Letters of Recommendation

[PsyDWannabe]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello all! I'm not sure if these have been asked yet, but I have been searching and haven't found anything yet so, here goes...........


About LORs, how exactly do these work? Cos some schools just ask for an LOR but some have a specific form they want you to fill. Does this mean, you ask your LOR writers twice? And since each different school has a different format they want, do they have to do this for all 15 schools you are applying to? It does seem kind of outlandish when I think about it but I've never applied before so I have no idea what to expect. Thanks in advance for all of y'all's insight.

(I might have personalized a little on the whole 15 school bit 😛)

 

[osupsych05]

The hoops you have to jump through for letters of rec submission can be a little annoying, especially since you don't want to heap so much work on someone who is doing you a big favor. However, the people writing your letters are typically aware of what is expected of them from the universities, so no worries there. Some schools yes do require a specific form to be filled out accompanying the letter of recommendation, but read that carefully. Often times those forms exist only if the school requires a hard copy letter of rec. More and more schools are doing online submissions, which meand that in part of your online application you are able to list the person writing the letter and their email and a notification is automatically sent to them(probably the only efficient aspect of applying to graduate school, haha). Even if the school has the online option you may still see the form somewhere on their application page, this is typically just in case someone wants to mail in hard copies. Some schools however do require the letter and that form, some just require the letter, and some require that the letter and transcripts be bundled together(meaning your reference would have to return the letter to you personally in a sealed envelope), and some just have your reference mail the hard copy. So yes there are several different ways, and it would make a lot more sense if it was streamlined. But what I always did(and am doing again this year for reapplying) is make up a list of all my schools and under each school you put the specific directions that the person writing your letter will need to follow for that school as well as address info for the school if they'll need to mail it. That way even if there's several different routes they have to take its laid out in an easy fashion. This page is also good to make for yourself to make sure you have all your bases covered, plus its good to have a list of all the school addresses in one place because you will inevitabley need it for something. Good luck!

 

[PsyDWannabe]

Thank you so much! That really helped. That is exactly what I did and it is working out splendidly so far 🙂