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Letter of Recommendation – A Complete Guidance

LOR or Letter of Recommendation is a common term that a student should have come across if she/he is planning to study on foreign countries and is in the middle of university admission processes. A Letter of Recommendation is an essential document that should be attached to the college application. This document plays a vital role in deciding why you should be admitted to a particular university. Also, it reflects your qualities, achievements, and capabilities from an experienced professional’s point of view.

Why do you need a LOR?

A student who is applying for courses like Bachelor’s, Master’s, Ph.D. or MBA program is expected to submit at least 3 LORs in order to prove their abilities to the university where they are applying to pursue their education.

The letter also aims to provide a clear vision of your talent, expectations, skills, and achievements to the university’s officials where you have applied for your higher education. The experienced recommender’s recommendation is strong support for your application process.

What a LOR should contain?

Every LOR should predominantly contain the connection of the recommender with the student. The students are usually advised to seek the LOR from their professors. So, if the recommender is a professor, then details like what subject he/she taught and the student’s performance in the subject should be mentioned.

The professor can also evaluate the student on what all opportunities you made the best use of. It is like evidence about the student’s performance. So, adding more positive traits about a student will increase their possibility to get admission into the college. Make sure to select a recommender who can bring out the best in you.

Who needs LOR?

A LOR is an essential document for all students who are planning to pursue higher education in foreign countries. The students who wish to undertake Bachelor’s courses, MS, MBA, Ph.D., etc.., Irrespective of the courses, all universities demand a minimum of three LORs from the students.

• For UG students, the LORs can be provided by their teachers, professors, school counselors, or correspondents.
• For MS students, the LORs can be provided by the professors, internship heads, team leads, or managers.
• For MBA students, the LORs should be provided by a professional who has at least three years of experience in a particular field. Meanwhile, the Ph.D. and MBA aspirants can request for LORs from their college professors or project guides.

The format of a professional LOR

The LOR format of each university differs accordingly. However, the question and answer format can vary, but the running format of the LOR is the same for all universities. The letter will be divided into four paragraphs, where each paragraph can be comprised of about 400 words.

• The first paragraph should be about the student’s connection with the recommender. If he/she is a professor, mention the college’s name, the department along with the designation. Followed by it, write about your association with the professor, what subject he/she taught you, the professor’s contribution to the field, and how many years you have been associated with the professor. The same procedure is to be followed by the project guide too. Mention the guide’s name, the project details, on which semester you carried over the project, etc..,

• The second paragraph should be about the projects, internships, campaigns, workshops, etc. The recommender should mention the student’s contribution to these fields. They should also talk about the student’s active performance in these and what impressed the professor overall. They can also elaborate on certain instances if needed. The procedure is the same for the project guide too. He/She can talk about the nature of the project and how the student worked towards it effectively. The guide should also talk about your role in the project and certain activities of yours, which are worth-mentioning.

• In the third paragraph, the recommenders can get more expressive by mentioning 1-2 instances that happened during a workshop or any other remarkable activities. The professor can elaborate on certain incidents where the student actively worked as a team lead for a project, activities like enabling the fellow students to initiate a campaign, providing solutions to a creative question/task, hosting an excellent project presentation in front of the faculties and more. These instances can effectively talk about your leadership potential, communicative skills, creative ability, and more.

• The fourth paragraph is all about extra-curricular activities. The recommender must mention your extra talents apart from academics that will support your personal strength. Do not forget to end your LOR with the recommender’s basic details like name, designation, College, Department, City, and contact details.

Top qualities to be highlighted in a LOR

For a well-written LOR, the following qualities of students should be highlighted:

• Potential
• Skills/abilities/strength
• Dependability
• Consistence
• Persistence
• Motivation
• Character
• Contributions

Importance of a LOR

A candidate cannot proceed with the process of an application without going through the procedure of submitting a LOR or Letter of Recommendation. Such is the importance of LORs in the admission process. Though all university does not rely on SOP or statement of purpose or an admission essay, every university demands the student to attach at least 3 LORs. Below are the reasons why a LOR is an essential document:

• A crown to your resume

Mostly, the information furnished on a letter of recommendation glitters up your achievements in both academics and extra-curricular activities. As the letters are written by the student’s guide or professors or any other professional who is in a well-respected position, the letter acts as evidence that proves your talent.

It also explains the instances where you have uttered great performances. These quotes cannot be mentioned elaborately in a resume. However, the quotes given by your professor about your performance will impress the admission officials for sure.

• Living evidence

Rather you explaining about your performance and academic activities, the quotes from your professor will act as strong evidence to prove your skills. Apart from academic knowledge, substantial qualities like punctuality, creativity, discipline, and dedication need to be explained by your head, who closely worked with you for a period of time. It will help the officials to understand your psychological nature in detail.

• Trustworthy explanations

Certain qualities like team building, leadership, etc.., cannot be explained by thyself and cannot be proved within a given question/task. Hence, it needs to be proved through a written format by a professional. It can be done by your guide/professor effectively. He/she can write about your skills, and it stands as a remarkable comment in your LOR.

Top things to include in a LOR

Certain things are not-to-be-missed in a LOR. They are:

• Your association with the recommender
• Tenure of association
• Nature of association
• Your accomplishments, awards, and accolades
• Real-life successful instances

How to write a LOR?

The LOR is a document that has to be presented in an utmost professional way. The students have to remember the format of a LOR and present them accordingly. Though it is roughly a 400-500 word essay about the student’s performances during the previous academic years, it has to be written in a certain format for the officials to understand it better.

