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Tell your principal what you’re applying for and ask if he would be comfortable writing you a reference letter. Explain why you want him to write it for you – that you respect his position and his education or that you think he has a great understanding of what goes on at the school.Dec 29, 2018
Some students ask a principal, department head, or even someone famous or in goverment to provide them with a letter of recommendation. While this kind of letter can stand out if the recommender knows the student well, it won’t necessarily impress admissions officers just by virtue of the person’s authority or fame.
A bad letter of recommendation may be unintentional – either because the recommender does not actually know you, and this shows by him not discussing first-hand experience, or because the letter may be short and generic etc.
Ideally, you should give your recommenders about two to three months advance notice. This will not only make it easier for them to write the letter, but it also demonstrates that you are planning ahead and have thought carefully about your application process.
Academic advisors, supervisors, professors and colleagues—both present and past—are all appropriate people you can email to ask for a letter of recommendation. The person you approach should be someone who knows you well and has a positive perception of your work.
Make a formal request of your professor (by email or by appointment), asking if he or she would be willing to write a letter or fill out a form on your behalf. Explain the purpose of the recommendation and why you have chosen the professor. Give the professor time to consider your request.
5-6 weeks before recommendation is needed: Ask the professor either in office hours or by email if the professor is comfortable writing to recommend you for your given context, e.g. graduate school, a job, a scholarship.
If you have been out of school for three to five years, you can feel safe substituting one of your academic letters with a professional recommendation. If you have been out of school for five or more years, you should definitely forgo the academic letters and instead submit two professional recommendations.
Schools often ask for letters of recommendation from an academic teacher — sometimes in a specific subject — or a school counselor or both. Ask a counselor, teachers and your family who they think would make good references.
Some colleges specify that this letter should ideally be written by one of your teachers. Even colleges that ask for more than one letter will usually state that at least one should be written by a teacher. Recommendation letters carry significant weight in the selection process.
Ideally, your college recommendation letters should come from high school teachers who know you well in an academic subject. And though it’s nice to hear that you got an A in their class, it’s even better when an instructor can talk about how you think, solve problems, and engage with new material.
As the deadline approaches, you may get anxious about whether your referees will submit their letters in time. … By sending a gentle reminder two weeks before the deadline, you give them enough time to compose their letters in way that does not make them feel rushed.
If your professors are diligent/experienced they will probably keep copies of their letters for you and they can generate a new one relatively efficiently.
If You Don’t Know Someone Really Well
First, send a cordial email with a subject line that says something like “Saying hi!” or “Checking in!” Start out by asking how they are and about some part of the school or organization that they’d be able to answer. For example, “How’s French class this semester?
A reference letter is a common support tool for job applicants. … While a date is commonly included in the formatting of a reference letter, its validity is left up completely to the organization or hiring manager to whom you present it.
If a program needs more than two letters, or you think another professor would be a more suitable writer for one particular program (for instance, if they have connections to that institution), then you can ask for letters from them as well.
LORs take anywhere from 1 week to 6 months. Seriously, you do need to give your professor an exact date and get a commitment – and I agree that it is impolite to ask for a letter with less than 30 days’ notice.
When asking someone to recommend you, send them an email request. This way reluctant writers can carefully choose the wording for their response and don’t have to look you in the eye in order to decline. You might ask, “Do you know me in a way that would allow you to write a really positive recommendation”?
DO: Be Polite.
This one is a given regardless of who you are asking to write a recommendation letter for you. It doesn’t matter if whoever you are asking is someone that you spend time with outside of your job or school. Manners show that you are serious about what you are doing.