Here are Henry’s instructions if I am writing a letter of recommendation for you. I have the privilege to write letters for nearly 30 people per year, which I take seriously, and if you follow these guidelines it makes things easier for me.
- Let me know when your first letter is due; if there are many deadlines then I mainly only need to know the earliest deadline.
- Once they are prepared, share with me drafts of all your application materials. This allows me to write a more complete letter, either emphasizing items in your other materials, or adding in missing parts of the puzzle. I’ll probably make a first draft of your letter without looking at your application materials, but then skim your materials while making my final changes to your letter before submitting.
- When submitting an email address for me, please use “henry dot adams at ufl dot edu”. Please submit this mailing address. I do not have an office phone, so contact me if you need a real phone number (my cell phone). Especially for graduate school admissions, please fill out as much of this info as you can, so that there is less for me to fill out.
- Make sure I know what programs you are applying to. I don’t need websites for graduate school admissions, but if you are applying for a conference or internship or scholarship or academic job, please send me a webpage link for the opportunity.
- If you have taken any classes with me, then please email me the course numbers, the course titles, and in which semester you took each course.
- Advanced warning is greatly appreciated (but not always necessary). Advanced warning is less important if I have written a letter for you before, or if you are one of my graduate students.
- Let me know if you get accepted to the programs you have applied to! It is always great to hear from students.