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Tips Beasiswa
How to write a recommendation letter
By Eastchance.com
Recommendation letters are letters written by professors
who know you,assessing you capacity to meet the
requirements of a program you areapplying for. They're
supposed to help decision-makers to get a betterpicture
of your potential. The sure thing is, if you apply for
aMaster痴 program, or for a PhD, sometimes even for a
summer school, youcannot avoid them. Another part of the
harsh reality is that due todifferent reasons, if you
are a student in Eastern Europe you willoften find
yourself in the position to write these letters
yourself.The professor will, in this case, only
proof-read and sign the text. Incase you belong to the
lucky ones who don't have to writerecommendation letters
themselves, you should still read this section.You will
find useful hints about how to handle properly this
delicatepart of the application process.
How to deal with them. Usually, recommendation letters
have to bewritten on especially designed sheets of paper
that come as part ofyour application form. In some
cases, letters on letterhead will beaccepted, if for
some reasons, you can稚 use those special pieces ofpaper.
Read carefully what has been written in the application
bookletabout such situations. Fill in the fields at the
beginning at the formthat ask for your name, department,
etc. Take the forms to a professorwho knows you and is
familiar with your skills or activity. Allow
theprofessor as much time as possible (ideally 2-3
weeks) to write yourletter. Try to make sure the
professor is aware of who you are, whatyour interests
are and understands what you are applying for. A
smalltalk when you are handing the recommendation forms
or a printed summaryof all that that accompanies the
forms can help to this respect. Try,with politeness and
attention, to make sure the professor will writeyou a
recommendation in warm terms. Recommendations tend to
be, eventhough not always, somewhat bombastic in
vocabulary. If you ever getyour eyes on such a text, you
might upgrade the opinion you had aboutyourself. Be
prepared with envelope and stamps, in case the
professorwants to send the letter him-or herself. You
should also read therelated lines from the application
booklet about this point. Someuniversities prefer to
receive the recommendation letters together withthe rest
of the application, while some would rather get
themseparately, sent directly by the professor who
recommends you. It isusual practice that envelopes are
signed by the professor over the lid,in such a way that
one cannot open the envelope without deterioratingthe
lid. In order to increase the confidence the recruiters
put in theletter when you have to send the
recommendation together with the restof the application,
we advise you to request such a signature and/or
anofficial seal.
Content. Sometimes, a busy professor will suggest more
or less directlythat you produce a first draft of the
text that he or she will correctand sign. In other
cases, this is the only way you can get a letterthat
differs from the standard text every student gets from
thatprofessor. Our goal is not to discuss the reality of
Eastern Europeancampuses here. Still, if you think you
might be offended by thepractice of writing your own
recommendation letters, it is probablybetter that you do
not read the rest of the text.
A recommendation letter ideally starts by stating the
name of theprofessor who writes the letter and his/her
title, together with thename of the student for whom the
letter is written. The professorshould also state since
when has s/he known the students: year, classor other
activity. It should in any case be clear that the
professorhad the opportunity to get to know the student
well and assess his/hercapabilities.
The assessment of the student痴 capabilities should be
made from amultiple point of view over the next 3-4
paragraphs. From aprofessional point of view, it should
give account of the student痴knowledge, interests and
capabilities, activities and results, workcapacity, etc.
Personally, it should assess the student痴
personalcharacteristics, character, social skills, his
or her relations withthe students and professors. Same
as in other application documents,the direction should
be from facts/experience to qualifications, andfrom
those, to value judgments. Especially those skills
relevant forthe desired program should be outlined
throughout the paper.
The final paragraph should provide an overall assessment
of thestudent痴 potential to fulfill the requirements of
the program, eventhough partial judgments can and should
be provided in the body of theletter.
Some of the graduate study programs supply you with
forms for therecommendation letters that ask the
professor to ask a number ofspecific questions about
your skills and qualifications. Sometimes,space for the
answer is allowed after each question, and there is
wherethe answers should be written, rather than on a
separate sheet ofpaper. Other times, the questions come
as a block, an in this case youhave the option to answer
the question still in the form of a letter.Should you
chose this option, make sure the letter answers
clearlyevery single question, preferably in the order in
which they are askedon the form.
Don't forget to write the date and the name of the home
university. Thename of the program you are applying for
should come out explicitly inthe body of the text, in
order to make clear that the letter has beenwritten for
that occasion. Unless the format of the paper on which
theletter should be written makes this difficult, you
can print the text.Even better, have the text on a disk
with you, in case the professorwill consider any changes
necessary. Be ready to give the professortime to read
your draft and make those changes.
Most recommendation forms contain a certain number of
fields, themultiple-choice kind, where the professor has
to assess, by checkingcells, your abilities. Make sure
those fields are checked and insertthe text in the place
left for additional remarks. We strongly suggestthat you
do not leave blank that portion of the form, but use
itinstead as a self-standing recommendation letter.
Good luck.
Source:
http://www.eastchance.com/howto/rec_let.asp
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