NOTE ON LETTERS OF RECCOMENDATION
An application speaks to the admission committee on your behalf. While your grades/scores are supposed to represent your intellectual capabilities and your SOP allows you the opportunity of presenting your point of view, recommendations by those who know you give the university an independent assessment of your skills and qualities.
We strongly recommend that students should not write their own recommendation letters. In case your recommender is not comfortable drafting the reccos, you can give him your resume and points you would want him to include. Get a rough draft made from him, it can be polished later.
Every school requires a set of 2-3 reco letters. Normally the schools have a reco format (grading sheet) in their application form, which needs standardised information like rank in class, analytical skills, attendance etc. One can additionally attach a letter (covering other aspects) to the grading sheet.
Choosing the right people:
You need to make sure that the people who give you the recommendations have known you for a sufficiently long time and on a professional basis.
Fresh graduates would need recommendation letters from the faculty at undergraduate and/or graduate level. The faculty would be in a position to evaluate the student if they have taught them at least two courses. It would be helpful if the courses were relevant to the study program applied to.
At work the reporting head interacts with us on a day-to-day basis and hence would be the best person to comment on our performance.
Personal Contacts are not considered valid.
Credentials of the referee:
A recommendation from a professor would sound far more impressive than one from a lecturer.
The remarks of your reporting head who plays an important role in the company and is an experienced person are more valued.
However a recommendation from the CEO of the company who knows you personally but has not interacted regularly at work would not add any value.
An alumni from the school one is applying to can give you an additional recommendation commenting on your suitability for the study program.
Relationship you share with the person:
Make sure that the person shares a positive relationship with you to ensure you get a good recommendation and within your time frame. Start approaching the people a month ahead of time to run through 2-3 drafts before finalising on it. Prepare an initial draft and check with them if they are comfortable mentioning the same.
Writing Tips:
Following points should be kept in mind while drafting a Letter of Recommendation:
1. The letters should ideally be taken on the college/institution/organization letterhead. If not a letter head then the name, contact details and designation of the person should be clearly mentioned. Refer to the sample format.
2. Have focus on fewer qualities in each reco so that it stays in the mind of the reader at the end of it. Divide the points between the three letters.
3. Do not include too many adjectives or superlative degree remarks in the recommendation. The statements should sound positive but not flattery.
4. Avoid redundancy in the style of writing. For example starting every sentence with “She has been very active in class, She has above average analytical skills etc”. The letter should have a flow and not seem like a list of statements about you.
5. Get a third person opinion about the draft before finalising it. There are cases when statements that might sound positive to us might be interpreted in a different manner by others.
6. Avoid structural mistakes and use simple language. Do not manipulate facts. For example: If your professor puts you in the top 5% in every category that he's been asked to rank you, and your transcripts show that you averaged in the bottom 25% of your class, it's bound to raise some eyebrows.
7. The letter should be crisp and to the point. Avoid repetitive stuff and irrelevant details.
Personal Qualities that can be mentioned in the LOR:
You don’t have to include all points mentioned below, choose the relevant ones.
Academic Performance
Attendance and class participation
Analytical skills and problem solving ability
Communication skills
Teamwork Ability
Leadership Qualities and Decision Making
Organized and particular about deadlines
Crisis Management and working under pressure
Achievements like being a class topper, winning the best project prize etc, playing a strategic role in a company project
Interpersonal skills, relationship with peers.
Suitability of the applicant to the study program
