Information for requesting letters of recommendation.

Some considerations:

• About me:  If you are asking for a letter in 2025-2026, please note that until the end of Summer 2026,  my title is "postdoctoral fellow". After that, I will begin a position as an assistant professor at UTM. Some applications prefer or require letters from faculty in permanent or tenure-track positions (e.g., assistant professors or above), so please check your program’s guidelines to make sure I’m an appropriate letter writer for your situation. 

• Teaching Letters: If you are asking specifically for a teaching letter (e.g., if you are a past or present TA), I must have observed your teaching in order to write a meaningful letter. I am happy to do so, but this means you need to ask me even farther in advance so that we can arrange an observation.

• Undergraduates with limited interaction: If you are an undergraduate and our only interaction is that you took a class from me, the strongest letter I can write is a relatively generic one based on your grade. I can write a much better letter if I remember you specifically. Please remind me of any meaningful interactions. If you think I might recognize you by face better than by name, including a picture may be helpful (but not required, of course).

Checklist: 

*Below is my checklist of things I ask for when writing a letter. (Some of these you may have already done, and some may not be appropriate for you; just do whichever make sense.)

• Please try to let me know at least a month in advance. (I will still try to accommodate shorter deadlines, but the letter is likely to be better if I have more time.) This is especially true of December deadlines - that is an especially busy time of year, so try to catch me before reading week! 

• A list of links to the instructions/prompt for the letter writer, with deadlines.

• Instructions on how to submit (e.g., email to XXX, "you will receive an email", or send me a link, etc).

• Please also find out things like whether I need to mail a physical letter vs. upload to a website, if my letter has a different deadline than the rest of your application, and any other special instructions.

• I have a strong preference for PDF or plain text documents. A spreadsheet is also ok, but I strongly prefer PDF or plain text.

• Please include your name in the filename of any documents you send me.

• Who are your other letter writers? Include a sentence of context too (e.g., advised my honours thesis).

• Once you have drafts of anything you're submitting, please send them to me. The basic principle is that I can't write about something I don't know about.

• If you are an undergraduate, I'd prefer you send an unofficial copy of your transcript too.

I leave it up to the applicant to make sure that I don't miss the deadline (something which has never happened, so don't worry). I ask that you send me frequent emails (every week or more as the deadlines grow closer) to remind me. I won't forget, but this keeps it at the top of my to-do list. At some point, I will then send you an email back saying that I have mailed/uploaded/etc the letter. If you do not receive confirmation from me, then you should assume that I have not submitted your letter, and you should pester me.

Finally, on the application page, please use the following for my personal information.

• Name: Maryam Khaqan

• Title: Teaching Postdoctoral Fellow

• Affiliation: University of Toronto

• Department: Mathematics 

• Email: maryam.khaqan@utoronto.ca

• Address: 155 College St, Toronto, ON M5T 1P8, Canada

*Most of this list is adapted from DZB's rec letter page.