Letter Of Recommendation For Gradute School: Writing Tips and Examples

Graduate School Letter of Recommendation

There is no chance to make some mistake as it may destroy the person’s life and eventually make him/her choose another path. Earlier or later, every applicant starts thinking about the letter of recommendation for grad school. But it is impossible to impress the admission board without knowing what it is and how you should write it.

What is a Graduate School Letter of Recommendation?

A grad school letter of recommendation is a paper that presents a graduate school candidate. Usually, it is required with application. Such a document must be written by an academic employee who knows the person well and can come up with a real description and evaluation of his/her skills, knowledge, and potential for a particular educational establishment. The paper must be positive and brief, and of course, include a few nice examples if it is possible.

Graduate School Letter Of Recommendation

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How to Write a Letter of Recommendation for Graduate School?

Since you are going to take responsibility for the student’s life. You should ensure that the letter is good enough. No bad things are allowed to be mentioned. Your main purpose is to help, so if you do not know how to write a letter of recommendation for graduate school, then keep an eye on these steps:

Be selective. Before starting to craft a letter, you should understand whether you know the person well. All things that you are going to mention should be true and make definite sense. If you feel that you don’t know specific things about the person, it is better to recommend him/her find somebody else who can do this better.
Keep the letter brief. Try to express all your ideas accurately and do this in a short form. Otherwise, you risk getting a boring paper. Refuse using complex sentences; mind your vocabulary and tone. Be professional and do not sound too casual.
Mention good traits. Every person has plenty of good traits, and you just need to pin them down. At the same time, you should not overdo goodness. Use ordinary words to speak about the student’s advantages and potential but do not put all this stuff on the very top. And, of course, avoid telling things that are not true.
Ask for help. You should be very specific while writing a letter of recommendation for grad school. If you have some doubts or uncertainties, then ask the student for help. Clarify what qualifications are required to be accepted. This way, you can be more specific and increase the chances for a positive outcome.

How to format the letter?

If you want the letter to look attractive and grab attention at once, you should care about the way you are going to present the content. A PDF format is suggested in this case. Usually, the letter takes about 40-44 lines. It will be enough to cover all the important points. In case you are trying a letter with ranking grids, then 36 lines are expected to be included. Any extra text may be added. In case it is not clear, just remember that the word count is 400-600.

What to Include in A Letter of Recommendation for Graduate School?

Keep in mind that all people have many good traits, so a graduate school letter of recommendation must not look like a list of applicant’s praises. Instead, this paper is expected to tell why a definite person has all chances to be successful within an applied educational program. Also, the letter should include:

Explanation of how the recommender met the applicant
Reasons why the person can be successful with the program
Clear examples that demonstrate his/her willingness to join the program

Always try to add examples to support your words. It is not enough to say that the person is intelligent. Instead, recall the situations from the classroom that better demonstrate this.

Letter of recommendation for grad school template

Let’s look at the way that you should write the letter. First, go over the person’s name and that you feel happy to present such a nice candidate. Include the number of years you know him/ her and what subject you taught. Leave enough space to talk about the person’s skills and treats that help him/her stand out in the crowd of other candidates. Do not forget to include your hopes in the person’s successful future despite the path that the student chooses in the long run.

Graduate School Letter of Recommendation Writing with Examples

To better understand how to write the content that has all chances to attract the attention of the admission board, let’s look closer at the letter of recommendation for graduate school examples.

Letterhead

This is the first thing that the target audience will see. Hence, you need to make sure that you include the following information and place it on the page top left-hand corner:

Writing date
Person’s full name
Title
Name of school
Address (street, city, state, and zip code)
Contact details (optional)

Introduction

Usually, the introduction is the shortest part of a professional letter of recommendation for graduate school. It only takes 2- 4 sentences and mentions the person who is writing and the candidate that this paper is devoted to. For example:

Dear Madam/Sir:

I am writing to you in support of Anna Smith and her desire to join the London University and obtain a Master’s degree. Many students are asking me to write a letter of recommendation for graduate school every year, but I do this only for people who really have the potential for a particular educational establishment. I believe that Anna is just such a person.

As you can see, the author of this paper only recommends the candidature of particular students and expresses all ideas lightly, without any insisting. Such style makes the document look more convincing.

