Anthropology 480 Anthropological Inquiry Fall 2005
Asking for Letters of Recommendation
Requests for Letters of Recommendation
1. Ask if a faculty member can write a good letter of
recommendation for you: do not assume it. You want the best
letters you can get. You also want appropriate letters. So
for graduate school you want academic letters, for other
purposes, such as jobs or Internships, you may want a mix
that are written by people who know you best in the skills
you need for the goal of the letter.
2. Give the faculty member enough time to write the
letter. A minimum of two weeks seems reasonable. You may want
to meet with him/her in person to discuss what might go in
the letter.
3. Give the faculty member a full understanding of
what the letter is for.
In other words: for graduate school
Why are you interested in this school?
What are the specialties of the department you
are applying for? How do you fit these specialties?
Have you written a statement for your application? If so,
let the faculty member see it. It might be a good idea
to ask a faculty member to review this with you and help
you edit it: well in advance of the due date.
What do you want the letter writer to emphasize about you
in this letter?
For a job: What is the Job? Why are you interested? What
do have to offer this job? What do you want the writer to
emphasize?
4. Give the faculty member a copy of your transcript and
a list of anything you might think of that would be helpful
in a letter. Also that extraordinary stuff that they have
done that the professor may not know about (volunteering at
the SE Asian food bank, playing in a klezmer band) might be
nice to mention to spice up the letter.
5. Give the faculty member a signed copy of the legal
form on the webpage giving them permission to comment on
your academic record. (student life: downloadable forms: copy
attached on back).
6. Give the faculty member an addressed, stamped envelope for each letter. Make sure the due date is clearly stated.
FILE: You may start a file with Brenda and include all of your records
and information you wish now, or in the future, to be used for
letters ou request. Copies of papers you are especially proud of and
especially the 480-499 papers could be there. In that way, you will only
have to get the information together once for everyone on campus even
when you graduate. You can add to it as needed.
FORM: You need to fill out the FERPA form (Form to Consent to Release
Education Records) found on the PLU website to allow faculty to comment on
your academic records.
Why Letters?
You will soon be working and
studying outside of PLU. When you apply for graduate school,
employment, grants, and other opportunities they will request letters
of recommendation. You want to make sure that your letters are
the very best you can get. In order to do this the faculty
suggests following the suggestions on this page.
Anthropology 480 Anthropological Inquiry Fall 2005