
216 views
Is an unexpected reference letter inherently a black mark?
I recently applied for a math postdoc in Europe. I contacted the number of letter-writers requested in the job ad, all of whom agreed and sent in letters for me. I also included the names of these ...
4
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1answer
132 views
Ideal contents of a reference letter for PhDs seeking industry jobs
The majority of PhD holders do not stay on in academia, but rather move on to jobs in industry far away from the area of their PhDs. Given that the content of the PhD is not directly relevant (the ...
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0answers
81 views
What happens when the information of the graduate application and the recommender does not match?
I have applied for Ph.D. positions in US universities (still applying) and I asked one of my collaborators to write a recommendation letter for me. She has my CV. Today she sent me a copy to check if ...
4
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3answers
180 views
Letter of recommendation from professors without prior contact
I am a postdoctoral researcher at a German university and aim to apply for a visiting lecturer program to be a visiting professor at a foreign university. For this, I am required to provide two ...
2
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2answers
252 views
What can be done if a former supervisor is giving a bad review?
If one suspects that their former grad studies supervisor is giving them a bad review for prospective employers or research opportunities, is there anything that can be done about it? In a country ...
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0answers
90 views
Need advice on options for strong recommendations to Top CS programs [closed]
I am considering applying to competitive PhD programs this year, but I am not certain who/how to ask for strong recommendation letters. I am not even sure the following experiences will yield strong ...
5
votes
3answers
236 views
What if the school asks the students to submit the letters themselves? [duplicate]
I have been applying to a bunch of grad programs recently and I have noticed that some schools, specially those based in the UK, ask students to upload the reference letters themselves to the ...
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9answers
12k views
I may have to write a bad recommendation for an underperforming student researcher in the Fall. How to avoid this without being exploitative?
TLDR: PhD student mentoring an undergrad in super competitive field. Undergrad has an amazing non-research CV, but no research experience. He says he's motivated but got very little done in 8 months. ...
3
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1answer
78 views
Do LOR writers need to be someone who's taught you a class?
Background: (Undergrad applying For PhD in the US)
I need to submit 3 LOR's. I have one in mind from my personal university and 2 from other universities (with whom I have done extensive research with)...
0
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1answer
75 views
Coursera and related readings to fill gaps when transitioning careers/studies/backgrounds
I've always had an interest in applying tech skills to improve the educational landscape. To do this, I've been building a video game to teach foreign languages as a side project. I've had positive ...
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31 views
Recommendation letters: how old can experiences be, and what happens if you don't have particular recommenders for the field
I'm applying to a Master's program in Cognitive Science in Education. My undergrad was in Business, Computer Science, and Chinese, and my career has been in business and software engineering. I've ...
0
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1answer
143 views
Letter of recommendations from computer science professor for humanities?
I am trying to apply for humanities (PhD is pure humanities) graduate school in USA next year. I am going to graduate with a bachelor in computer science. The application requires three letters of ...
4
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1answer
238 views
On obtaining references from people who don't know me in person but have cited my work
I'll be applying for a few academic positions (both postdoc and permanent positions in Western Europe.) I've done my PhD in pure math (from the US) and subsequent postdocs mainly in use of machine ...
13
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2answers
4k views
Writing a recommendation letter for student with low GPA
I have an undergraduate student who has been working in my lab for quite some time, doing relatively advanced work and has even been able to mentor other students in getting up to speed in the ...
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7answers
7k views
Have I offended my professor by applying to summer research at other universities?
Yesterday I applied to a bunch of internships and sent my professor a request for a recommendation letter. He denied me the request, and sent my request email, along with his reply, to everyone in the ...
1
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1answer
102 views
Advice on who to ask for a letter of recommendation for phd applications?
I am currently in the process of looking for a phd position (in math). Almost all universities require three recommendation letters (some only require two, but ideally I'd have three) from professors. ...
4
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4answers
372 views
Should I tell my recommendation writers about my self-studying since graduating? Should I also mention my illness and depression?
I completed my masters in mathematics in my home country in June 2020. I didn't had success in 4th semester of my masters with PhD Applications. So, I thought I would try next year in both my home ...
