As a professor, what do you write about in letters of recommendation for your student? ©Quora

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Answer of Thomas Cormen, Profesor of Computer Science at Dartmouth College

Almost all the recommendations that I write for students are for when they are applying to graduate programs. I assume that these letters will be read by computer science faculty members. They will know of Dartmouth College, and they may very well know my name as coauthor of Introduction to Algorithms, aka “CLRS.” If they don’t know who I am, they can Google me.

For the rare letter that I do not expect to be read by computer science faculty—for example, a letter for a high-school student applying to a university (Dartmouth allows local-area high-school students to take our courses), which I expect to be read by admissions officers—I include a short bio of myself so that the reader understands my extensive teaching experience and the student population with whom I am comparing the student.

Here is what I write about the student:

1. A very brief bottom-line recommendation, such as “I highly recommend that you take her.”

2. How I know them. What courses they took from me, and when. What research they did with me. Any other way in which I know them.

3. How they did, in context. For a course, I describe the course so that the reader can understand the level of rigor. Then I discuss how the student did and, if warranted, what prevented the student from getting a better grade. If the student was among the very top tier in the class, I say so. If the student did something particularly memorable, I include that. For research, I describe the problem, how the student approached the problem, and the student’s contribution to the solution. When appropriate, I also discuss how well the student presented the result, orally and/or in writing.

4. I wrap up with a summary, ending with a recap of my bottom-line recommendation. If I know the student well enough, the summary includes my personal observations about the student.

Most of my recommendation letters take 1 or 1½ pages. If the student took several courses from me or worked with me on research over a prolonged period, the letter will be longer. The longest letter I have written was for a student who worked with me on research for two years and wrote the best undergraduate thesis I ever supervised. That letter was 3½ pages long. She was applying to eight of the top computer science Ph.D. programs and was accepted at seven of them.

Link: https://www.quora.com/As-a-professor-what-do-you-write-about-in-letters-of-recommendation-for-your-student/answer/Thomas-Cormen-1?ch=15&oid=330873934&share=a160809b&srid=hplbNZ&target_type=answer

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