Asking for Letters of Recommendation

Ask early

  • Give your recommender at least two weeks’ notice and then send a reminder a day or two before you need to pick up the letter or have it sent.
  • Last minute requests often result in hurried letters that do not really tell your story and that are often not as persuasive as they could be.

Ask teachers or community leaders who know you well

  • A letter that begins, “I do not know Sarah Smith well, but everyone speaks highly of her” is a disaster.
  • Do not go for political figures unless that person really does know you personally and can speak specifically about your academic and leadership abilities.
  • The most helpful letters of recommendations tell detailed stories about you.

Provide information about yourself

  • If you wrote a great paper for the teacher, then provide it as well. It is very helpful when teacher provide titles of papers and why that particular paper stands out.
  • A list of club activities is not very helpful, but if you can provide a story of something meaningful you did for that club, then you can help your write create a fuller picture of who you are.

Provide information about the scholarship in question

  • Writers can be more effective if they know the audience. What are we looking for at the University of Arkansas? What are readers for the distinguished fellowships wanting to learn more about you as an applicant? We would love to have teachers address some of the questions below.
  • What makes you tick?
  • What are your passions?
  • How do you engage with social, political, intellectual issues and ideas?
  • What are specific examples of that engagement?
  • What are the results?
  • How do you work with others (peers, teachers, administrators)? What is your work ethic?
  • In what ways are you a leader? A thinker? A doer?
  • We are not looking for repeated information from your resume unless something specific needs to be clarified or expanded upon or for superlatives that are not supported by specific anecdotes.

Be sure to thank your writers and to let them know how you fair in the application process