How to write a letter of recommendation for a student. Expert assistance with admission to master's programs at the world's best universities and business schools

letter of recommendation- a document that is perceived in two ways. In some companies, it is treated as a relic from the past, in some (most of all in the West) it is a "start in life", for example, for a student. One way or another, this application to the resume will not be superfluous.

Characteristic

A document written on behalf of a teacher might look something like this:

I, associate professor Petrov Alexey Petrovich, was the teacher of Alexander Dmitrievich Alekseev in the period 2009-2013. in the disciplines "International tourism", "Ethics", "New directions of Russian tourism". During the training, he noted the high level of knowledge of Alexander Dmitrievich: written and oral exams, passed with excellent marks; participation in city student conferences with reports: "Prospects for the development of tourism in Murmansk", "Exit of regional tourism to the international level", "Development of extreme tourism in the region"; successful completion of educational and industrial practice in travel agencies"Russia Tour", "Around the World" as a manager.

Alexander Dmitrievich - my diploma student, his project "Rural tourism in Murmansk region: Prospects for Development" was awarded a unanimous rating of "5". The student conducted his research on the basis of personally collected data, surveys, which gives his work great value.

I am sure that Alexander Dmitrievich Petrov will show himself as an enterprising, responsible, creative employee in his future workplace.

  • The high status of the referent, as well as the mention of his personal acquaintance with the bearer.
  • Inclusion of opinions "from outside": classmates of the student, teachers, dean's office.
  • Specific examples of a student's achievements are a minimum of unfounded laudatory characteristics.
  • The mentioned successes should have something in common with the specifics of the desired position.
  • Description of both professional, business and personal qualities.

A letter of recommendation is a document that can help the applicant, especially abroad. Its meaningful, stylistically correct, reasonable content often serves as the main factor for the employer to make a decision.

Other equal conditions, a well-written letter of recommendation can tip the scales in favor of a particular candidate when entering a foreign university or receiving a scholarship. Learn how to choose a referee and write an effective student recommendation letter.

The purpose of a letter of recommendation to a student is to give an idea of ​​the abilities, achievements and personal qualities of the candidate. It is written on behalf of the person under whose direct supervision the candidate studied, performed a scientific project or work. Usually 2-3 references are required from different individuals. Most often, these are teachers, supervisors or supervisors from work.

In Russia and in other countries former USSR the culture of letters of recommendation is not developed and not everyone knows how to write them in the accepted international format. Therefore, it is better to prepare the texts yourself and then coordinate them with the recommenders.

The text of letters of recommendation should be “tailored” to the requirements of the training program or grant competition. For example, see how it differs. Therefore, before writing the text, carefully study the requirements for the candidate m.

Recommendations should help achieve your goal, namely: to go to university or receive a grant. Not every letter of recommendation is helpful. Therefore, the choice of recommenders should be approached consciously.

  • competent in the area of ​​interest to you or a related area;
  • is able to evaluate your achievements in the area of ​​interest to you;
  • can give an exhaustive description of your personal qualities;
  • can evaluate your professionalism (punctuality, efficiency, etc.);
  • is able to characterize your academic abilities and intellectual potential;
  • high opinion of you and your abilities;
  • has status and a certain recognition in the field of interest to you.

Make a list of your potential referrals and select those who meet most of the criteria.Start thinking about references as soon as you decide to go study abroad. Try to gain experience and competencies that you want to reflect in letters of recommendation, show yourself in a favorable light in front of the right recommenders: make sure that your zeal and success do not go unnoticed by them.

A standard letter of recommendation should consist of 4 parts:

Context (introduction)

  • In what capacity and for how long has the referrer known the candidate.

Candidate Achievements

  • An overall assessment of the candidate's abilities that played an important role in the learning process, assignments, projects, research or job duties.
  • Characteristics of the activities and achievements of the candidate during the mentioned period of study or work (here you can list awards, honors, certificates, etc.).
  • Characteristic strengths candidate, especially when compared to other students or work colleagues with a similar background.

Personal qualities of the candidate

  • Evaluation of the candidate's motivation and maturity (especially when it comes to entering a master's or doctoral program).
  • Characteristics of leadership and communication qualities, the ability to work in a team or individually.

Conclusion

  • Finally, the recommender must justify why he believes that the recommended candidate should be accepted into the specified program of study or awarded a grant.
  • What follows is the phrase that additional information about the candidate can be provided upon request.
  • At the very end, the surname and initials of the recommender, his position and contacts (email address, phone number) are indicated.

The document must be signed by the recommender. If possible, the recommendation can be printed on the official letterhead of the institution where the recommender works. However, this is not always possible, so you can do without it.

  • The tone of the letter is extremely positive. Even a neutral tone of the letter can only hurt, as it is likely to be perceived negatively.
  • Reflects the subjective opinion of the recommender about the candidate, and does not list what can be learned from the test results, diploma, etc.
  • Sufficiently detailed and specific: statements about the qualities, achievements and skills of the candidate are supported by real examples.
  • Takes into account the specific requirements of a particular training program or grant program in evaluating a candidate.
  • Fits on one, maximum - on two pages.
  • Too short for description concrete examples and events.
  • Written according to the template, without considering the purpose of the recommendation.
  • Focused on context (for example, detailed description circumstances of acquaintance with the candidate), and not on the qualities and achievements of the candidate.
  • Contains unsubstantiated praise of the candidate.
  • It tells about events that happened many years ago.

This document may be needed in the following cases: for an internship, admission to graduate school, to a foreign university, etc.

It starts with the title of the document.

