Questions tagged [recommendation-letter]
Questions on recommendation or reference letters received from faculty members when applying for graduate schools or faculty positions.
1,195
questions
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Recommendation letter from PhD student or Assistant Professor
I was originally an undergraduate student from pure mathematics and am planning to transition into biostatistics/bioinformatics/statistical genetics. To accumulate experience, I planned to apply for ...
3
votes
2answers
126 views
Don't know any good teacher recommendations
I am currently applying for an informal(?) internship at my school and the employer asked if I knew any faculty or staff members well enough to write me a recommendation. I have only just completed ...
4
votes
1answer
476 views
Would it make sense to get an academic reference from a former student for graduate school?
I graduated from law school (which confers a bachelor's degree in my country) a few years ago.
I then switched to tech soon after (as a software engineer), and now I'm thinking about going back for a ...
2
votes
2answers
168 views
LOR from physics professor in a pure math phd application
I am applying to pure math phd programs, and looking to study algebraic geometry. I have one very strong letter from a professor who supervised some algebraic geometry research I did. I am not sure ...
0
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0answers
24 views
Need advice: recommender not responding [duplicate]
I am just wondering how to proceed in this situation.
I am applying to computer science phd programs at the end of this year, and so far, I've only secured one recommendation. I worked closely with a ...
4
votes
0answers
128 views
How to Get Letters of Recommendation after Graduating in 2005 [duplicate]
It has been 16 years since I graduated from college. Any suggestions in how to obtain letters of recommendations if professors may no longer work at the university?
16
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6answers
5k views
Do professors need to pay to send letters of recommendation via postal mail?
I'm an international student currently studying in a community college in the United States. I'm applying to a Japanese university and they require me to send them two recommendation letters from my ...
2
votes
1answer
147 views
Having problem in getting LOR for higher study because of my corrupted undergrad thesis supervisor
I am an engineering graduate in Bangladesh. During my undergrad thesis, my supervisor took students for working on a topic that was for the first time in our department but he didn't help any of his ...
5
votes
3answers
317 views
Requesting an unaddressed, open recommendation letter for use in non-academic settings
I am a European master student and recently accepted a PhD position (Computer Science/Machine Learning) in a German speaking country. I did multiple research internships in Europe during my master's, ...
0
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1answer
98 views
How Appropriate Would a Letter of Recommendation from a Hobby Project be for an Application to an MS Program?
I am applying to a graduate program in computer science. One of the requirements for applying to this graduate program is to have 3 recommenders write a letter of recommendation for me. I have been ...
2
votes
2answers
190 views
Professor agreed to sign a recommendation letter, but then ignored my emails
Here is the timeline of what happened.
Day 1: emailed and requested a LOR.
Day 3: got a response, prof. agreed to sign the LOR I draft for him.
Day 20: sent an email with my draft, asked to make ...
1
vote
1answer
78 views
Is it appropriate to ask for both potential PhD and reference letter?
I'll be applying for PhD positions in the UK in the coming fall, and have only a small pool (5-6 professors) whom I can sensibly ask for reference letters from. Some of these professors are in a field ...
1
vote
1answer
92 views
Transition from math to statistics + potential reference letter writers
I am a math M.S. math student who is looking for a transition to Ph.D in statistics/machine learning. I will be applying to Ph.D programs this winter, and I need to think about potential writers of my ...
2
votes
3answers
127 views
Sharing student recommendation forms with students
I sometimes get asked to give recommendations / opinions about students by potential employers or third party HR Firms.
Is it acceptable to share the opinions with the students once I provide them? ...
2
votes
2answers
123 views
Professor vs Grad Student PI for PhD rec letter [duplicate]
I am nominally in a Professor X's lab, but I work with and communicate with his PhD Student Y most of the time. Would it be looked down upon for Y to write me a LoR for grad school, since even though ...
4
votes
1answer
179 views
Recommendation letter during COVID
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, I was bound to do my masters in mathematics via online mode.
As a result I don't have my master's project thesis and also have less interaction with the ...
1
vote
1answer
215 views
Writing a letter of recommendation for a promising but very new student
As part of my PhD I am required to teach some bachelor level micro and macro economics classes. One of my new students (we only had 3 classes together) approached me with a request for a letter of ...
4
votes
1answer
156 views
Should I inform my letter writer about a summer school rejection? Should I ask the same professor to write me a letter for grad school?
I'm an undergraduate math major (just completed my second year), and I had applied for a summer school (online due to the pandemic) in one of my interest areas. I have taken two courses in this area ...
1
vote
2answers
130 views
Can a PhD student write recommendation letter for me under whom I worked?
A few years ago I did a month lab rotation in a lab. At that time I was doing my masters and I was directly supervised by the Ph.D. student (X) of that lab. He taught me all the techniques and ...
3
votes
1answer
292 views
What should I do when the references are not replying?
I have worked in Y for 2 years as a research assistant and then I moved to my home country and worked here for almost 4 years and published papers in reputed journals. Logically I think I should ...
0
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1answer
40 views
Should one add the 4th LOR for the admit panel (PhD CS USA Fall 2022)
Background: CS undergrad
I have 3 Letter Writers whom I have done in-depth research with (published, to-be published work). But I have not performed any coursework with any of them because 2 of them ...
1
vote
2answers
622 views
Can a public university block me on their official social media account if I am a student and/or employee?
I am a Ph.D. student at a large public university in the US. I am working on completing my defense and trying to graduate before the end of the summer term. I found out recently, rather accidentally, ...
0
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1answer
257 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
votes
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
votes
2answers
417 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
votes
2answers
171 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
votes
3answers
279 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
votes
1answer
142 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
votes
2answers
182 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 ...
2
votes
1answer
278 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
votes
3answers
847 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?
1
vote
2answers
179 views
Should I include a letter of recommendation in my dossier for teaching positions?
I'm a full professor in a US 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
votes
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
votes
1answer
165 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
votes
1answer
97 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
votes
1answer
111 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
votes
1answer
218 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
votes
1answer
143 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 ...
0
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0answers
82 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
votes
3answers
183 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
votes
2answers
254 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 ...
5
votes
3answers
240 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 ...
25
votes
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
votes
1answer
89 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
votes
1answer
77 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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0answers
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
147 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
votes
1answer
254 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 ...
14
votes
2answers
5k 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 ...
30
votes
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 ...
