Graduate School Recommendation by WS

It is great that you are thinking of pursuing higher studies. Learning is a lifelong journey and I am happy that you are taking the spark kindled in your undergraduate to the next level.

The Importance of a Recommendation Letter

Graduate studies in CS are rigorous and demanding. Graduate programs want to make sure that you will fit - are you up to the mark; can you handle the pressure; have you demonstrated the necessary skills, aptitude, and character; do you have appropriate work habits; have you built a good foundation in your undergraduate; can you work well in teams; can you work independently and solve your own problems; are you a good communicator; will you be able to assist professors as a TA; have you demonstrated suitable intellectual ability; and so on. You have probably filled forms and written statements to convince the program of your qualities. Faculty at the program wants a peer assessment of your abilities and achievements. This is where faculty recommendations come in.

Successful Applications

I have written many recommendation letters over the years. I invest good effort and remember each fondly. Hence my list of requirements further below. My letters were included in the successful applications of the following candidates.

The achievements of these individuals are due to their efforts, only a few facets of which are documented by my letter. More applicants who sought my recommendation were unsuccessful in their application than were successful (the ratio exceeds 5 to 1 as of November 2023), just so you know!

Eligibility

For me to be able to write you a meaningful recommendation, all of the following must hold.

If you meet the above, please share with me the requirements mentioned below.

If you do not meet the above, any recommendation that I write for you will be flimsy, superficial, and may not even be positive. Ultimately, it will be counterproductive. In both our interests, I will not write it. Recommendation letters are personal and based on substantial interaction. It seems that you did not build the necessary rapport with me. You should instead seek a letter from a faculty member with whom you built this relation.

Suitability

When applying to a program, it is helpful to think about students who joined the program previously and self-assess how you compare with them. This should give you a fair idea about your own chances. That said, there is no harm in trying for a few schools which seem to have higher standards than what you have so far been able to demonstrate. In fact, it is recommended to apply to a few reach programs, a good number of safe programs, and a couple of backup programs.

Different people have different strategies. Some only want to apply to reach programs as they want to join top programs only. Some are not comfortable applying to backup programs as they do not feel it worth their while to join a below-par program. Some just want to join any program. Whatever your strategy, be realistic about your applications, and orient yourself accordingly.

Requirements

Now that eligibility is out of the way, see me in person and seek my consent. I may still not be able to write you a recommendation. Some reasons are:

In such cases, I will let you know. If we decide to proceed, I will ask you to share the following items with me.

My list of requirements below is long but necessary. The items serve to jog my memory, provide me an overview of your achievements and ambitions, and inform about typical items asked in recommendation forms. Please share the following with me:

  1. your CV
  2. the names of the courses that you took with me and the grades that you earned in them
  3. the names of my courses for which you served as a TA
  4. the semesters (absolute and relative, e.g., Fall 2020, first semester at university) in which you took the above courses or served as TA
  5. any other notable experiences with me, e.g., work study, hobby project etc.
  6. accounts of notable interactions from the above experiences. Be specific, e.g., "in our CS 101 class, during our discussion of the Towers of Hanoi problem, I pointed out how it can also be solved using iteration". The recommendation letter is much more impactful if I can include several of these. We have probably had many such interactions, and I very likely do not remember any of them. I am relying on you to remind me of them in detail.
  7. a copy of your transcript
  8. any university honor rolls (Dean's list, President's list, etc.) that you have been on
  9. the program(s) applied to and your reasons for doing so
  10. a list of your referees, including myself, and a note on each explaining how their recommendation helps your application
  11. your general career goals
  12. any of the statements (personal statement, statement of purpose, etc.) that you have submitted or are going to submit as part of your application. If the personal nature of these statements makes it uncomfortable for you to share them, please share an edited version or some other formulation of its content as appropriate.

Some of the above may overlap. The more information I have on you, the better I will be able to write a recommendation letter that is not generic. They may also be repetition from our meeting. It is difficult for me to precisely remember the details of specific students so having everything in one place in written form helps me to look up the necessary information when I begin to write your letter.

Submission

Please share the above as an email to me with the title: "Material for recommendation letter". Please be decent and do not send me Word files.

Conditions and Expectations

Recommendations are confidential and I will not share my recommendation with you. Rather, you may enter my information as a referee at your target university. Be sure to waive your right to access the recommendation otherwise I will not provide it. This is standard procedure for recommendations. The university will then contact me and I will share the recommendation with them directly.

I lose track of recommendations and will not be able to help if the deadline is less than a week away. So please give me ample time and send me reminders, if necessary, as the deadline approaches. I expect you to inform me about the outcome, positive or negative, of each application as it becomes known to you. If your application is positive, I will happily add your name to the list above.

If you have made it this far, great! I wish you all the best for your onward academic journey. As a teacher, I am highly desirous of you achieving success, satisfaction, and fulfillment. And as an academic, I am all the happier if higher education is your means to do so. You can count on my support in the process.

alles Gute und viel Glück!