Letter Of Recommendation Request Form Student'S Name: C: Fill & Download for Free

At the undergraduate level, Princeton is very hard to beat. The number of enrolled students is a fraction of Berkeley’s. Princeton’s faculty is readily accessible by the students. There are simply too many Berkeley undergraduates for the majority of them to get one-on-one time with faculty.I once observed some Berkeley undergraduates request letters of recommendation to medical school. After meeting briefly with the group, he took their forms and wrote a single letter in the corner of each. He later explained that students who had received an A in his course got the “A” form letter. B students got the “B” letter, and so on. Only a handful of students who had done a research project in his group received a personalized letter. Imagine the admissions’ officer reading dozens of identical letters. Princeton students could expect to get individualized treatment.The graduate level is another matter. Berkeley has many excellent departments several of which rank higher than Princeton’s. Graduate students at either institution can expect plenty of one-on-one time in their respective disciplines.

Reference letters, the writer who agrees to write one decides whether it’s a recommendation or not, are supposed to be confidential. When a person agrees to write a reference for you, that’s it. You should provide the person with the form and a stamped, addressed envelope. They write the letter, put it in the envelope and send it. You’re not supposed to see it at all. Sometimes the person who you asked to write a reference will show you a copy, but that isn’t really proper, either. Most people who can’t give you a “good” reference will refuse to write it. They don’t mean you ill, they simply can’t write you the kind of reference you would want, so they don’t send one at all. But a reference, a really well written one, will reflect some of your needs as well as your strengths. They shouldn’t simply be rave reviews. So, actually, you shouldn’t get a chance to read your references before they’re sent to the school or employer who’s requested them.

Generally, if I can’t write something positive — which may be because I don’t know the candidate very well — I will suggest that I am not a good reference.I did write a negative letter once, and only at the insistence of both the requester and the student, although neither knew it was going to be negative.It turns out my letter was probably ignored — they were simply going through the motions because they had already made the hiring decision.I was contacted by someone later, who found the letter in the personnel file, simply to tell me that I had accurately foretold what would happen.It was not one of my happier memories, and that is all the detail I’m going to give.Letters of reference have become less trustworthy since some people who failed to get positions or admission started suing letter-writers who indicated negative things.In the academic process of tenure and promotion, a letter that doesn’t have effusive praise for the candidate is often viewed as weak. It is a form of grade inflation. I don’t play that game, so some schools won’t ask me for letters anymore.