<p>I work as the business administrator of the Renal Transplant department in a hospital. I have this student who has been helping my department and I out since June I would like to write a high quality letter of recommendation for him.</p>
<p>I have done letters before for former employees but do not have the experience for writing one for a student who is about to apply for college. </p>
<p>I have been told that he would like to attend Northeastern. Actually, the other day we were talking about Northeastern and he told me about their coop/ internship program. I was surprised that he brought up northeastern because back in the day Northeastern wasn't so great. Apparently NEU has really improved over the last few decades.</p>
<p>Anyways, besides describing what this student has done for my department and listing his versatile qualities, should I include exactly why I think he would be great for NEU? For example, I was thinking of including potential co op programs I believe he would be great in. Since he's volunteering for me at a hospital, could I hint that his skills could be used in Mass Gen. or Boston Medical Center (both of which are coop employers of NEU students)?</p>
<p>Lastly, should I get my department to sign the letter? I have 5 employees working for me as well as a senior doctor who I have seen chatting with the student?</p>
<p>All in all, I really would like this student to attend his dream school. I cannot thank him enough and would really like to give him better chances to succeed.</p>
<p>One piece of advice would be to keep in mind that this student will likely use his experience with you and your department as part of his application. It will be part of a list of ECs and he will probably have the opportunity to describe what he did in a few sentences. If his experience was a major outside activity, he might even write about it in his essays. So, what he doesn’t need is a lot of description about what he did but rather detail about how impressed you are with him and things that speak to his character (work ethic, getting along with staff, ability to see the big picture, attention to detail, willingness and eagerness to learn… whatever it is about his character that makes you so willing to to go the extra mile to help him out.) Character issues are one of the hardest things for students to get placed in their application because so many are too humble to do that for themselves. To have someone else say how great they are as a person is a great addition to their application.</p>
<p>thank you for the quick feed back. I am definitely impressed of his character so I think I will definitely focus on that more. Should/ can I go beyond that and hint that his character is perfect for NEU/ future employees such as Dana Farber who employs NEU students?</p>
<p>I think you could make an argument both ways. I think the NEU admissions staff, who will see the recommendation, feel they are best suited to determine who’s perfect for NEU and Dana Farber is out of their area of concern. If I were writing a recommendation for someone I felt highly of, I would say something more generic like any university would benefit from enrolling a student of his character and ability… or he’ll make a positive impact at any university he choses to attend. If you are certain that Northeastern is his number one choice, it could be beneficial to him if you state that in your letter as well.</p>