Advice for Students Requesting Reference Letters

Please read the advice below before contacting me about writing you a reference letter. This advice is generally intended for students currently at the undergrad or MS level (others feel free to write and discuss your circumstances directly).

Due to the extremely large volume of students requesting letters, I am no longer submitting letters for students I do not know personally. Please see further advice about this below.

Students who have conducted research with me:

If we have a track record of working together (e.g. published work) then I'll be happy to write you a personalized letter. Nevertheless it would be helpful if you could:

• Contact me at least a couple of weeks before the earliest reference is required.
• In your e-mail include a 2-3 paragraph summary of our research projects. I will rewrite this but this will save me some time.
• Let me know of any other specifics you'd like me to include, e.g. highlights that you think won't be mentioned in your other letters.

Students who have taken my class:

If I don't know you personally and you have no other option, I will submit a letter in a pinch but your letter will simply say the grade you got in the class. Noting that around half of my class generally gets an A (or better), my letter will follow a template. This kind of generic letter will be viewed negatively and may be harmful to your application. I will only submit a letter in the following circumstances:

• First, fill out the following template: here and compile it to pdf using the letterhead below.
• I will only respond to a single request from a letter-writing service, like interfolio. This will mean I upload the letter only once and it will be automatically submitted for you each time you request it. This costs a little money but is incredibly useful if you're applying to several programs and dealing with several letter writers. I will skip requests that do not use such a service.
• When using such a service, you'll need to provide an e-mail that'll look something like send.McAuley.1234567890@interfoliodossier.com. If you provide my e-mail, the request will not go through Interfolio and I will not respond to the request.
• A few schools refuse to use Interfolio (e.g. Georgia Tech): in those cases, you should find a different letter writer from those schools.
• Long story short, you should never provide my e-mail address or your reference request will likely be ignored.
• If your work particularly stood out, e.g. you had a top-ranking assignment, then by all means include these highlights, and edit the letter to be less generic.
• If needed, my phone number is included in the letter template; however that is a university phone number that I do not answer.

I am very sorry to give the above (fairly negative) advice. To be blunt, I have continued to receive hundreds of letter requests even after advising students that these generic letters will not be useful. Things reached a point where I was starting to make mistakes (e.g. missing requests or submitting incorrect letters) such that I have decided to step back and prioritize students I've worked with individually.

Again, consider seriously whether a simple form letter describing class performance will be useful. In a pinch I always agree to write letters, assuming you have considered your options and that my letter is the strongest option you have. Consider the following when deciding whether my letter will really be the best option:

• A letter that is limited to your performance in class is usually regarded as a "neutral" letter (at best), even if your grades are strong. Having strong class performance may be enough to get into some MS programs, but will likely not be helpful at the PhD level.
• On most application portals, letter writers are required to enter a percentile along with your letter (e.g. "this applicant is among the top X% of graduates in your program"). At least for MS programs, these percentile scores are more important than the letter itself. As such, your relative performance in a class is more important than the letter grade you received.
• If (say) 20% of students receive an A+ in my class, then at best my letter will say you are in the top 20%, unless you had some other outstanding achievement. Such a letter can be viewed negatively, even though your grade is strong. It can be a red flag if you request a letter discussing class performance, from a class where many students had the same or a better grade. I would only suggest including such a letter if you are confident of having stronger letters from other professors, and just need my letter to meet application requirements.
• At the PhD level, it may be more useful to solicit letters from people who know you personally. A discussion of your individual qualities, or research projects, may be more useful than grades, especially if your grades are not strong.
• Please read the template in detail to make sure you understand its contents.
• I cannot stress enough that I don't want to waste time submitting a letter that I know for sure won't help your application. Please make sure this is really your best option.

Note that the above standards reflect my experience at UCSD. At lower-ranked schools a lower grade percentile may be sufficient, while at higher-ranked schools even being in the top 10 percent may not be enough.

Many programs give you the option to "waive the right to view the recommendation". I will not submit a letter if you do not waive this right.

Students requiring skills verification letters (or similar):

In addition to reference letters, several (typically former) students request "skill verification" letters each year, usually for visa purposes. These range from simple letters covering grades and course content, to detailed letters asserting your expertise in research. In both cases, letter templates are usually prepared by an immigration attorney.

Again, I am happy to write such letters, but please consider the following:

• Either provide a template in properly formatted latex (which I can put onto letterhead) or a pdf on university letterhead with space for my signature.
• For a simple verification letter, pdf format is fine; for a more detailed letter, please provide a latex copy as I will have to edit it.
• The following is fine for UCSD letterhead: 1 and 2.
• Please fill out all components of the letter and do not leave "placeholders" for details such as my title and institution. Please also be mindful about formatting, e.g. do not copy characters from Word to latex that do not render correctly.