Will I write a recommendation letter for you?
Recommendation letter are a necessary evil in academia so I will write one
for you if :
- You took a class with me or TA'ed/ULA'ed for a class with me
- Your Final Letter Grade in that class was A- or A. If it was B+ or B,
I would still write it if you have a good reason for that score.
- You have contributed well to the teamwork, participated in discussions
and also helped out your fellow classmates
- To increases your chances of a better recommendation letter, make sure
you participate in all class activities and ask for a recommendation
letter early enough i.e. at least a month in advance if not 3
I will not a write a recommendation letter for you if:
- You have an academic misconduct or behavioral misconduct report.
- You did something unsavory like being arrogant in your responses to
your classmates or TAs on the discussion board or Teams/Slack, even if you were not
reported.
What info should you send so that I can write a recommendation letter for you?
- Name of the programs you are applying to and their respective
deadlines
- Your Final Letter grade in all the courses you took with me and the
terms that you took them with me
- Something noteworthy about your Portfolio project or the course work –
e.g. extending the Portfolio project beyond classroom. If you can't
recall that, it's ok to just send me a link to your project on GitHub
so that I can take a look.
- Any specific mention-worthy interactions with students from your work
as a ULA/TA and/or as a student
- Anything else you would want me to talk about!
Can you put my name and email address as a reference when applying for
jobs ?
- All the above applies, but if you haven't been a TA/ULA for me, my
word would usually not carry much weight even if you had an A in my class. So
you should first contact the Prof whom you have worked with a
TA/ULA :)