What could be covered in a "letter of recommendation"?

[Joan in GE]

From old threads I found the MIT link which proposed what is below.

 

"Try to address the following questions in your evaluation:

 

• What is the context of your relationship with the applicant? If you do not know the applicant well and are only able to write a brief summary, please acknowledge this.
  
• Has the student demonstrated a willingness to take intellectual risks and go beyond the normal classroom experience?
  
• Does the applicant have any unusual competence, talent or leadership abilities?
  
• What motivates this person? What excites him/her?
  
• How does the applicant interact with teachers? With peers? Describe his/her personality and social skills.
  
• What will you remember most about this person?
  
• If you have knowledge of MIT, what leads you to believe MIT is a good match for this person? How might he/she fit into the MIT community and grow from the MIT experience?
  
• Has the applicant ever experienced disappointment or failure? If so, how did he/she react?
  
• Are there any unusual family or community circumstances of which we should be aware?""
  

 

My question - I'm wondering if anyone has any other handy links with lists of other possibilities? Or does this one pretty much cover it all?

 

Thanks!

Joan

[Jane in NC]

I recently did a phone interview in which I was being asked to recommend a teacher for a private school. I have known the applicant in a capacity that was different than that for which she was applying. But I had witnessed the applicant's ability to utilize resources and network in a way that I thought was remarkable. So I gave details, reporting what is the norm and how this woman rewrote the script to do it better.

 

To me, vagueness in a letter of recommendation suggests that the writer does not know the person for whom she is writing very well. Thus I would say try to be specific about something, i.e. include an anecdote that demonstrates a knowledge of the candidate beyond a simple acquaintanceship.

[Joan in GE]

Good points and example Jane - Thanks!

[Lori D.]

People like to hear their own words and ideas mirrored back to them. ;)

 

So, this sounds "cheap", but it IS often true -- for whatever college, company, scholarship, program, etc. you are writing the letter of recommendation, go to the website (or printed application), read the mission statement and what is *specifically* stated there as desired in a candidate -- and use the same language ("buzzwords") in your recommendation; address the specific qualifications mentioned in the material; describe specifically how the person you are recommending embodies the stated goals.

 

Sometimes, having gone that extra mile, and using a brief quote out of the printed or web material helps make your candidate stand out...

[Joan in GE]

That does sound useful.

 

At this point the letter is for an "unknown", meaning it will go into his records for the future, so I'm trying to cover as many bases as possible....maybe I should look at possible US schools for if our plans would change...I hadn't thought so precisely before...

 

Thanks!

Joan

[Maura in NY]

A couple of pointers for recommendation letters in general -- (gleaned from our experiences this year)

 

Since you will have more than one letter by the time your student applies, every letter doesn't have to cover everything. Depending on how he knew the different "recommenders", my son asked them to focus on his leadership skills, academic ability, personal characteristics, etc.

 

Two or three specific examples of how your child has impressed the writer make for a stronger letter than a long list of glowing adjectives without anything concrete.

 

Your student may be asking people who haven't done this before, or want to know more about his/her schooling, so in some cases it might be helpful to share a copy of your child's transcript, activities list, etc., so that they have a bigger picture.

[Kathy in Richmond]

A couple of pointers for recommendation letters in general -- (gleaned from our experiences this year)

 

Since you will have more than one letter by the time your student applies, every letter doesn't have to cover everything. Depending on how he knew the different "recommenders", my son asked them to focus on his leadership skills, academic ability, personal characteristics, etc.

 

Two or three specific examples of how your child has impressed the writer make for a stronger letter than a long list of glowing adjectives without anything concrete.

 

Your student may be asking people who haven't done this before, or want to know more about his/her schooling, so in some cases it might be helpful to share a copy of your child's transcript, activities list, etc., so that they have a bigger picture.

 

:iagree: This is pretty much what we did. We included a copy of the advice and examples from the MIT website and a copy of our student's current transcript & activities/honors resume with each request for a letter, especially if the recommender only knew the student from one specific class or activity. That way they could gain a broader idea of the what the student was like outside of class or Scouts or whatever.

[Joan in GE]

Thank you Maura and Kathy!

 

We were just out of town for the AP Eng Language (which went way better than the Barron's prep book exams) - yeah!

 

That's useful - it helps hearing from different people!

Joan