Letter of Recommendation from Professor Lutz Kaelber
For the following, I have drawn extensively on/borrowed liberally from the "Guidelines for Requesting a Letter of Recommendation
Department of Sociology and Anthropology"
at Muhlenberg College.
Please note the following before requesting a recommendation letter from me:
- As is stated in the Guidelines above, "you should only be requesting a letter from a recommender who
is very familiar with your class work and/or writing and research
capacities. Typically that means that you have taken more than a
single course with the recommender or have worked closely with that
recommender in some capacity." That means that you should have taken more than one class with me and/or did an independent study or research activity with me or have been a TA for me.
- "Except under unordinary circumstances, a strong letter of
support can only be provided for you if you have a combined average of
a B for all courses that you have taken with the
- a copy of your personal statement that is part of you application, if you have one prepared;
- a copy of your resume or bullet listing of
your academic and extracurricular involvements (honors, awards,
community service, athletics, student clubs, campus leadership,
relevant work experience, etc.), including dates of award or participation;
- a copy of your most current transcript;
- if you have written a paper in my class, please provide the paper title and what the paper was about.
- "A copy of your recommendation letter will not customarily be
available to you. If the letter is not to be mailed directly to the
requesting institution, it will be provided to you in an envelope with
the recommender’s signature across the seal to ensure the letter’s
confidentiality. Requesting institutions expect such protocol when
receiving letters of recommendation as part of an application package
submitted directly by an applying student."
- "Your recommendation forms should be clean, unfolded, and otherwise unmarred. The forms should be filled out completely in typeface or neat, block print,
and should be signed where required. Be sure to check and sign the
privacy waiver on the form, if appropriate. Do not staple any of the
forms. Be sure to check the proper spelling of the name and title of
the recommender on all forms, as necessary."