Then it is indicated for how long and in what capacity the recommender was acquainted with the student.

After that, there is an assessment of the strengths, abilities of the student, his success during his studies. Here you can talk about his participation in olympiads, various competitions, competitions, about the presence of awards, diplomas, places of honor, etc.

MTUSI student Anokhina Inna Vladislavovna

Student Anokhina I. V. in 2013 graduated from the Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics, department of production organization, audit and accounting of the Faculty of Economics and Management.

During her studies, she proved herself to be a capable student striving for continuous improvement your level of knowledge. He is a laureate of the contest "The Best Student of the Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics". In the team enjoyed respect and authority. Actively participated in social and cultural life university. It has a non-conflict character, is distinguished by a high level of responsibility and diligence.

A letter of recommendation will be useful to a student for admission to a master's program, for employment or transfer to another educational institution. A paper with recommendations can be written by his teacher, a supervisor who is able to correctly characterize the student and write useful recommendations for him.

A letter of recommendation is very important for a student after graduation. The graduate has no experience, so the teacher can evaluate his knowledge, skills and character educational institution. When searching new job, written references are a useful addition to a resume, in addition to a diploma of education received. Therefore, it is recommended that after graduation from the university, contact the teacher with a request to write such a paper.

Another popular reason for issuing such a document is admission to a magistracy. Often, along with other documents, it is required to provide a letter of recommendation from the teacher.

  • title part - date, place of execution, information about the addressee, title of the document;
  • the main part - basic information about the author of the letter and the student, his characteristics and recommendations for him;
  • author's signature.

The addressee should be indicated if it is known in advance to whom the letter of recommendation is intended. If there is no such information, then this attribute is omitted.

In the main part, you need to indicate from whom the recommendations are written and for whom (name of the author of the recommendation letter, his position, attitude towards the student, his name). It should be indicated at which faculty the recommended one studied, the period of study, what specialty he received.

The first part of the text characterizes the knowledge and skills of the student, describes the experience gained in practice, the success of the assimilation of knowledge, academic performance. Next, an assessment of the personality is given - how he interacts with other people, the degree of conflict, the main features are described. All this information will allow you to get the most complete picture of the student, to identify his strengths and weaknesses.

The signed form is given to the student or directly to the destination.

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  • It is written on behalf of the teacher (the higher his academic degree, the better)
  • It should describe your academic achievements and mention character traits such as being a hardworking, diligent and diligent student.

It's good if in the last paragraph the teacher recommends a student to study at this university, so that the reader of this letter has no doubts that you are exactly the student they need.

The team of our site decided to help you and below published examples of letters of recommendation in English for admission to a university.

During the period of her studies at GBOU secondary school No. 232, Victoria has established herself as a diligent and diligent student, with an active life position. The list of her achievements includes not only academic achievements, but also success in sports and social activities.

Victoria is the winner of the regional stage of the All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren in 2016-2017, as well as the winner of many competitions in history and social studies. Under the strict guidance of the school teachers, Victoria wrote a number of publicistic articles on the topic “My family during the Second World War”, which were published in the collection of the conference “Historical Memory”. Also in 2014, the student scored the highest among the schoolchildren of the Admiralteisky district in the competition for English language British Bulldog.

Victoria has been involved in athletics since childhood and has been a member of the school team in this sport since the 5th grade. In 2015, the team took 3rd place in the relay, dedicated to the Day Victory. Prior to that, in 2014, Victoria took part in the city competitions "Young Shipovka" and showed the best results in her age group.

Ivanova Victoria took an active part in the social life of the school: she helped organize events, attended cool watch, participated in various actions, for example, "Help me go to study", a school clean-up day and waste paper collection.

Based on all the above achievements and merits, the Administration of the GBOU secondary school No. 232 of the Admiralteisky district of St. Petersburg strongly recommends a school graduate Victoria Ivanova for admission to a higher educational institution.

Director of GBOU secondary school No. 232

Admiralteisky district of St. Petersburg

Signature______________

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

I am writing to recommend (name) for Academic Mobility Program. I have known her\him for 3 years. She\he is extremely hard-working and truly insightful—these two traits combine to produce an especially unique and outstanding student.

I have the deepest personal and professional respect for (name), and sincerely belief she\he will bring his unique energy, optimism, passion, and tireless creativity to your university. She\he displays impressive logical thinking abilities and an intellectual curiosity beyond that of his peers. She\he was always an active participant in classes who listened eagerly and never hesitated to raise questions. Because of her\his drive and ambition, I am confident that (name) will remain in the top of her\his class and continue to display excellent performance.

I expect (name) to respond to the challenges of the academic mobility program with a rigorous devotion to excellence, and I am certain that her\his intellect is capable of handling even the most demanding courses available.

In sum, I highly recommend (name) for academic mobility. I believe her\his proposed course of study is suitable and builds on her\his many strengths. Her\his animating spirit and disciplined approach to learning make her\his particularly well suited to take advantage of this opportunity.

Yours sincerely,

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

I would like to give my recommendations to (name), who is interested in joining in spring semester 2015. I have known (name) since she attended my Chinese language class. (Name) is a responsible and disciplined student who is highly interested in learning Chinese language as it is connected to her scientific research. Throughout the study period, (name) has shown excellent results within her studies and scientific work. She\his actively participated in the discussions, demonstrated her\his ability to work in a team and proved her\his commitment to personal development.

I am confident that the program at your university will give her\him the opportunity to significantly increase the level of language proficiency. In addition, it will be an invaluable experience for her\his further research activities. I strongly recommend (name) for studying in your university.

yours sincerely,