For students

Letters of recommendation - checklist

If you are one of my former or current students, I am in general happy to write a letter of recommendation for you. In order to make the process more efficient, please include the following information when you ask me:


  1. When is the deadline?

    • Include the information in your email and please also send me a reminder 3 days before the actual deadline.

  2. What is the study program / job ? Why do you want to do it?

  3. Why/how should I recommend you? What were your grades in my class? Did you get any special commendations on your final essay / presentation? Are there any particular stories I could tell about you as one of my students?

    • These must be things I can attest to as your instructor - e.g. I cannot testify to your performance in previous studies.

  4. Anything else you want me to highlight from your CV / personal statement?

    • Attach your CV and personal statement to your request. It makes for much better recommendation letters (and as a bonus you might get feedback from me on your letter if I spot anything that can be improved!).

Don't worry about polishing answers to these questions; all I need are bullet points to get me started (and, if a lot of time has passed, to remember you).

Please note that I may sometimes not be able to write you a recommendation because of time constraints or if I don't know you well enough. In this case, I will let you know. If you don't get an answer from me within a couple of days, follow up - I will not ignore your message on purpose but I may overlook your email.


(This recommendation letter checklist is a mixture of Cambridge University Department of Sociology policy on recommendation letters and advice from Dr Darren Schreiber, Exeter.)