Letters of Recommendation

Recommendations

Letters of recommendation are required for each of the major fellowships and scholarships, although the number varies depending on the particular foundation. They are essential as they authenticate and support claims you make in your application.

Select recommenders carefully. Some awards mandate that all letters be from an academic source: faculty members, deans, administrative personnel, tutors, coaches or supervisors at your institution. Others ask for personal as well as academic references. The latter may come from employers, civic or governmental leaders, professional or volunteer affiliates. If the focus of a grant is academic, recommenders should be able to discuss your intellectual ability, achievements and future promise. Personal references may address your scholastic record, but generally focus more on your activities and character.

It is important to choose trusted individuals with whom you’ve had prolonged or consistent contact. For those writing academic letters, it is preferable that the contact took place in multiple classroom situations or in an advising capacity, rather than in a single course you took with seventy-nine other students the first semester of your first year.

Roommates, friends, and family are not good sources of recommendations. Likewise, letters from high school contacts should be avoided.

All references should address your personal suitability for the particular competition. That means they need to know about the foundation itself, as well as the details of your proposal or project.  When approaching someone to pen a letter on your behalf, make sure you provide them with a comprehensive packet of hard copy materials printed from the website, along with a copy of your application, your curriculum vitae and draft essays/proposals.

Be straightforward and courteous when requesting a letter of recommendation. Talk to potential writers early in the application process. After they agree to your request, follow up with a written note or email that thanks them for their service in advance and once again mention the deadline.   Make sure no additional information is needed by the letter writer.

Be sure recommenders know to whom they should address their letters, in what format they are expected (email, electronic submission via a website, print), and where to send them. It is also a courtesy to include stamped, addressed envelopes for their use if print is required.

If you find yourself applying for multiple awards and asking the same people to write more than one letter, ask them to tailor each one for the specific goal. Thank them for the extra effort.

The Privacy Act of 1974 allows you to access and control certain materials in your college files in the United States, including recommendations. You have the right to read them unless it is waived via your signature. Many competitions include a waiver on the forms provided to recommenders, so check to see if you need to sign anywhere before relinquishing the document to them.

While we cannot advise you to either waive or not waive your right to recommendations, we can share this:

• Many individuals will not agree to write a recommendation unless it is kept confidential.

• A recommender who agrees to write a letter s/he knows the candidate may read may feel constrained to dilute both the contents and tone.

• It is always best to discuss the waiver with your recommender and to reach a mutually acceptable decision.

• Campus Interviews

The Bates Graduate Fellowships Committee assesses all applications on campus and then decides which are to be forwarded to the appropriate foundations.  Help sessions with the Graduate Fellowships Committee are scheduled through Nancy Lepage (nlepage@bates.edu, (207) 786-6480) to prepare campus finalists for foundation interviews.

Each candidate is required to submit all application materials to Nancy LePage, 7 Lane Hall (Academic Services) by the deadline noted in the Graduate Fellowships Calendar.  Academic Services will make copies of  your application and  submit them to committee members for their comments and suggestions.

GFC help sessions are informal and last approximately 30 minutes. Candidates who are off-campus may arrange for teleconference interviews. During an interview, the committee will ask questions, challenge your position, provide feedback and generally assist you in improving your application. There is no way to anticipate every question, so be well-prepared, but be yourself.

Candidates who are approved by the committee for national competition are expected to submit a revised, final draft of their essays/proposals to a designated committee member for final approval. This deadline, like others mentioned in the guide, is ABSOLUTE.  As a final step in the campus portion of the process, Nancy LePage of Academic Services submits your entire application to the foundation or granting agency.