Sample recommendation for admission to college. Letter of recommendation for admission to university

A letter of recommendation will be useful for a student to enroll in a master’s program, for employment, or transfer to another educational institution. A paper with recommendations can be written by his teacher, supervisor, who is able to correctly characterize the student and write useful recommendations for him.

A letter of recommendation is very important for a student after graduation. The graduate has no experience, so the teacher of the educational institution can evaluate his knowledge, skills and character. When looking for a new job, written references are a useful addition to your resume, in addition to your college degree. Therefore, it is recommended that after graduating from university you contact your teacher with a request to write such a paper.

Another popular reason for obtaining such a document is admission to a master’s program. Often, along with other documents, you are required to provide a letter of recommendation from the teacher.

title part - date, place of registration, information about the addressee, title of the document;
the main part - basic information about the author of the letter and the student, his characteristics and recommendations for him;
author's signature.

The addressee should be indicated if it is known in advance who the letter of recommendation is intended for. If there is no such information, then this detail is omitted.

In the main part, you need to indicate from whom the recommendations are being written and for whom (full name of the author of the letter of recommendation, his position, relationship to the student, his full name). You should indicate which faculty the recommended student studied in, the period of study, and what specialty you received.

The first part of the text describes the student’s knowledge and skills, describes the experience gained in practice, the success of knowledge acquisition, and academic performance. Next, an assessment of the personality is given - how he interacts with other people, the degree of conflict, and the main features are described. All this information will allow you to get the most complete picture of the student and identify his strengths and weaknesses.

The signed form is given to the student or directly to the destination.

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World universities and business schools. Key tips for writing a letter of recommendation:

1. Selection of referents (those on whose behalf the letter of recommendation will be written)

Behind the scenes, the higher status from the referent, the more solid the letter of recommendation will look. The admissions committee of any university or scholarship fund will definitely pay attention to this.
At the same time, a more important criterion is that How well does the referee really know you? and can assess your potential. If you choose between the dean of the faculty who did not teach you a single course, and the teacher who taught you a number of disciplines throughout all your years of study, choose the second one! Such a letter of recommendation looks much more respectable in the eyes of the admissions committee.
And of course, try to choose teacher in one of your key subjects or in the specialty for which you are going to enroll.
And if you manage to combine all 3 conditions, then the letter of recommendation will be the most advantageous.

2.1 How to prepare text easier

If the teacher told you to prepare the text yourself, then the easiest way for you to do this will be to collecting opinions from outside. Even your classmates, friends, colleagues can help you with this - those who know you and can appreciate your potential and your personal qualities. Ask what, in their opinion, are your strengths, what would they emphasize when characterizing you? If it’s uncomfortable to ask this question directly, then do a small online survey (iQuestionnaire, SurveyMonkey, etc.) and simply send it to your friends, explaining why you need it. Once you have collected several opinions, you will already have a basis for your letters of recommendation.
Otherwise, if you rely only on your perception, then it will be difficult for you to prepare both your motivation letter and two recommendations at once. Even if this is successful, you can almost always understand that all documents were written by one person.

Make a plan, in which you will briefly outline what details you will include in each of the letters: in the motivational essay, in both letters of recommendation. Of course, some information will overlap in all documents, but since it is assumed that all 3 letters were prepared from different persons, accordingly, the perspectives should be different. Having a general outline will make it easier for you to know what to include in your own essay and what to leave for each of the recommendations.

- Specific examples
A very common mistake in recommendations is to list all possible laudatory characteristics separated by commas, without giving any examples (I often see in letters: “the student has proven himself to be capable, talented, hardworking, thoughtful, with high potential and leadership qualities”). This is a dead weight letter that has almost no impact on the commission.
To bring these characteristics to life, it is imperative to provide specific examples. If it is written that the student is goal-oriented, this needs to be explained; if the teacher believes that the student has leadership qualities, it must be proven; If he recommends continuing your studies in a master's program, you need to clarify why. Examples make the characteristics truly credible.

- Information about successes, achievements relevant to the selected program
The volume of a letter of recommendation is usually 1 page of text, so there is simply no room to list all the merits, successes and characteristics. That is why the text of the letter must be tailored to the requirements of the program.
If, for example, you are enrolling in finance, then special emphasis should be placed on analytical skills, the ability to work with numbers and analyze a large amount of information. Usually, the websites of the programs themselves indicate which qualities are primarily important for applicants.

