[nabs-l] Advice on Getting a Good Letter of Recommendation

[justin williams]

Vejas, if someone writes you a letter of recommendation, they need to know
enough about you so that they can speak about your character, or how you
have been an asset to a given organization or situation.   The information
about you helps, but the people who are writing you a letter like that
should know you well enough to write it without your information, even
though I would advise sending them your information for reference.  For
example, the Director of the Center for Independent Living I work with wrote
me a letter of recommendation for the NFB National Scholarship off of what
she Knew about me as a volunteer with the CIL, and my professors wrote them
for me off of what they knew about me as a student in the Vocational
Rehabilitation program.  So, they should know you pretty well, and if you
can, get people who are familiar with you in the context related to the type
of scholarship you are applying for if possible. Once again, I would advise
you to send them your information for reference, but some folks may tell you
not to send it; always ask. 
Justin

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Derek Manners
via nabs-l
Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2015 3:44 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Derek Manners <dmanners at jd16.law.harvard.edu>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Advice on Getting a Good Letter of Recommendation

Hey Vejas, I agree that you should definitely ask someone who can speak to
your leadership, involvement, intelligence, and or character. 

As to what to provide, I usually just ask the recommender if they want my
CV, transcript, a writing sample, or anything else. Some will ask for
everything, some won't want or need any of it. Letting them tell you what
they would use has worked out really well for me. 

Best regards
Derek Manners

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 22, 2015, at 11:49 PM, Karl Martin Adam via nabs-l
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Vejas,
> 
> What types of scholarships are you talking about?  I don't really know
anything about letters for things like NFB scholarships, but for academic
letters of recommendation if the person doesn't know enough about you to
write a good letter, they aren't going to write you a good letter.  A letter
of recommendation is supposed to discuss the recommender's experience with
you, and if they don't have enough experiences with you to write about, well
that's that.  Many recommenders will want you to send them something like
coppies of the papers you have submitted in their classes because it's
usually easier for you to track that down than for them to.  You might also
be asked to remind them of the grades you received from them.  A CV would be
helpful, but normally the idea is for the recommender to talk about there
actual interactions with you not other things you've done in your life at
least for most of the letter.
> 
> HTH,
> Karl
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Vejas Vasiliauskas via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Tue, 22 Dec 2015 20:05:14 -0800
> Subject: [nabs-l] Advice on Getting a Good Letter of Recommendation
> 
> Hi All,
> I am applying for scholarships this year, many of which want at least 
> one Letter of Recommendation.
> I know that the person who writes the letter should write based on 
> their opinion of you.  However, I have also heard that you should 
> supply them with information about you as well, since not all the 
> people writing the letters know enough about you.
> Is a copy of the CV enough? How were you able to get good letters?
> Thanks,
> Vejas
> 
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