Editing User:Benjamin Mako Hill/Letters of recommendations

I am happy to write letters of recommendation for undergraduate students only if I am confident that 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 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 "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. If you have taken an independent study, done an honors thesis, or participated in directed research group 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, your work ethic, and your 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 the only thing my letter can say is "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 it 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. If the course you took was a large lecture class where the TA likely did much of the grading, this is particularly important.

;You have given me at least two weeks advance notice: In general, I cannot provide a letter with less lead time than this. Certainly not a strong one. When you ask for a letter, please tell me what the ''first'' deadline is. Mastesr programs typically have deadlines that not earlier than January 1st so I tend to try and do all of these letters during the winter "break" when I have a bit more availability.

;You did well in my classes: If the only way that I know is through a single class, my letter is going to 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 at least a grade of 3.8 in one of my classes (ideally higher) or at least a 3.5 for an application for a job. Sometimes, I can write a stronger letter than your grade in my class might suggest so 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 in a job you are applying to. Knowing that my letter was shared in private helps the person I am submitting the letter to be confident that I am being honest.