- Characteristics of professional and personal qualities
The fact that you have well-developed analytical skills, you can absorb a huge amount of professional material, and have an excellent command of research methods, etc. - this is what interests the admissions committee in the first place. But, having received this information, the commission members want to know what kind of person is coming to them. This is a potential future representative and face of our university - how well does he suit our culture, the image of our university? Therefore, in letters of recommendation it is very important to indicate personal qualities - how well you can work in a team or individually, how developed are your communication skills... This information should logically complement your profile, and of course, should correlate with what you wrote in your letter of motivation.

3.1 Allow more time than expected to prepare recommendations
(very often you will need to additionally either agree on the text with the teacher, who may be away, or wait for a signature and seal in the dean’s office for a whole week),

3.2 Check in advance in what form letters of recommendation are required to be provided to all universities where you are applying:
- in a free format or in a special form of the university of your choice,
- is it enough to scan the recommendations online or do you need to send the originals by mail,
- Is it possible to upload letters yourself or can only the teacher do this through his official university email.
It’s better to find out all this in advance so that you can immediately understand how many sets of documents to prepare and in what format.

3.3 After you have fully prepared all the main documents (motivation letter, CV and recommendations), check how logically all the information is connected, whether there are any discrepancies or excessive repetition. This is a ‘reality check’ before sending a set of documents.

The structure of the letter of recommendation should be as follows:

Context

In what capacity and for how long has the recommender known the candidate?

Candidate's achievements

An overall assessment of the candidate's abilities that have played an important role in the learning process, assignments, projects, research or job responsibilities.

Characteristics of the candidate’s activities and achievements during the mentioned period of study or work (here you can list awards, places of honor, certificates, etc.).

A description of the candidate's strengths, especially in comparison with other students or work colleagues with a similar background.

Personal qualities of the candidate

Assessing the candidate’s motivation and maturity (especially when it comes to entering a master’s or doctoral program).

Characteristics of leadership and communication skills, ability to work in a team or individually.

Conclusion

Finally, the recommender must justify why he believes that the recommended candidate should be accepted into the specified program of study or awarded a grant.

This is followed by a statement that additional information about the candidate can be provided upon request.

At the very end, the surname and initials of the recommender, his position and contacts (email address, phone number) are indicated.

The document must be signed by the recommender. If possible, the recommendation can be printed on the official letterhead of the institution where the recommender works. However, this is not always possible, so you can do without it.

To confirm the personal and business qualities of citizens during subsequent employment, letters of recommendation are issued. However, students of educational institutions may also need to obtain such a document. To characterize citizens during the period of study, a letter of recommendation is issued to the student.

Letters of recommendation are issued by officials under whose subordination citizens worked or studied. Only in this case will the description of personal and business qualities be objective and reliable. For students, such documents are prepared by the heads of the educational process - a dean, a supervisor, or another curator at the training stage.

The name of the institution where the student studied;
Personal data of the student to whom the recommendation is given;
The specialization in which the student’s educational process took place;
Personal and business qualities that the student demonstrated during the period of study;
Achievements of a scientific or social nature;
Recommendation to future employers or teachers.

This document is in the nature of a business letter, so all characteristics and wording must be clear and specific. The listing of the student's achievements must be accompanied by specific evidence and an indication of the activities in which he showed himself.

His positions in the educational institution;
Full decoding of personal data (last name, first name, patronymic);
Contract information.

To a foreign university in English

If the student intends to further study at an educational institution located outside the Russian Federation, he will be required to submit a letter of recommendation in English. Its form and content will not differ from a similar document in Russian, however, presenting the text in a foreign language may present a certain problem.

The standard language of business communication is English, so letters of recommendation should be drafted taking this fact into account;
The document can be immediately prepared in English if the domestic educational institution has qualified translators;
The document can be drawn up in Russian, and the translation will be certified and legalized by a notary.

Note! If a document is translated into Russian, both versions of letters of recommendation must have identical content. During notarized legalization and translation, this correspondence will be established by the notary.

Additional information that a letter of recommendation to a foreign university may contain includes: an indication of the level of theoretical and practical knowledge of one or more foreign languages.

To the master's program

Another possible direction where a letter of recommendation can be submitted is a master's degree program, which guarantees the student the opportunity to continue the educational process. Since completing a master's program is not a mandatory requirement for higher education, a letter of recommendation may influence the results of the competition for admission.