Let us see the basic format on how a LOR should be designed:

• The foreign universities will mostly accept the LORs that are only written on official letterhead. These letterheads can vary accordingly. For example, the academic LOR can be written on a university letterhead while the professional LOR can be written on the company’s letterhead.
• Make sure your recommender is still working with the company’s / university’s letterhead. Because, if you are opting for a LOR, who has moved out of the university, then it is not legal to write on that university’s letterhead.
• Learn how to differentiate your points between a LOR and an SOP or Statement of Purpose.
• The LOR should not repeat the skillsets that are mentioned in your CV. It can explain the detailed version of your skills that are in your CV, but you cannot just repeat it.
• The LOR should reveal the instances when the candidate have performed best and about their internship performances.
• The LOR should always be presented in a personalized manner. Do not write a generic LOR as it might not impress the admission officials.
• Keep in mind that your LOR is not the only one that the admission officials will be going through. So, make sure to present them in the utmost unique way possible. List out all your achievements and accomplishments in a creative way. Prove the officials that you are a worthy candidate to enroll in their university.

For more details about tips to write a LOR, click here (link)

How to choose a recommender?

Most of the applicants give importance to the position/designation of the recommender while they forget about how well the recommender knows about them. So, the students must choose a recommender who knows them well, who have observed them well over their academic years and can bring out the strengths and weaknesses of the students in a perfect manner.

For example, the Principal of your school might hold a highly respectable position but might not know you well. Whereas, a project guide or a professor will travel with you during your projects, internships, campaigns, etc.., So, be wise in choosing your recommender.

Below are the top things to follow while choosing your recommender:

• Choose based on your program

If you are obtaining LOR for courses like MBA, you must get a letter from a professional who has better experience in this field. For Bachelor’s, you can seek LORs from your project guides and professors. If you are opting for Masters, then get the letter written from your Principal or dean. But make sure he knows well about you.

• Personal connection

It is always advised to seek letters from those who know you personally. It is an important thing when it comes to writing LOR. The recommender should have travelled along with you during the academic years. The professors and project guides can be preferred to write LORs. The recommenders should know you personally, should evaluate you based on your creativity, leadership skills, participation, etc.., He/she should have a holistic view of your performance during your educational period.

It is an added benefit if your recommender has watched you keenly during your academic years. It will help them to recall the instances when you showcased your talent. Writing these achievements contributes the best to your LOR.

• Willingness

Make sure not to compel your recommender to write a LOR for you. Also, see that your recommender is equally willing as you to join in the preferred university. Writing an LOR without the required interest will only make it worse. Remember, this is strong evidence to prove your skill to the admission officials. So, do not hand your LOR to someone who doesn’t know you, doesn’t want you to join in the new university, doesn’t care to evaluate you, etc..,

Also, choose a recommender in such a way that you are in their good books. The recommender should give importance to your success and the new start. He/she should sound confident about your future scope and the willingness to join the institution and pursue their higher education.

• Language

No matter what position a recommender is in, his/her language proficiency should be high. They should have a good flow in writing, perfect choice of words, and should know how to draft a student’s overall performance.

Who should be your recommender?

• A student applying for their Bachelor’s program can obtain a Letter of Recommendation from a school teacher. The LOR can also be written by the Principal if they had enough connection with the student during their academic years. The teachers who are writing the LOR should also have had a direct association with the student during the presentations to evaluate the skills and give a detailed insight about them.

• A student who is applying for their Masters can obtain two LORs from their professors and project guides as well. The professors who were in direct association with the student can throw their best vision about them. They can also share the instances when a particular student has uttered his/her creative knowledge or successfully led a team. Also, the project guide can mention the student’s contribution, participation, and creativity working towards a project.

• A student who is applying for an MBA should get at least two recommendations from their senior officials, team leaders, and their colleagues. They can talk about the person’s cooperation, team leading skills, sharing knowledge, communicative skills, etc..,

• A student who wants to pursue a Ph.D. should seek LORs from professors and HOD. The recommenders should share the information about aspirant’s research knowledge, performances so far, etc..,

How to send LORs to your preferred universities?

Once after you chose your recommender and done with your LOR, the last important step is sending your LOR to the university. The mode of sending the LORs differs from each university. So, one should fall under what is the preferred mode of sending the LOR by their university.

Some of the basic modes of LOR submission are as below:

• Online submission

This is an easy method to submit your LOR. Certain universities will be providing a login portal where the recommenders will be visiting, and they will produce their letter. Though this is the easiest method, it is also considered trickiest at times. However, the students should also have the printed format of the document ready.

• E-mail

Most of the universities will ask their candidates to submit their LOR documents through mail. The applicants will be provided with the official mail ID of the university’s admission office, and they are supposed to mail the LOR document. The university will also provide a recommender with a particular reference number, which must be mentioned in the subject of the mail. The recommender should also mail from his/her official mail ID as the university does not accept the generic mail IDs. The document should strictly be in scanned PDF format.

• Post

It is also a method that is highly opted by the students who wish to pursue their education abroad. It is also a traditional method where a student’s LOR form will be collected by a postman and sent to a particular university. The document will be collected in a sealed and stamped envelope. In this method, the students are asked to send the documents through courier along with a cover letter. It should have basic information like the course name, the application number, and other such references. The students should also know that the copies of recommendation letters are not accepted. For example, if a student is applying for more than one university, then he/she provides separate letters to each university. However, while sending the post, make sure to send your documents in a tamper-proof sealed envelope.

However, in all the above procedures, the students should strictly maintain confidentiality. In case of clarifications, the students should directly contact the admission office.