Letter Of Recommendation - MS In Canada
A Letter of Recommendation (LOR) is a testimonial of your academic contributions and qualifications as assessed by your professors and supervisors. It could also be an assessment of your professional competencies when given by your supervisors in your company. In this article, we have outlined tips on how to get an impressive Letter of Recommendation.
Letter of Recommendation - MS in Canada
A Letter of Recommendation (LOR) is a testimonial of your academic contributions and qualifications as assessed by your professors and supervisors. It could also be an assessment of your professional competencies when given by your supervisors in your company. In this article, we have outlined tips on how to get an impressive Letter of Recommendation.
Typical time required: 1 – 2 weeks
Highlights
- Just like the SOP, the Letter of recommendation should lay out the experience of having personally worked with you.
- Sometimes, you need to mention your recommender’s contact details in the application form or in the CV itself. Your recommender shall get an e-mail with a form/link to a questionnaire and can be asked a few direct questions regarding your contributions and the role played.
- In most cases (when the recommender/s isn’t well acquainted to you or if they are busy and cannot write for you), the recommender might ask you to prepare a draft of Letter of Recommendation yourself and send it so he/she can simply edit and sign it.
Before You Start
- Check your institution’s requirements and see if they have mentioned that the Letter of Recommendation has to be in a specific format.
- Always follow the word-limit for Letter of Recommendation length, e.g. 500 words, 1 page, 2000 characters etc.
- See how many LORs are requested. Also, check who should be your recommenders (e.g. academic or professional ones).
- If you lack any previous internship experience, you can request for a Letter of Recommendation from your professors, head of Department, college dean or even the director of the institute you’ve studied at. The credibility of their statements will be more than a Letter from your school.
Required Documents (for your recommender)
- Your CV (if asked)
- Your Grade Report (if asked)
- A draft Letter of Recommendation (if asked)
Step by step Guide
- Think of a few people who can give you a good recommendation. You should have (i) attended their classes/worked with them in the past (ii) known them personally (not necessarily always, e.g. College Dean) (iii) They are in a respectable position in the company.
- Humbly request them if they can write a positive Letter of Recommendation for you.
- When asking for a person from your University, you may also submit a copy of your Transcript, reminding them of your performance in the class.
- When asking for a senior from the Internship Company, pick someone who can mention relevant information about your role and contribution to the work.
- Think from the perspective of your recommender. If you are drafting a sample, let it be in an appreciative tone, but do not go over the board.
- There should be a comment on the duration and in what capacity the recommender knows you.
- If you have to prepare many samples of the Letter of Recommendation for different recommenders, see to it that you have entirely modified the Letter of Recommendation content with minimal overlap.
- Lastly, keep in mind that you can embellish the truth in any way you like, but don’t write false/untrue statements. This is completely disrespectful and unethical for the recommender.
- Once your recommender gives you the final LOR, make sure that it has been stamped, signed and sealed.
- Your recommender must mention their full name, contact & designation at the end of the Letter. This way, the admission officers can directly get in touch with the recommenders.
Useful Tips
- Keep in mind the type of institutions and the course module content of the program you will be applying for before sending the LORs.
- The LORs from your work/college carried out in recent years have higher importance.
- Your Letter of Recommendation has to be written on the University’s / Company’s official letterhead. It should be sealed by the respective Department and signed by the recommender.
