<p>What exactly is it that graduate schools are looking for in letters of recommendation? What makes a bad letter of rec.?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>What we look for:</p>
<p>1) The source. Is this a scholar known to us through reputation, through publications, through previous students s/he has sent to us, etc.? If s/he is relatively new to the field, where and with whom did s/he study? </p>
<p>1a) Has this scholar recommended other students to us before? If so, were his/her letters on the mark? Or is this scholar a known under- or over-estimator?</p>
<p>2) Depth of knowledge of the applicant. How well does this scholar know the applicant? In what capacity? For how long? Precisely what sort of academic work has the applicant done under this scholar’s direct supervision? How does this scholar compare this applicant to previous students? How many students has this scholar taught? (One year’s worth? Three decades worth?) </p>
<p>3) Supportive evidence of claims made about the applicant. What does the scholar say about this student’s potential for doing (and completing) graduate level work? What exactly has this scholar seen in this applicant? WHY does this scholar recommend this student? (Particular qualities sought by the admission committee may vary by field.)</p>
<p>3a) Does the letter contain telling description of SPECIFIC experiences with this student that illustrate the applicant’s positive qualities?</p>
<p>4) Contextualization of the applicant in terms of others within the field of study, in terms of his/her peers, in terms of the expectations of his/her undergraduate department.</p>
<p>4a) What were the expectations of this student in the undergraduate context? Were they missed, met or exceeded?</p>
<p>5) General agreement with other letters. (Two marginal letters and one stellar one COULD make us wonder about the applicant. Two superb letters and one marginal one COULD make us wonder about the third recommender.)</p>
<p>Bad letters:
- fall short of the expectations above, omitting important or expected information
- do not recommend the student with enthusiasm
- are vague or evasive
- focus on personality, extracurriculars, or something other than academic ability
- demonstrate little concrete knowledge of the student’s abilities and capacities
- are from scholars with little experience in the classroom, and/or in writing letters of rec
- are poorly written (This must be seen in context: Is English the scholar’s first language? Is the scholar an engineer?) <— levity. no offense intended.</p>
<p>DISCLAIMER:</p>
<p>This is off the top of my head, and not intended to be exhaustive, despite my clever use of the misleading device of enumeration.</p>
<p>Prof. X,
Any opinions on recommendation letters related to TAships? I noticed that this didn’t fit well under any of your criteria. Is it frowned upon?</p>
<p>Hmmm. In my (humanities) field, all applicants are automatically considered for awards, including teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and fellowships. If a letter addresses the applicant’s ability to lead discussion, or testifies (from concrete experience) to some other quality desirable in a TA or RA, then, well, that would be good.</p>
<p>A letter concerned ONLY with the applicant’s suitability for a TAship or other award would be odd, and a bit presumptuous, to my mind.</p>
<p>Am I misunderstanding your question?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, I think you’ve responded to it perfectly. One of my recommenders is a professor I TA’d for last year. I also took a class that she co-taught, although she lectured for only ~3 weeks and I don’t think she can provide any specific insights on my academic work (beyond what my transcript already says). I don’t think her letter would be concerned only with my suitability for a TAship, but in terms of the qualities or abilities she would be able to describe, this would be the underlying theme. Given this information, is it still too presumptuous?</p>
<p>I have a question about LOR too.</p>
<p>I worked on a project under my advisor last year and I asked him to provide recommendation for me. He agrees to do so. However, this year he leaves the University to work in the industry.
Would this be a problem? Would the admission know? Should I state this somewhere?</p>
<p>Thank you Professor X for answering my question!</p>