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Several of your transitions to postgraduate activities require obtaining letters of recommendation. There are several strategies and procedures for doing this that will increase your postgraduate options.
The type of person writing the letter can be important. Applications to graduate schools require three and sometimes four letters.
- Your academic advisor
- Your thesis supervisor, if you are writing a senior thesis
- Your internship supervisor, if you have chosen the internship option
- A faculty member with whom you have worked closely, such as on a research project
- A faculty member with whom you have taken several classes and received good grades
Applicants to applied psychology programs should have a letter from a person with whom you have worked in an appropriate applied setting. Applicants to a research-oriented graduate program should have a letter from a research supervisor.
- A faculty member with whom you have only taken one or two classes, unless one of the classes was a seminar
- Your therapist
- A graduate student, unless you worked closely with the student on her or his thesis over an extended period of time
- A close relative
- A minister or priest, unless you are applying to a religiously-oriented organization or the writer has a special relationship with you related to your postgraduate plans (e.g., in a lay pastoral counseling organization)
If you expect to apply for graduate school, start thinking about who you might ask for letters very early, at least during Junior year. From the list of "good sources" above, ask youself whom you think you could ask. Plan your activities in college with this goal in mind.
Many graduate schools have early applications deadlines, some in December of the year prior to a Fall Semester entry. Faculty members are busy and distracted, and the longer they have to write the letter, so better the chance it will arrive on time. Give the letter writer at least a month prior to the first due date. Note that he or she will send all the letters at the same time, so the first due date is the most important.
Ask the letter writer if he or she would write a good letter for you, and if the answer is positive, ask him or her what is needed from you to help write an informative letter. If there are any special circumstances in your application, discuss them with the writer (for example, if you have a certain kind of relevant skill; your GRE scores are poor; you blew Freshman year so your GPA is low; you would like to gain some special kind of training in graduate school). The information you give the writer, in addition to the information in your resume and your personal statement, are important sources for the writer.
You should prepare a package that has the following materials, minimally, and whatever else the writer has asked for.
- A copy of your resume
- A copy of your "personal statement" that you will include with some of the applications. You should ask your advisor for help with this statement because it can be very important.
- A list of the schools to which you are applying that includes the due dates .
- Addressed envelopes to each of the schools. Stamps are not necessary
- A disk that includes a plain text file of the addresses to which the letters should be sent, with the addresses arranged vertically, not horizontally (to facilitate mail merge functions).
- The forms that most schools require along with the letter. This form usually includes a waiver of your right to view the letter, which you should sign. Be sure to fill in all the student parts of the form. These forms or often available online in PDF or other format.
Don't assume that the letter writer will remember to write the letter on time! Faculty are busy doing many different things and are often working against deadlines, so they sometimes forget. A week before the first letter is due, stop by the writer's office and ask politely if "any additional information is needed to help write my letters". Email is also very effective.
Letter writers differ in how long they keep your letter in paper or digital form. Florida Tech does not have a centralized recommendation letter repository. If you expect to use the letter again, ask the write to hold on to it.
Probably not. Few faculty reveal their letters to students as a matter of policy.
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