How to Write a Recommendation Letter for a Speech Pathologist

Ya girl is back with another post on applying to grad school! It's been hard to crank out posts when I have so many other responsibilities I need to be focusing on, but I want to make sure that as the application cycle progresses that I'm writing and posting about topics that are relevant to the timeline. At this point in the cycle, you should be filling in information on your online applications, taking (or retaking) your GREs, and beginning to write your first drafts of your personal statement.

And oh yeah, asking for letters of recommendation. A scary, daunting thought – you'll likely never see what was written about you, and you just have to hope that it was all good things. But I'm hoping that you already have people in mind that are in your corner and can speak to your credentials, work ethic, and character.

Again, I must preface all of my grad school application posts with the fact that my experience lies in SLP grad school. I am by no means an expert, and I don't know how other programs differ. I simply want to help others with the knowledge I gained through the application cycle in hopes to make it easier and less stressful. You can read more of my posts on applying to grad school here.

Who to Ask for Letters of Recommendation

Most schools request letters from at least three people. It could be only two, and they could also allow up to five. When choosing who to ask, you want to think about the quality of the letter that can be written. Basically, don't choose a professor who doesn't know your name. And this seems obvious, but don't choose a professor who you have a negative relationship with or did poorly in their class. Professors remember if you skipped their class each day or spent the period on Facebook. If you got any lower than a B in their course, don't ask.

Ideally, for the three letters, I would recommend two MAJOR professors and one employer. This was the ratio that I chose because I worked closely with two professors through both a research lab and a Teaching Assistant position. Professors can speak to your ability to excel in post-secondary education. While I have no idea what they wrote about me in their letters, my particular professors could probably attest to the fact that I was a hard worker and interested in pursuing learning opportunities outside of class. These connections I had with my major professors were huge. I also worked for my employer/supervisor for three years. She could speak a lot about my work ethic, leadership style, and character.

I realize that not everyone has close relationships with their professors, but no matter what, I would ask at least one professor. It will likely look strange and off-putting to schools if you don't ask a professor from your major/related field. Unless the school(s) you are applying to has guidelines on who they want letters of recommendation from, other possible combinations you could ask include, but are NOT limited to:

• One major professor, one minor professor, one employer

• One major professor, one employer, one professional from the field (i.e. an SLP you might have job-shadowed)

Other people you could ask include an academic advisor or a supervisor you worked closely with in an organization (i.e. if you had a leadership position in, for example, a student government association and you worked closely with a qualified adult supervisor). Don't ask any relatives or people who might be a conflict of interest.

Preparing a Letter of Recommendation Packet

If your school doesn't require you to make one of these,pleasedo it anyway so you can make it easy and organized for the people you are asking. Basically, the letter of recommendation packet contains all of the items and outside information necessary that professors (and others) might want to know about you before writing the letter. They might not need it to say what they want to say about you, but regardless, you should include these items (unless your undergrad school requires their own. In that case, follow their rules, not mine):

• A list of schools you are applying to, with the name & address of their department and the application due date for each school

• A student profile sheet, including your name, overall & major GPA, on-campus involvement, off-campus involvement or employment, and any other facts or details you may want the professor to know about you that they don't already

• A copy of your most recent unofficial transcript

• Stamped, pre-addressed, self-adhesive envelopes to each of your schools (if the school requires the letters to be hard copies, not electronic). The return address would likely be your school's major department, but this depends on who is writing the letter.

• Any recommendation forms from the institutions you are applying to, if necessary

• A (professional) photo of yourself

I would prepare all of these items in a folder or a 9×12 envelope. Write both your name and the professor's name on the folder/envelope.

How to (Professionally) Ask for a Letter

If you take away anything from this section, let it be this:requests should be made in person, NOT over email.Really, the only email that should be sent is to ask for an in-person meeting to formally request for the letter. There's really no need to side-step this in your email to a professor – they know what time of year it is. If they know you well, they should be happy to meet with you!

When you write your email, I would suggest covering a few bases:

• Why you want to meet with them – to formally request for a letter of recommendation

• Expand upon your desire to meet with them – to talk about future plans and to discuss grad school as a whole (and hope that they might be able to provide you with some guidance and feedback about your credentials and schools)

• Thank them in advance for their consideration and/or willingness to meet with you

• Acknowledge that they are doing you a favor – that this is a courtesy to you, not a responsibility of theirs

Make sure before you meet with them that you have the packet already prepared!

Another point to bring up about asking for letters of recommendation is to ASK YOUR PROFESSORS EARLY. Seriously, I cannot stress this enough. My school allowed us to request for meetings from department professors until November 1st, but I am posting this now because you should begin requesting for these meetings. My department also capped how many letters each professor could write at 20 students. This means that they could stop accepting requests when they get to a certain number of students. After a while, it becomes too much of a burden for the professor. I wouldn't want this to happen to you, especially if you have someone in mind that you want to ask and you might risk not getting a letter from them in exchange for a professor who doesn't know you as well.

Just remember that professors can say no. This really does happen to some students, and this is why you should choose wisely on who you want to ask. Again, they are not obliged to write you a letter!

Following Up

My last point is that you should follow up with your professors as you get closer to your deadlines. Do NOT assume that they will remember to submit to each school just because you handed them the packet! Make sure you monitor the status of your online applications. Usually you can tell when your professors have submitted their letters successfully on some kind of application checklist through the school. If you are getting close to a deadline and your letters are still missing, send the person a gentle reminder. I would suggest maybe around 2 weeks in advance, and again at 1 week before the due date if you're really getting down to the wire.

I know this is a lot of information to take in, but I've been there. I don't say any of this to sound scary but rather to help. I get that it's stressful and a lot to think about, but I have full faith in each person who reads this. I hope you have found this post comprehensive enough to suit your needs about asking for letters of recommendation. If you have any questions, my comment box and "Contact" page are ALWAYS available!

Until next time,

How to Write a Recommendation Letter for a Speech Pathologist

Source: http://thespeechstudent.com/2018/09/letters-of-recommendation.html

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