Letter of Recommendation

To study Abroad. a Letter of Recommendation or LOR can be used by the Admission officers of your university to assess whether you’re a suitable candidate for an admission. LOR helps such officers get a clear insight of your past achievements, contributions, experience, and skills written by your recommender. As a matter of fact, LOR carries an equal importance as your other admission formalities so you should always have such documents prepared in time.

Letter of Recommendations can be broadly divided into two categories:

Academic LOR:

This LOR can be obtained from faculty members of your previous institute where you studied from. Such LOR’s vary with different faculties and usually encompasses your academic accomplishments as well as your co-curricular activities if any.

Professional LOR:

Such LOR’s are mostly required by MBA colleges having pre-requisite work experience as a condition of admission. Such colleges require a LOR from your immediate supervisor of the company and it focuses on the qualities such as teamwork, leadership, exposure to the domain, versatility etc.

Here are a few pointers that will help you obtain an outstanding LOR:

Generally speaking, LOR’s are 400-500 word essays provided by an authorized person on the official letterhead. It usually talks about candidate’s strength and weakness and qualities as a student or an employee. You can always have mention of the nature and tenure of association with a particular institution wherever required. Also, you should identify an ideal recommender who knows your qualities very well and has witnessed the quality of work you’ve delivered.

Apart from the format that has been talked above, you should also ensure that your SOP and your LOR don’t overlap. An ideal LOR always represents various aspects of your personality that are not already included in your SOP. It carries a different dimension altogether. If you don’t have something specific to pinpoint your qualities, don’t go for a general LOR as it might not interest your university. Find a selling point and stick to it.

Always remember, that you just have to write a few LOR’s but the university is processing thousands of such documents. If you don’t have something unique it would prove just as another piece of paper.