How to Get Great Letters of Recommendation
In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about the process of getting letters of recommendation. In Part 2, I covered how to ask for letters of recommendation. In this final installment, I’m going to cover what you need to provide your letter writers to get great letters of recommendation. The following are all key considerations to take into account when requesting stellar results from potential letter writers.
1. Time to Write a Great Letter of Recommendation
1.1 The Initial Request for Letters of Recommendation
Giving a reference time to write a great recommendation is essential, especially if they have not written a letter for you before. My advice is to ask if the person is willing to write the recommendation letter at least 1 month before it is due. This allows them to reserve time in their schedule, review your materials, and consider a thought-provoking, strong letter of recommendation on your behalf, without feeling rushed or blind-sided. If a month is not feasible, then at least two weeks is customary. You can ask with less than two weeks’ notice, but the writer may decline or may not have time to write a strong letter.
1.2 Timing for Reminders
After you’ve requested your letters of recommendation, it’s good practice to follow up. Send a friendly reminder five days before the letter is due and then one day before the letter is due, if it has not already been submitted. I generally word my request letters with a preferred deadline that gives me a buffer should something go wrong. For example, if the final deadline for all graduate school application materials is December 15th, then when requesting a letter of recommendation, I would say something like: “I would like to have all materials submitted by December 10th,” instead of saying: “The deadline for the letter of recommendation is December 15th.”
*Pro Tip: Many applications, but not all, allow for letters of recommendations to be submitted later than the deadline for all other application materials. Be in-the-know about your application component deadlines!
1.3 Timing for Supporting Materials
Supporting materials (which I’ll discuss more in the next sections), are essential to getting great letters of recommendation, but the timing can be tricky. Many students are still working on some of their materials up until the application deadline. If your supporting materials are not quite ready at the 1 month mark, don’t let this delay your reaching out. Although earlier is better, providing these materials two weeks prior to the due date is sufficient. If there is a delay between asking for your letter of recommendation and providing the supporting materials, let your letter writer know that you will be providing more information and give them a general timeline.
If you ask for the letter of recommendation with less than two weeks’ notice, then have the supporting materials ready to give them as soon as they agree to writing the recommendation.
2. Details to Customize the Letter of Recommendation
One characteristic that differentiates a mediocre letter of recommendation from a great one is customization. Customized letters sound like they are about a specific person, and not a generic list of skills, AI-generated, or a template letter downloaded from the internet. Giving your letter writer supporting materials makes it much easier for them to tailor your reference.
The challenge lies in balancing providing enough supporting materials to write the letter and not overwhelming them with too many details. Your letter writers are busy people and are unlikely to read ten pages of dense material to write a two-page letter, nor will most of them visit the program websites where you are applying to customize the letter. There are three pieces of information that I recommend providing: information about why you’re applying to the program, scholarship, fellowship, etc.; details about the program (scholarship, fellowship, etc.) you are applying to; and your CV/resume.
2.1 Why You are Applying
Your letter writer will find it much easier to write a strong letter of recommendation if they understand why you are applying.
You have two options for this. First, you could provide a copy of your personal statement/research statement. A draft is fine if it is close to final, but put the word ‘Draft’ in the title, header, or as a watermark. If you are applying to more than one graduate program (which I recommend), choose the version that is the best overall example. Some programs have very tight word lengths or specific requirements in their statements. You want to provide the one that covers the broadest information.
Your second option, if your personal statement isn’t close to final, is to provide a general summary of why you are applying to that program or opportunity.
For example: I am applying to several Public Health PhD programs that focus on Healthcare Economics because my career goal is to pursue independent research in financing healthcare systems. I am particularly interested in comparing the financing structures of different local and country-based systems to identify the most and least effective methods for funding quality healthcare.
Or: I am applying to the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship. Their Division of Social and Economic Sciences is well aligned with my research aims of comparing and evaluating the cost-effectiveness of healthcare financing systems in developing nations.
Or: I am applying to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, PhD program in Clinical Psychology, because it is the second-highest ranking program in the U.S., and their dual focus on producing researcher-clinicians aligns well with my career goal to develop new treatments for children with early-onset anxiety disorders.
2.2 About the Program
In addition to the overall details of why you are applying to various programs, grants, fellowships, etc. It’s important to tell the letter writer what the programs are looking for. I generally provide a bulleted list of the following for each program, so they can tailor each letter.
- Name of the university, the specific degree, the program or focus area, and a link to the website.
- Optional:
- For a Research/Mentor-based degree program: Names of potential advisors and their area of specialty.
