Knees shaking and hands sweating, you gather the courage to give a simple knock and hope the professor will answer his door.
It may be hard to think of that one brilliant question to ask or remember where the professor’s office is located, but asking for a letter of recommendation is a simple task.
Recommendations should come from instructors who know you well, so any sense of intimidation should be long gone.
“Students need to build relationships early on,” said Kathy Sims, director of the UCLA Career Center.
By visiting office hours and asking questions, students can demonstrate their curiosity and interest in a subject and create familiarity, Sims said.
The best letters should show that the instructor is knowledgeable about the student and contain information specific to the individual, such as details about academic projects or class participation.
“The more an instructor knows about a student, the more substantive the letter will be, and that’s what you want,” said Corey Hollis, director of College Academic Counseling.
The UCLA English graduate department looks for letters that cite specific areas of research and show a recommender doesn’t know just about grades, said Mike Lambert, English graduate adviser.
Professors who teach large lectures sometimes refer students to teaching assistants to get letters of recommendation because they do not know students well enough, said Lynn Vavreck, an assistant political science professor.
Vavreck teaches classes with over 200 hundred students and said she doesn’t write letters for students who are in her introductory classes because she hasn’t had the chance to cultivate relationships with them.
“A letter from me is not a letter that you’re going to want because it’s obvious that I don’t know you,” Vavreck said.
When asking an instructor to write a letter, students should bring a resume and personal statement to outline their major accomplishments.
Some instructors advise that students bring work they have completed in the professor’s class ““ with graded comments ““ so that instructors can reference the work in letters.
Reviewing previous works helps instructors contextualize letters so they can give a detailed account of what a student is capable of, said Jesse Johnson, an English graduate student and teaching assistant.
It’s also appropriate to discuss future plans and goals with instructors so they can tailor a letter to best fit the program or school to which a student is applying.
Johnson said that if a student has a good relationship with a professor, and the student has done well, then a letter request is expected, even though students may feel that asking for a letter inconveniences the instructor.
“It’s part of the process. We all realize that (letters) are a part of the job, and we’re happy to do it,” he said.
Students can ask for letters of recommendation at anytime during their UCLA career, and it’s best to ask an instructor immediately after taking his or her class.
After all the preparation is complete and a letter has been received, it can easily be stored through the UCLA Career Center, which offers a Web-based service that electronically stores letters for both enrolled students and alumni.