Recommendation Letters
Hints on letters of recommendation
This page is under construction and is being written by
Sam Buss.
Please send
comments/suggestions to
sbuss@ucsd.edu.
Who Should You Ask to Write Letters of Recommendation?
Between three and five letters of recommendation should be
used to support your job application. For academic jobs, you
should have letters of recommendation mailed directly from your
letter writers, without waiting for the letters to be requested.
People you may want to ask to write letters are:
- People who know your research well, such as your advisor.
- Faculty who are prominent or hold senior positions. At least
some of your letter writers should be tenured.
- Your department chair will usually agree to write a letter
about your past performance as a instructor or teaching assistant
Unfortunately, many departments keep only spotty records of
teaching preformance, so it is a good idea to save old student
evaluations, etc., that can be used to document your teaching
performance.
When you ask someone to write a letter of recommendation for you,
you should give them a copy of your c.v., your publications and
the rest of your application materials. You should also talk with
the letter writer about what you want covered in the letter, e.g.,
whether it will cover teaching or research or both.
Mechanics of Sending Letters at UCSD
At present, the UCSD Mathematics Department will pay the
cost of mailing letters of recommendations written by UCSD
faculty.
The secretarial staff in AMP 7409 handles most of the mechanical
details of sending recommendation letters.
When possible, they will collect letters of recommendation from
all your letter writers and mail them together; which saves them
work and saves the department substantial mailing costs.
You should tell your
thesis advisor who your other letter writers are, and give your
advisor a list of mailing addresses (preferably in a form
that can be xeroxed onto mailing labels). Your advisor should
coordinate, with the secretarial staff, the mailing of your letters
of recommendation. The letters will be kept on file indefinitely in
7409, so that you can easily request additional letters be mailed in
the future.
Deadlines
Many departments are very strict about deadlines for receiving
job applications; however, they will generally try to accept letters
of recommendation that arrive a little late. You should ask people
to write you letters at least three weeks before the date they
are due.
It is the applicant's responsibility to check with his or her letter
writers to make sure they write and send their letters in a timely
fashion.
Author: Sam Buss, sbuss@ucsd.edu
Last modified: November 13, 1995.