Writing recommendation letters for an applicant

Hello everyone,

 I tried to search for this topic, but most of them are about students asking their teachers to write LORs for them. I am interested in seeing the other side. You see, I am writing a recommendation letter for the first time for a student who wishes to attend the University of Chicago, and would certainly like some advice. 

I served as this student's instructor for a course and was very impressed with the student's caliber, and believe that I can write a strong letter. That said, I am only a 2014 graduate of the college. Does being a relatively young graduate of that college matter at all? Should I include that I'm currently a PhD candidate at a different college as well, or just leave it as that I served as her instructor for a course? If someone could also offer to proofread it for me, I'd be really grateful. Thanks! 

Hello LovMYSP - My instinct is that you, especially as a recent graduate, would carry a lot of weight.
Just write a good letter! No pressure.

@LoveMYSP - no advice on LoR contents but as someone whose son just recently greatly benefited from kind people writing him wonderful LoRs, I just wanted to say “thank you” for taking the time to do this and to do it well. It is important and it’s appreciated.

@LoveMySP I agree with @milee30 when she said " I just wanted to say “thank you” for taking the time to do this and to do it well. It is important and it’s appreciated." That student is lucky to have a teacher that wants to write a good letter and is even researching it. Kudos to you

Thanks for the support, all!

Now, would someone be so kind as to offer a pair of eyes to read over the letter? O:)

@LoveMYSP echo the thank you!

I think the thing to avoid is anything that looks like you could search and replace the name of the student. Stay away from generalities and aim for specific examples. I think you absolutely should say you are a recent grad of the college and if you believe that this person is UChicago material, why you believe that. Site examples on how [student] makes you believe that!

I’m not a college-recommendation-letter-writer, but would be more than happy to read and give you my thoughts. I do quite a few executive interviews and I believe the same interviewing techniques that I use are similar to what I’d like to see in a recommendation letter if I worked in admissions. I don’t want to hear that [student] is a leader. I want to read examples on where s/he exhibited that trait. I don’t want to hear that a person is curious, I want to hear examples on how curiosity drove them to a better outcome. Hope that helps.

Yes stay away from a boiler plate regurgitatation of a resume…like @BrianBoiler says tell them about the person you know, why do you like them? why are they a great fit? what makes them the person you think they are?

Thanks for offering to read! I’m going to send it to you in a private message ~

Oh, there’s a requirement that you need to be a junior member with 15 posts to send a message directly to someone… @BrianBoiler would you mind messaging me directly so that I could reply? Thanks!

@CU123 thanks for the advice! Yes, I tried to include some specific details.

Thanks for offering to read! I’m going to send it to you in a private message ~

Oh, there’s a requirement that you need to be a junior member with 15 posts to send a message directly to someone… @BrianBoiler would you mind messaging me directly so that I could reply? Thanks!

@CU123 thanks for the advice! Yes, I tried to include some specific details.

I’ve just PM’d you some sample letters from the Class of 2011. Please, use them only as samples and use your own words, OK?

@CU123 I gotchu, thanks so much!

For reference http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/writingrecs
Granted, that’s MIT. But you can google and some other colleges have advice. I wouldn’t necessarily heed what some outsider blog says, however.

@lookingforward That was AMAZING. Thank you so much!