How Can I get A

Recommendation Letter

From You?

If you are applying to graduate or professional schools, I am almost always happy to write a recommendation letter for you. First, email me or come by my office hours to make sure I am an appropriate person to write the letter for you. Please inquire at least three weeks before the letter is due; more if I am away on sabbatical. Consult my contact page to see where and when to find me.

Before I can say yes to your request, I need to know what kinds of programs you are applying for, how many, and when their due dates are. If you are applying to PhD programs, I will also want to see a draft (even if it's an early draft) of your statement of purpose. (Please also look at my webpage, "Should I go to graduate school?" and the Career Center's advice page.)

The growing use by many schools of online recommendations has actually made the process more time-consuming for faculty--especially when a student is applying to many programs, some of which use online submissions and some of which use paper letters sent by US mail. We have minimal-to-zero staff support for this, so before you ask your recommenders to send out a multiple copies of a letter on your behalf, remember that we faculty will be processing each request in our spare time. With online-only applications, you will register at the school's website, put in my email address and I will be automatically sent a password and website to submit my letter. I only need to write the letter once, but I then have to upload it separately for each school: a process that involves keeping track of each individual password and moving through 5-7 different screens. It's not difficult by any means, but if you multiply the 15-20 or so students I am writing such letters for in a typical fall application season by 10 schools apiece, you can see how the computer-input time adds up (at least until someone imposes a universal application-submission site for all US universities!).

If you are applying to more than one program, then, please consider making use of the Graduate/Professional School Letter Service at the Career Center. You pay a set fee and sign off on a request form, which you then send or bring to each of your recommenders. Through a company called Interfolio, your entire package of recommendation letters will be sent directly to the schools you want to apply to; it's easy to manage your requests online and find out exactly when they were sent. If you use the GRLS/Interfolio, I strongly suggest you waive your rights to see the letter; in my experience, admissions committees place more value on confidential letters.

If your list of schools includes some that use paper forms, and you choose not to use the GRLS and Interfolio, then mail me a packet that contains recommender's forms for each of those schools, along with stamped, addressed envelopes for each one (UCSC policy is not to pay for postage for recommendations). Please send these forms all together, neatly collated.

No matter which route you take to manage your reference letters, please send me directly a list of programs to which you are applying with their deadlines, mode of submission (electronic/paper), and due date clearly marked. This is essential for helping me keep it straight. If that list changes during your application process, keep me up to date as well.

If you're applying to a graduate program in my field (as opposed to law school, journalism programs, or other applied areas), I also will want to see a draft of your personal statement, as mentioned above. This helps me personalize the letter, as well as advise you on this crucial document.

That's pretty much it. You don't need to forward copies of your narrative evaluations from courses you took from me, as I have ready access to them, or your papers for a course in which you were my student. The exception is if you were a student in a large lecture class where I did not personally grade your work: in that case, I may ask for copies of some of your best papers so that I can better qualify what your teaching assistant wrote about your performance, and/or your narratives for courses in the major. If I haven't had the opportunity to know you very well, these supplementary materials can help make the letter stronger--though lack of personal contact may also be a reason for me to decline your request. You are always best served by having letters from faculty who know you and your work reasonably well.