If you are a student, then it is likely that you at some point will need a recommendation letter from a faculty member. I owe many of the opportunities that I've received in part to the time and effort that my mentors spent writing letters for me, so I take this responsibility very seriously. I'm happy to write letters for a broad range of students applying for various kinds of opportunities, including graduate programs, transfer applications, summer research programs and internships, and internal university programs. I expect that my letter will support your application most strongly if I have had the chance to interact with you one-on-one (e.g., at office hours, or through an individual or small group project), and if the program you are applying for centers in some way around mathematics or a closely related field of study.
If you think that my perspective would be a good fit for your application and would like to ask me for a recommendation letter, then please follow the guidelines below.
Send me an e-mail at least four weeks in advance of your first deadline. Please include:
An acknowledgment that you've read this page
(if it's been a while) A quick reminder of who you are and how we know each other
A list of programs (need not be final) you are applying for, along with deadlines. A great way to do this is to send me a link to a spreadsheet that you update periodically with all of this information.
I am sometimes able to accommodate requests for recommendation letters due in less than four weeks, but the letter may be rushed. At particularly busy times, I will necessarily decline requests sent with short notice. An exception is that if I have already written a letter for you in the past and you would like me to submit it with minimal changes in support of new applications, then I can do so given one week's notice or more.
If I feel that I can write a strong letter in support of your applications, then I will ask you to send me some combination of:
Your application materials, e.g. drafts of your personal statement
Some examples of your written work, e.g. homework solutions that you were particularly happy with
Instructions on how to submit my letter for you, if anything beyond "follow the link sent to you in an automatic e-mail." Please note that you must waive your right to view the letter.
Depending on what you are applying for, I may also suggest meeting either virtually or in person to discuss further.
I encourage you to send me frequent reminders; I may not respond to all of them, but I will see and take note of them! I will let you know when I have submitted my letter for you, but please check, if possible, that the letter has been received.
Finally, please follow up after you have heard back and let me know about the result of your applications! (I remain surprised at how few students do this.) Even if your applications were less successful than you had hoped, this is useful information for me, and I may also be able to offer some advice about further steps.