Editing User:Benjamin Mako Hill/Letters of recommendations (section)

== "Will you write me a letter of recommendation?" ==

I am happy to write letters of recommendation for students in my classes only if I am confident I can write a strong letter that will help your application. This is to help you. If my letter is thin, lukewarm, or worse, it will not help and might even hurt your application. As a result, I typically only write letters if all of the following criteria are met:

; You have taken and fully completed ''at least'' one class with me: If you are a "current" student in one of my classes, I will not say “yes” to a request for a letter until after the quarter is over and grades are finalized. This means that I cannot provide a letter for you, or even confirm that I can provide a letter at all, before [https://www.washington.edu/students/reg/calendar.html the UW grade deadline] in the quarter of your class with me. As described below, I will need two weeks to prepare a letter. If you have taken an independent study, done an honors thesis, or participated in a directed research group (DRG) with me and received full credit, that counts as a class, and I'm almost always excited about providing letters for students in this situation. 
; I should have some sense of your skills, work ethic, and personality that goes beyond just the grade you received in my class: The point of letters is to provide something more than what's visible in the transcript. If my letter can only say, "X took my class and did well. X's final grade was Y" (and so on), then the letter will provide very little additional benefit to your application. Ask yourself: Did you come to office hours? Did you volunteer to speak up in class frequently? Did you find other ways to leave an impression on me that might be something I could talk about in a letter? If the answer is "No," any letter I provide will be thin, and you will very likely be better served by a letter from someone else who can provide that kind of depth and texture that letter readers are looking for. This is particularly important if your course was a large lecture class where the TA likely did much of the grading. If this your only class with me, the answer will usually be no.
; You have given me at least two weeks advance notice: I generally cannot provide a letter with less lead time than this. Certainly not a strong one. When you ask for a letter, please tell me the ''first'' deadline. Masters programs typically have deadlines not earlier than January 1st, so I try to do all of these letters during the winter "break" when I have more availability.
; You did well in my classes: If the only way I know you is through a single class, my letter will be limited to describing your work in the class. I'll explain what grade you received, and I'll compare it to your classmates. As a result, a good rule of thumb is that you should only ask me for a letter for graduate school applications if you have earned a grade of 3.8 in one of my classes (ideally higher) or a 3.5 for an application for a job. Because I can sometimes write a stronger letter than your grade in my class might suggest, this is not a hard-and-fast rule, but it is a good heuristic.
; You will agree to waive your right to examine your letter: My letter will be an honest accounting of my assessment of your ability to succeed in graduate or a job you are applying to. Knowing that my letter was shared in private helps the person receiving the letter be confident that I am being honest.