Stay in touch.
This is especially important if you won’t need the letter right away. Pop by office hours every couple of months. If we’re comfortable with it, friend us on social media. Send us that email when you see a meme that perfectly captures one of the lessons from the class.
Give us all the info we need.
Can we use the same letter for each program? Do we upload to interfolio, or do we have to send them separately?
Offer your resume, your letter, and whatever else we might need to write about you.
Make it easy.
Give us clear instructions about due dates.
If the place is old-fashioned and wants a paper letter, give us addressed envelopes with stamps.
Teachers procrastinate too. Do you really want your letter to be late because your professor hadn’t been to the post office for a while?
Check in.
I’m anal, and I’m a planner. When I agree to write a letter for a student, I put it on my calendar. In fact, I mark it on my calendar as something to be done a full week before it’s actually due.
Why?
Life.
I have migraines some days; I’m exhausted some days. Car accidents and happy accidents and all the rest often mean that not everything on a to-do list gets done.
Thus, I stay ahead on my homework, just like I did as an undergrad.
I am unique.
Some of your professors don’t keep a calendar, or they don’t update it. Or they count on their memory. Or they don’t plan ahead for potential problems. Or they procrastinate.
So check in with them, about a week before the letter is due.
Try: “Hi, as you know, the letter for Georgetown is due in a week. I’m just checking in to see if you need any additional information.”
Tell us what happens.
Please don’t disappear. Tell us what happened. Are you going to your dream school? Settling for the one closer to home? Trying again next year? We want to know.
If you will be trying again, ask us to update the letter. Sometimes we just have to change the date, but it will still help. A letter with an older date on it doesn’t mean as much to the admissions committee.
Say thanks.
An email is usually enough for this favor, but if someone went out of their way for you, a small token is nice.
Did someone write you a letter at the last minute because someone else flaked?
Maybe they need a nice bar of chocolate (unless they’re a caramel person, like me).
Did someone work with you tirelessly on your letter?
Maybe they need a Peets gift card.
Pay it forward.
You’ll be in a position to write letters for people some day. Evaluate them fairly and well.
Another way of paying it forward is to pass all of this advice along. We faculty don’t mean for any of it to be a secret. Sometimes we don’t think we have the time to tell you. Other times, we think we don’t need to tell you–because no one ever told us; we had to figure it out.
But we’ll all do better if things like this are transparent.
Go forth and find your mentors!
(Past entries discussed the basics, how to get mentors, mistakes to avoid, how our letters can address problems, and tips for asking.)