- For scholarships/fellowships/grants: the evaluation criteria of the funding opportunity
- Key attributes that influenced you in applying to that particular program/scholarship
- Priorities noted in the university and program mission statement, or as part of the funding opportunity description.
For example:
- Johns Hopkins University, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, PhD in Anthropology.
- Prospective advisor: Professor Madeup Person, Research Focus: East Asian ethnography and corporations/collectives.
- Interested because of the program’s sociocultural focus and because the faculty conduct a lot of urban anthropology research.
- Johns Hopkins overall prioritizes research that has a direct impact on human well-being. This program prioritizes cross-disciplinary research and consideration of sociocultural boundaries rather than only geographical borders.
Or:
- The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Gillman Fellows Program
- Evaluation criteria: A letter of support that describes my promise as a scientist, my commitment to pursuing a research career, my potential for leadership in the scientific community, and my passion for advancing excellence and inclusion in science
- Interested because the program supports both the student and mentor, and focuses almost exclusively on scientific accomplishments and capability.
- Prioritizes: scientific excellence, creativity and clarity, commitment to a career in scientific research, and inclusion in science through experiences, perspectives, and plans for fostering inclusive research environments.
2.3 Your CV/Resume
One piece of optional supporting material for getting a good letter of recommendation is your CV/Resume. As your letter writer will be focused on the skills and abilities they witnessed, this is the least important and can be omitted if you are providing other materials. However, there’s no harm in including it, especially if your CV/Resume has a lot of activities your letter writer was a part of.
3. Providing Examples or a Letter of Recommendation Draft
3.1 Reminders and Examples of Activities
The final piece of supporting information to provide is a prompt for what you want your letter writer to focus on. Ideally, your letter writers can testify to a variety of skills, and you want to try to make sure they don’t all speak to the same ones. If you want a letter writer to mention a specific skill set, then tell them. Along with the program information, mention what you want them to highlight. This is especially important if you have not been in contact with your letter writer for a while. They may not remember the specific tasks you were working on, so reminding them of what you did when you worked with them can help them to provide specific examples.
For example, if you want this person to specifically speak to your statistical skills you could say:
“As part of my application package, I am planning to highlight my role in your Project Awesome research group, specifically in using hierarchical linear modelling to assess students’ happiness trends within schools.”
Or, if you want this person to specifically speak to your ability to play well with others, you could say:
“The programs I’m applying to prioritize collaborative research, so I’m thinking of mentioning how I started a journal club when I started working with you.”
3.2 A Draft Letter of Recommendation
There is one other way to ensure your letter writer focuses on the example skills you want to emphasize, and that’s by providing them with a draft letter. Before you think – that’s unethical, I’ll never do that, hear me out: Some letter writers expect it, and if you are unprepared, you will end up with no letter or a generic letter that does more harm than good.
I’m not going to weigh in on the ethics of this, because there are what individuals believe, and then there is the reality. You are dealing with reality. The reality is, someone might expect you to draft a letter that they can then edit and send. There’s good and bad to this. The good side is that you get to make sure you hit every priority and skill set the program or funding opportunity is looking for. The bad news is that it can be challenging to write a letter of recommendation for yourself.
The first thing you need to do, regardless of your personal feelings, is to find out if this is expected. The only way to do that is to ask your letter writer. You can say: “I understand that in some fields, it’s common for students to provide a draft of the recommendation letter as a starting point. Is this something you want?”
I know that some people may not be comfortable asking this, but heed my warning: I once had a student disregard my advice to ask if the professor wanted a draft. The day before the letters were due, the professor responded to the student’s reminder email to ask when they were going to send the draft version to edit. The student had to drop everything to write the letter and get it to the professor. Save yourself the headache and ask your letter writers upfront.
If you do find yourself in the position of writing a draft letter, I suggest looking up several examples of good letters of recommendation online. Using the supporting materials you’ve put together, you can tailor the letter and make it your own.
Final Takeaway: Preparation is Key
Preparation is key to getting great recommendations for graduate school, scholarships, fellowships, and more. If you understand the process and purpose of recommendation letters, you can take the steps needed to ask for and get great letters of recommendation.
At the end of the day, asking for a letter of recommendation means putting an important responsibility on another (oftentimes overworked) professional’s plate. Even though writing these letters is a customary part of academia, approaching the request with respect and consideration will almost always increase your likelihood of receiving an enthusiastic yes. Coming prepared to support your letter writers in completing your recommendations can mean the difference between your dream programs receiving a good letter of recommendation on your behalf, or a stellar one.