Need a Recommendation Letter from a Member of the Psychology Faculty?

Choose your recommendation letter writers carefully. Your goal is to get strong recommendation letters that accurately reflect the quality of your work and the content of your character (e.g., how motivated you are to accomplish the next step in your planned career). These recommenders are usually your professors who have come to know you through your work both inside and outside the classroom. Thus, get to know your professors. A letter is likely to be more favorable and personalized if you did more than just sit quietly in class and take an occasional test and write an occasional paper. Recognize that if a recommender feels that they do not know you well enough (this can happen, for example, if you were only in a professor’s online course),” they may decline to write a letter. So be engaged in class! Visit your professors during office hours! Consider getting involved in research!

You and/or your family might know the governor of your state (or someone else equally “substantial”) but unless the governor has direct knowledge of your relevant work, the governor’s letter will likely not help you. Also avoid getting letters from relatives or from others who will not be able to give you a professionally relevant letter.

You likely will need more than one letter of recommendation (three is common). Choose the three people who know you best in a relevant professional setting, and ask them if they are willing to write you a recommendation letter. These three people can send letters to all the places to which you apply.

• Fill out the form shown below and give it to your recommender(s) with your request. As you can see, it’s a good idea to share your graduate school “personal statement” with your recommender(s). This will presumably give your recommender(s) information regarding your motivation for graduate school work and your ultimate career goals. Make sure you proofread your personal statement before giving it to your recommender(s).
• Provide your recommender(s) with a list of all the places you need the letter sent to (include the name of the specific program/specific degree). For example, you may decide to apply to a Ph.D. program in Clinical Psychology and an M.S. program in Counseling Psychology. Your recommender(s) should know these specific program titles. In addition, provide all the recommendation letter deadlines, and Indicate whether the recommendation letters need to be sent electronically or through the regular mail channels (see table below).
• Provide your recommender(s) with a list of the courses you took with that person, when you took them and the grades you received. You may wish to provide your recommender details of the work you completed within their course (e.g., the topic of a final paper/presentation). If you did not take courses with your recommender, summarize the content of your shared experiences (see table below).

After you ask your prospective recommender(s) if they are willing to write a letter for you, you should communicate directly with your recommender(s) to let them know that a request for a recommendation letter is forthcoming. Ideally, give your recommender at least a month’s notice (recommenders often have many letters to write). Note that updates (did you add a new school to your list or did you delete a school?) and reminders about due dates are helpful.

A personal statement is typically needed when you are applying to enter a graduate school program. Your school of interest may have provided you with a specific prompt; make sure you address this in your statement. In addition, provide evidence for why you will successfully complete the program. Go beyond your GPA to describe the specific experiences you have had that led to your interest in and preparation for graduate school. Have you helped a professor with their research, conducted your own research and/or completed an internship in the field? Was a particular course instrumental to sparking your interest in an area? Don’t just say you’ve always been interested in psychology; show that you’ve reflected thoughtfully about your path. In addition, make sure that you are familiar with the program to which you are applying so that you can illustrate how you are a good match for the program (e.g., discuss how the professors at the institution of interest conduct research that matches your interests).

Appleby and Appleby (2006) conducted a survey of the chairs of Graduate School Admissions Committees and found suggestions regarding what should NOT be in a personal statement. I recommend that you read this article (cited below) for specific examples of what to avoid. I will just summarize some of their major points here. Do NOT provide:

• information about one’s trouble with mental illness
• a statement about how you want to help people (who doesn’t?)
• an excessive amount of overly personal information
• information that has no relevance to your graduate school plans

_{Reference
Appleby, D. C., & Appleby, K. M. (2006). Kisses of death in the graduate school application process. Teaching of Psychology, 33(1), 19-24. doi:10.1207/s15328023top3301_5}