How to Ask for a Letter of Recommendation
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“A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.”
-Timothy Ferriss
Although letters of recommendation are a mandatory part of almost all applications, many students do not think about them until the last minute. This is a terrible idea because 1) they will not have enough time to personally connect with their recommenders, and 2) their recommender will be rushed to complete the letter in a limited amount of time, which further decreases the personal value of the letter.
Leaving letters of recommendation to the last minute is also troubling because it is the only part of your application over which you do not have full control. Imagine the amount of paperwork, email, and other information that your recommender receives on a daily basis. If you do not give the recommender sufficient time to complete the letter, then it could end up delaying your entire application.
To avoid the aforementioned problems, we have outlined a fail-proof step-by-step method for securing letters of recommendation.