If you need a letter of recommendation, I'll do my best to help you. I try to write letters that will help people as much as possible, but I have to be honest. I may be writing to the same employer or school in the future, and I want them to trust what I say. In particular, if I know something significant about you that is negative but nevertheless relevant, I have an obligation to mention it. If I feel that, on the whole, my letter will do more harm than good, I will tell you before I write for you and let you decide whether you want me to go ahead.
Does this mean that there's no point in asking me for a letter unless you've gotten straight A's in my courses? No. Obviously, I'll be able to write stronger letters for people who have gotten higher grades, all other things being equal. But employers and schools will probably ask for a copy of your transcript, so they'll see the grades you got. From letter writers, they usually want to hear about things like potential for success (in a particular kind of job, or in a grad program) and character issues.
There are people who have gotten average grades in my classes who I could write pretty good letters for. Why? They tried hard. They didn't skip classes or homeworks. They did all the assigned work, and also showed that they cared about doing well and understanding the material. They didn't omit the harder problems, or just scribble down some stuff to try to get partial credit. Their homeworks didn't regularly look like copies of the homeworks turned in by other people. Maybe they even bothered to drop in during office hours and ask real questions.
During a typical course, I'll see a student in class 40-50 times. I'll see dozens of pages of work, from tests to homeworks to class work. I'll answer the person's questions. With all that I see, if you want me to think that you're trying hard, you have to try hard --- as opposed to just pretending to try hard.
Can I write a useful letter for someone whose effort is a bit ... ragged? Maybe. But in that case, there ought to be evidence of really outstanding ability. (For instance, every now and then do you absolutely ace a test, or do something no one else was able to do?) And I still have to be honest about whatever weaknesses I see in your work habits.
If you think you want me to write a letter for you, read the following list of things you'll need to do first. Then if you've decided to ask me if I can write for you, send me email.
Suggestion: If you have a lot of letters, you can help me and other letter writers and help yourself as well by tracking your applications in a spreadsheet. Keep records of where you're applying, the addresses letters are to be sent to, the deadline for applications, and whether the completed letters are to be sent directly to the employer or grad school or given to you. If you do this, print out a copy of the spreadsheet for your letter writers so we can check off letters as they're done. You can also use most spreadsheets as data sources for creating mailing labels.
Here's some of my personal information, in case you need it to fill in your forms:
Send comments about this page to: bikenaga@marauder.millersville.edu.
Last updated: December 26, 2007
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Copyright 2007 by Bruce Ikenaga