11
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3answers
2k views
Handling possibly unethical disclosures in letter of recommendation
While reviewing applicants for a position, I noticed a disclosure in a letter of recommendation that is potentially unethical. I'm sure this happens from time to time - something like "Jane Doe's ...
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0answers
78 views
My referees are in their Ph.D. final year, can they recommend me for Ph.D. Admission? [duplicate]
Please I need orientation on this issue. All my undergraduate lecturers that know much about me are in their Ph.D. final year, but they all have been in the system since 16years ago with MSc degree. ...
2
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1answer
105 views
What should I do when the recommender is not replying?
I am applying for Ph.D. in US universities. I already applied in some places and suggested my recommenders name as well. Now one of my recommender (who previously wrote a recommendation letter for me) ...
0
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1answer
102 views
Is a letter of recommendation from undergraduate professor different from the major I am applying to OK?
I am a recent electrical and electronics engineering graduate. Although an engineering graduate, the major I am applying to is International Studies. Is it okay to get a recommendation letter from ...
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1answer
100 views
What to do for letters of reference if you want to apply to grad school but you've been self employed?
Similar to this question How to secure recommendations and apply for PhD after having worked outside of academia for two years? but more specifically if you've been out of school and self-employed for ...
4
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2answers
225 views
Only one supervisor but two reference letters required
I am in the last year of my Master in Physics, I am writing the Master Thesis and I am looking around for some PhD positions. It is something totally new for me. I have seen that people in general ...
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2answers
48 views
Undergraduate and Job Reference Letter for PhD Program?
So I did my masters in the UK, but I didn't build any relationships with my professors (I wasn't thinking I would be wanting to do a PhD later on). I only saw my thesis tutor once during my whole ...
1
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1answer
79 views
Should I apply with a non-subject LoR to a university?
I am applying for a master’s program in computer science. I am using two letters of recommendation from the computer science field and one LoR from the language department where I learned a foreign ...
4
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2answers
319 views
Is ever answering “No Basis for Judgement” on a reference request a red-flag
I am filling out a reference form for a student I supervised on a medium sized project who is applying for graduate studies.
The student is great, of all that I have supervised in this way they are ...
11
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2answers
2k views
A number of students requesting a number of reference letters. What to do?
I teach two medium size groups (~100 each), supervise BSc and MSc dissertations, and have ~35 tutees. When applications to postgraduate programmes open, I tend to receive a number of requests for ...
0
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1answer
90 views
Does a late reference letter to UWaterloo accepted? [duplicate]
One of my referees had to take an emergency leave because of a family death and because of that she would not be able to complete the recommendation to University of Waterloo(for MDSAI program) by end ...
1
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1answer
210 views
What happens if letter of recommendation to a university contains a wrong fact?
My teacher recently uploaded some letter of recommendations for post graduate applications but the letter was a generic one she typed for me and in the last paragraph, she wrote "applicant wants ...
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0answers
134 views
A problem with reference letters for faculty position
I have applied for a faculty position through mathjobs.org. I talked with my references and informed them about my application one month ago, then by using mathjobs I sent them request emails for ...
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3answers
5k views
My main research advisor refuses to give me a letter (to help for apply US physics program). What should I do?
By "main" research advisor I mean: with him, I got my most valuable research experience, greatest results and of course I invested most of my research time. Our field is Physics and I am ...
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0answers
83 views
What are my odds of being accepted for a PhD in Computer Science (distributed systems) at a decent US (or EU as plan B) University? [duplicate]
I have a BSc and MSc in CompEng from a normal EU university, both with highest degrees and honors. But I had a bad relationship with my MSc supervisor and I doubt he’ll write a presentation letter (...
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1answer
43 views
Should I ask for a Letter of Rec from a Newer or Older Colleague?
I want to apply for a program where I will be doing research in a particular area for roughly 6 months. This is an area of research I'm very deeply interested in, but I don't have any experience yet. ...
6
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5answers
2k views
Can I request to see a reference about me?
From USA universities, Can I request to see a reference about me?
Do they offer the Right to Information and request the information provided in a referee report about me to release?
I can have this ...
1
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1answer
113 views
Can I use these letters of reference later?
I was working with some startups as their tech advisory and with some others as tech lead. But now I want to concentrate on my main goal, that is research. That requires me to work with researchers ...
