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Letters of Recommendation and What They're For
You usually will need three letters of reference--your application to graduate school will not be considered complete until all are received. The choice of referees is important; choose them with care and bear the following in mind.You will recall from Nic David's comments quoted earlier that departments pay as much attention to your choice of referee as to what the referee says about you. The comments of someone with a international reputation with whom you have taken a number of courses will bear considerably more weight than those of a sessional instructor from whom you have taken one course, even if you aced that course.
You are looking for people who can comment sensibly on your overall academic record. It is obviously better to chose someone from whom you have taken two or three courses and has a good idea of your abilities than someone from whom you have taken maybe one introductory course where you were one of 200 students.
How and When to Ask for that Letter of Reference
How and when you ask someone to be a referee can have an impact on how they will write the letter for you. It is politic, not to mention polite, to approach them early in the process--even before you have received the application forms. Make sure that you ask them if they would be prepared to serve as a referee and tell them how many letters they can expect to write. When the forms arrive make sure that the first thing you do is put your name on them before passing them on to the referees. Usually what happens is that a pile will accumulate on your referee's desk and they will then sit down to work on them and without a name they will have forgotten who they have agreed to write letters for. Supply your referee with the background information they need to help them write you a good reference--a copy of your statement or a brief summary of what you hope to accomplish in graduate school, a copy of your transcript is also very useful (not all faculty have easy access to these), and perhaps a c.v. so that they can see what else you have done. Also, highlight the courses on the transcript that you took from the person who is writing the letter.Also warn your referees if you are applying for scholarships--if a different form is required for scholarship applications your poor referee ends up writing two letters to each of the schools you are applying to. This can mount up; and someone such as an undergraduate advisor can easily end up with having to write over 100 letters.
Please be sure and give the forms to the referees well before the due date--some (most) will leave them to the last minute but many will try and get them done as they come in. The earlier you give them the forms, the less snowed-under they are, and the more positive and well thought out the letter is likely to be.
