When you are trying to decide who to ask for recommendations, kep these criteria in mind. The people you ask should:

• have a high opinion of you
• know you well, preferably in more than one context
• be familiar with your field (It won’t do you much good to have a glowing letter of recommendation from your manager at the insurance company if you are applying to a program in history or social work.)
• be familiar with the program to which you are appling
• have taight a large number of students (or have managed a large number of employees) so they have a good basis upon which to compare you (favorably!) to your peers
• be recognized by the admissions committe as someone whose opinion can be trusted
• have good writing skills
• be reliable enough to write and mail the letter on time

A tall order? Yes. It’s likely that no one person you choose will meet all of these criteria, but try to find people who come close to this ideal.

Um, so that gives me, um, my composition teacher from Mills and ummm… maybe some other mills music faculty whom i have not talked to in five years. Maybe I coudl get some generic statements from old bosses about how i was hard worker… except that i was mostly lazy… um…

Join the fun, fast-paced world of writing recommendation letters!

Feel like you could write a letter of recommendation? Do you meet the above requirements, or at least some/most of them? Then, for the love of god, drop me a line, since I have no idea where or who you might be (that’s just a joke! of course I was thinking of you! How have you been! Great hearing from you! heh heh help.)