Relationship to the applicant

Next, the author is expected to mention the way they were acquainted with the student and for how long. This passage will take not more than 6 clear sentences. For example:

During the Autumn/Winter semesters of 20016 and 2017, I taught Anna Smith in my Literature classes. Despite the large size of my classes, I always find time to look closer at every student, especially if the person submits excellent work. This is a true description of projects that were delivered by Anna. The papers were always well-organized, clear, interesting, and presented only original ideas. I can say that Anna is an excellent student who can bring great value to any educational establishment.

In this sample letter of recommendation for graduate school, for example, you can see a detailed period of time that the professor and the student are acquainted with and personal observations of the applicant.

Candidate’s qualities

Once the author describes the general relationship with the students, it is high time to illustrate all available competencies and good attributes of the person. This information will take all the main body of the document. The section is expected to tell about character, work habits, level of responsibility, etc. Its length depends on the number of ideas that you want to mention. In other words, it may be one paragraph or three paragraphs, etc. For example:

I can say a lot about Anna’s skills and readiness to work, but it is better to share a few examples that demonstrate this. Last spring, I asked Anna to count all the books in our classroom library. Instead of just counting and checking all books and returning them to the original place, Anna rearranged all of them in a way to make future counting easier and more comfortable. Such an approach demonstrates her strong desire to work and work efficiently. She is surely ready to take the initiative when it is necessary.

In this example of a letter, the professor gives real examples that demonstrate the positive attributes of the candidate. It shows how the student met his expectations and used problem-solving skills to perform the task efficiently.

Conclusion

The final part must restate and summarize all author’s ideas and recommendations in terms of the applicant. It would be nice to include a preferable contact so that the admission officers can call or write if it is necessary to clarify something. Usually, this paragraph doesn’t take more than 4 sentences. The LoR writer should put a signature after the conclusion to authenticate the letter. For example:

I strongly believe that Anna will keep enhancing her skills and gaining new knowledge in the field of Literature. Anna Smith is a great candidate who deserves your attention, and I would be happy to answer any of your questions. Feel free to me email [email protected].

You could just see how the author feels inspired by the student and tries to demonstrate this inspiration and trust in a very professional manner. The preferred contact method is also mentioned.

Graduate School Letter of Recommendation: Requirements

Writing your own letter of recommendation for graduate school is not the easiest thing to do. You should remember about the requirements and other important nuances to include:

Size. A letter must be short and clear. The author must not include too detailed information not to risk losing the reader’s attention. Adhere to a recommended size that should not be more than 600 words.
Style. It is one of the most important features of a winning letter. All phrases and words should sound professional without any jargon, contractions, etc.
Examples. A successful letter of recommendation is not possible to imagine without a few catchy and honest examples which confirm that all mentioned person’s traits are true.

Mind that the person you are asking to write a high school letter of recommendation for you knows all these requirements.

There is plenty of letter of recommendation graduate school samples which you can find on the Internet, and all of them will demonstrate the importance and necessity to include the above-mentioned requirements.

How to ask for a letter of recommendation for graduate school

Sometimes it turns out to be a real challenge to ask somebody to create such a letter for you. First of all, you need to decide who you want to ask, and schedule a meeting to discuss all details. It is recommended to prepare a plan to make this meeting more effective and fruitful. The next step on how to request a letter of recommendation for grad school is to let the person know what educational establishment you are applying to, what program you have chosen, and what the deadline for the letter is. Don’t panic if the person refuses you. There should be plenty of other tutors on your list. Also, you can get in touch with a trustworthy graduate school personal statement writing service and take advantage of professional assistance.

Order Graduate School Letter of Recommendation at Writing Service

You can waste a lot of time asking your boss for a letter of recommendation for grad school, and still, it doesn’t guarantee that you will get what you want. Instead of worrying and refusing your dream to enter the desired educational establishment, you are recommended to approach a graduate school personal statement writing service and entrust such responsible paper to real experts. We constantly provide clients with pleasant bonuses, the best terms and conditions, and of course transparent prices. Moreover, a high safety level is guaranteed by applying advanced security measures. You can entrust your letter to our graduate school personal statement writing service and do not worry about missing the important chance. In case of any questions or uncertainties, feel free to get in touch with our support system. The specialists may provide you with the best letter of recommendation template for graduate school to demonstrate how your paper will look. There is no doubt, with professional assistance, you will reach your goal with ease!

When Is Letter of Recommendation for Graduate School Required?