A student can choose a master’s degree program from a university other than the university where he studied for his undergraduate degree, so the content of the letter should describe in detail his attitude to the educational process, as well as information that allows him to give preference to this particular student.

If you are enrolled in a master's program at the same educational institution, letters of recommendation are usually issued by your immediate supervisors or curators of studies. Only these persons have the opportunity to assess the student’s personal attitude towards studies and recommend him for further study.

There are several cases when a student may need a letter of recommendation. Firstly, it is needed to complete an internship. Your supervisor or supervisor of the department writes it on a special form, outlining your achievements and personal qualities. Secondly, such letters are provided by universities that are involved in the placement of graduates after graduation. Let's look at the main features of a student letter of recommendation.

What do they indicate in the letter?

A representative of the university notes when you entered, what you graduated from, what main disciplines you studied and how you proved yourself. It also characterizes your personal qualities and draws conclusions about your professional suitability. In essence, the recommendation resembles a characteristic, but is written in a more free form. The document itself is printed on official letterhead, ensuring that the heading and signature are formatted correctly. The text is usually small in length, no more than a thousand characters. 1.
Student Ovechkin V.G. Graduated from St. Petersburg State University, Department of Applied Economics, Faculty of Economics. During his studies, he established himself as an efficient student, striving to improve his level of knowledge and qualifications. He had excellent grades in his core subjects. Relations with the staff developed well, he participated in educational and practical events conducted by the department.
I recommend Ovechkin V.G. as an intern at the regional branch of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation in St. Petersburg.

Deputy Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, Doctor of Economics, Professor A.V. Platonov (date, signature)

2.
Student Vlasova M.N. studied at the Department of Higher Mathematics of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Moscow State University. During her studies, she actively participated in seminars, conferences and round tables. Prepared three reports and five articles on the topic of the thesis. On a personal level, she showed herself to be exclusively positive: efficient, disciplined, and takes any work she does seriously.
I consider it necessary to credit Vlasov M.N. to the department staff as a junior researcher or engineer.

Head of the Department of Higher Mathematics, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor K.G. Zhdanov

If you are thinking about enrolling in a higher education institution, it would be a good idea to have with you letter of recommendation for admission to university. This is especially true if you want to enroll in a university abroad, where a letter of recommendation can play a decisive role. The chances of successful admission can increase many times over if you apply correctly.

This is relevant not only for admission to higher education institutions abroad, but also for Russian universities. The letter of recommendation may be from the military unit in which the applicant served. If he receives a letter in which the recommendations are positive, the future student has every chance of receiving benefits during his studies.

For a university, this document is of great value, since it indicates the personal characteristics of the applicant, and from them one can trace the inclinations and abilities of the future student. The management of the university will be able to understand the positive and negative sides of a person, and based on these data, make an appropriate conclusion about whether to accept him for study or not.

First you need to find out how you can get this document. If the applicant is a graduate of a school or college, first of all you can ask the director for a letter of recommendation; in extreme cases, you can ask the teacher to write the letter himself. If a person is already a graduate of a university, it is best to contact a supervisor. For employees, it is best to contact their employer. For military personnel - to the unit where he is serving.

The tips below are best used if you want to write a letter of recommendation that is as informative as possible.

If you have the opportunity to choose a person who will write a letter of recommendation for you, then it is best to contact higher-ranking persons. Recommendations from such people will be much more meaningful.
It is imperative to indicate the person who wrote the letter of recommendation, as well as his position in relation to the person for whom the letter is being written.
It is necessary to describe the character traits of the applicant. It is best if this is not a simple enumeration. You can describe specific situations where a person showed himself in one way or another, where it was proven that he has the necessary character traits that are described in the letter. The less formulaic the letter is written, the better. If the description makes the reader pay attention to the applicant, then we can say that the letter was written successfully. You need to know how to write a letter of recommendation, it is not that easy.
It would be good if the letter indicated the person’s previous achievements and successes. You can provide a list of successes that the applicant has achieved in the previous time, as well as provide evidence.
Description of the professional knowledge that the applicant has. You can list a person’s inclination towards this or that science, which comes easiest to him.
To compose a letter most effectively, you need to focus on the future specialty that the applicant wants to enroll in.
Write basic recommendations based on the information presented above. It is the recommendations that will serve as the main conclusions for the management of the university.