Writing Recommendation Letters as a Graduate Student: Should You?

Anne Schindel

For the past four years, I have taught and tutored students in the English and German departments as well as the Writing Center, and in the process I’ve written my fair share of recommendation letters. If my own experience at Yale is any indication, and you are currently a graduate student, then it is likely that students will approach you to ask for recommendation letters at some point (if they haven’t already!). And if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably think: “Uh-oh – I have no idea how to do that!”

The first time a student asked me for a recommendation, I wasn’t sure whether graduate students were even allowed to write recommendation letters for undergraduates. Most of the information you can find online is geared towards professors writing letters for graduate school or job applications. But undergraduates at Yale are just as likely to ask a graduate student to write reference letters as they are to ask tenured professors. Why? One answer could be that graduate students do a lot of teaching in smaller labs, sections, and seminars. The Yale Office of Career Strategy actively encourages undergraduates to avoid “go[ing] for ‘name brand’ references who don’t know [the student’s] work very well – it’s better to ask a junior person who could speak glowingly and in detail about [the student’s] work than have a senior person speak in vague generalities.”[1] Since many undergraduates come to college without a clear sense of the differences between graduate student instructors, lecturers, and non-tenured professors, they’re just as likely to ask us graduate students for recommendations as anyone else.

If you’re asked to write a recommendation letter, can you – and should you – accept? And, if you accept, how should you proceed? What follows is intended as a quick “how-to” guide for graduate students at Yale to help you decide whether you can (or should) write a recommendation letter when asked, and what the process usually requires.

1.      What do Yale students apply for, and what kinds of letters do these positions want?

The short answer is that Yale students apply for all sorts of positions: I’ve written recommendation letters for summer jobs, Yale-internal fellowships and awards, language study/study abroad, and research or work in a lab. Many of these applications require the standard letter that should be about 1-2 pages long, written in your most polished prose and free of grammatical errors or typos, and (if you have access to it) on departmental letterhead.

Other applications impose their own format, often a series of questions about the student’s academic and personal strengths that you need to answer in a browser or on a separate form. These applications often have the option to attach a full letter so – if you jumped right in and already wrote the whole thing – your work will not have been in vain. To avoid any potential frustrations, though, make sure to check what the application requires before you start writing.

2.      I am a graduate student – am I qualified to function as a recommender?

The honest answer is: it depends. When students first contact you, the best course of action would be to make sure that they understand that you are a graduate student, and that your status could potentially hurt their application. Most applications specify whether they require letters from junior or senior professors or whether they accept others, so tell your students to check whether you are eligible before they input your name. If the student is unsure, encourage him or her to contact the program directly: it doesn’t hurt to ask, and you can also poke around the Internet to see if you can find the answer. Once you are locked in to an online system, it can be cumbersome for the student to switch recommenders, so make sure to get this information before you agree to write for him or her. Once you’re certain the application is not explicitly limited to professors, you’re good to go: it does not matter how far along in your program you are, or how many semesters you have been teaching, as long as you feel like you know the student well and have good things to say about him or her. The most suitable people for recommendation letters, after all, are those who know the students on both an academic and a more personal level. It’s probably why you were asked in the first place: take it as a compliment.

3.      What do I need to include in a recommendation letter, and how do I get this information?

The best way to get all the information you need is to set up a meeting with the student, but email contact will do if you are not in the same place. Depending on how well you know the student and how detailed you feel your letter needs to be, ask him or her to provide you with the following materials:
     a)      Resume or CV
     b)      Application essay or statement of purpose (drafts are usually enough, but make sure  to ask for the most recent version)
     c)      A paper or exam written for your course (if you don’t have this already)
     d)     Any information the student may have about the fellowship, program, or job to which he or she is applying (websites, leaflets, etc.)
     e)      The date on which the recommendation is due
     f)       A list of the student’s personal interests relevant to the position, or an academic transcript (not absolutely necessary – only if you’re comfortable asking for this)

In general, your letter is supposed to show your support for the candidate and his or her particular strengths through concrete evidence and examples. Every letter should be tailored to the specific position for which the student is applying, so try to match the letter with its purpose (e.g. more academic for research and scholarly pursuits, broader range of personal, extracurricular, and work experiences for non-academic positions).

Your letter should start by stating who you are and how you know the student, how long you have known him/her, and in what context you got to know him/her, then proceed to an evaluation of his/her intellectual strengths. Try to think about the student comparatively (e.g. Was he/she the most articulate? Motivated? Curious? Outspoken? Among the best three students you have ever taught?), and provide concrete examples to back up your praise. Avoid stock phrases, clichés, or a heavy reliance on superlatives as much as possible. Depending on the type of position for which the student is applying, you can either blend the academic with the personal, or proceed from the academic to the personal; trust your instincts. Whatever you prefer, discuss the student’s character and individual traits in the same way you presented his or her intellectual strengths, by providing clear and concrete examples from class or from your other interactions. Finish on a strong note, with a brief summary, and by expressing your enthusiastic support for the student’s application for this particular position.  (Don’t forget to name the actual position).

4.      What if I don’t think I can write a good letter?

It is okay to say no. If you feel like you cannot be emphatically positive in your letter, if a student asks you too close to the deadline or in an unprofessional or inappropriate manner, you can decline, but try to do so gently. For example, you could point to the fact that your knowledge of the student is not relevant to the position to which she is applying (say, you taught him or her calculus in a large seminar but he/she is applying to stay with a host family in Japan). Whatever the issue, make sure to explain why you feel unable to help and counsel the student in finding a better reference. If you really have nothing to say about a student who approached you, even after meeting with him or her, it may be a more systemic issue, so try to be as kind as possible and, if you can, offer some potential solutions (asking earlier, telling a professor at the beginning of the semester that she may need a recommendation, etc.). Whatever you decide to do, never promise to write a letter with no intention of doing so later, and don’t lie in your letter in an attempt to improve it.

5.      Any potential pitfalls to avoid?

If you have agreed to write the letter and followed the general guidelines above, be aware that letters of recommendation are often read with an eye to what is not being said: your silence on certain matters can be taken as an implicit criticism, as can your failure to unequivocally support your student’s application. If you include criticism or negative traits, especially toward the end, this can be understood as a tacit move to signal that you do not actually support your student’s application. Try to incorporate criticism (if you choose to include it at all) in a way that turns it into a positive statement. Be aware, however, of different cultural expectations: while it is normal in the U.S. to focus only on a student’s strengths and to be as enthusiastic as possible throughout your letter, the same does not hold for European countries such as Britain and Germany, among others, where unabashed support and enthusiasm is often regarded with suspicion. Get help from a more experienced letter writer if you are unsure about the conventions of a foreign country to avoid accidentally hurting your student’s chances.

I hope these guidelines have been helpful (and below you can find a few helpful links for further reading). Try to enjoy the process – when else can you brag about how awesome your students are without annoying your family and friends?

 

For more information on recommendation letters:

Yale Office of Career Strategy Reference Guidelines (for undergraduates)

Yale College Guidelines for Writing Letters of Recommendations (for faculty, deans, and recommenders)

Harvard GSAS Guide for Writing Recommendations (specifically geared toward graduate students at Harvard)
Berkeley Career Center Guidelines for Writing Recommendation Letters (includes special sections for graduate, business, law, and medical school applications)

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[1] http://ocs.yale.edu/content/references