[General] Recommendation Letter & Letter for applying in a University

[judyabbot]

Dear Sir/Madam,
First of all I should thank you for having such a good and useful web based English learning forum, I am Sediqa Javadpour, Master Student of Industrial Engineering and I am really eager to apply a foreign qualified University for PHD degree. Is the job vacancy applying request useful for this kind of letters or not?
In fact I don't know how I can write a letter for example to North Carolina University Industrial Department and ask them to send me their PHD future program and the way I can apply for.
And also I want to know how my teachers can write a Recommendation Letter? What is the standard form for the Recommendation Letter?
Thanks for your care and kind support
Sediqa [Miss]

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by judyabbot

Dear Sir/Madam,

First of all I should thank you for having such a good and useful web based English learning forum, I am Sediqa Javadpour, Master Student of Industrial Engineering and I am really eager to apply a foreign qualified University for PHD degree.

Dear Sir/Madam,

First of all, thank you for having such a useful web-based English learning forum. I am Sediqa Javadpour, Master Student of Industrial Engineering and I am really eager to apply to the PhD program of a foreign-qualified university.

What is a foreign-qualified university?

Originally Posted by judyabbot

Is the job vacancy applying request useful for this kind of letters or not?

Originally Posted by judyabbot

Is this the right kind of letter to use to apply for a job?

[RonBee]

You're supposed to tell your teachers how to write a recommendation letter?

[particleman]

Disclaimer: I'm not a teacher. However, I am a graduate student at an American university.

This is what I would do if I were you:

First, familiarize yourself with the faculty in the programs you are considering. For example, on the website for the Industrial and Systems Engineering program at North Carolina State University is a directory of faculty: Directory Read each professor's profile and, if possible, his or her curriculum vitae. Try to identify one or two professors whose interests most closely match your own. These are your potential committee chairpersons--the people whom you will choose to supervise your PhD research.

For each person you have identified as a potential advisor, find and read a scholarly article he or she has written in your area of interest (make sure the professor you are interested in is the first author on this paper). For example, if you think you might like to work with Dr. David B. Kaber because of his expertise in engineering psychology, you might choose to read his paper titled "Situation awareness implications of adaptive automation for information processing in an air traffic control-related task" because it deals with engineering psychology and Dr. Kaber is the first author.

There are two reasons for reading a paper written by the professor. The first reason is to make sure you are interested in the kind of work the professor does. The second reason is that it gives you something intelligent to say to the professor--this way you impress the professor and convince him/her that you really do want to work with him/her specifically.

Once you have done that, send an e-mail to the professor explaining who you are, why you have contacted him/her, and that you would like more information about his/her program. For example:

Dear Dr. Kaber,

My name is Sediqa Javadpour. I am currently completing a master's degree in industrial engineering at Amirkabir University in Tehran, Iran. I am considering applying for the NCSU Industrial Engineering PhD program. I am writing to you because of your expertise in engineering psychology, which is my area of emphasis; my thesis research deals with driver distraction and automobile dashboard design. I would like to continue doing dashboard design research at the PhD level. Can you tell me what opportunities might be available in your program?

Thank you for your time.

Sediqa Javadpour

This is not an application letter. It's a way to make a personal contact within the department you are interested in. If the professor is interested in you, he or she becomes someone you can turn to for advice. If you're not sure how to write an application letter, the professor can point you in the right direction. If you don't know what an American university expects in a letter of recommendation, the professor can give you tips (he/she has probably written several such letters). Don't overburden the professor with too many requests for help (burden the graduate school and/or the department of admissions instead...), but don't be afraid to ask for help if you really don't have the answers.

When it comes to writing letters of application or recommendation, there is plenty of information available on the internet. Search for "application letter", "personal statement", or "letter of recommendation" and you'll find lots of advice, much of which will be useful. It may be possible for your professors to write their recommendations in Farsi, if you provide a certified translation into English. Check with the admissions office at the university you wish to apply to.

I hope that helps. Applying for graduate school involves jumping through a lot of hoops, but hopefully it is worth the hassle. Best of luck to you.

[popli_m]

Sediqa,

am IT professional here in NY. Was looking for sample Recommendation letters for my wife she wrote GRE and all set to get in to University for her PHD. I saw your post here and feel like to update for the same..

Each and every university has its own pattern for Recommendation letter. If you r done with your GRE and already sent your GRE score to the selected University then all u need to do go to the University URL download the letter format and get it done from your academic background (for Ex.ur professor/lecturer).

For Ex. Georgia Tech Univ. take recommendation online only. You need to fill out the form online and they gonna send email to respondents. (Georgia Institute of Technology :: Graduate Admissions : Letters of Reference / Recommendation)

Beside this pull the univ. URL out what ever univ. you selected and mail to adminission department to send you the recommendation letter.

apart from that you can see the sample letter below-
Sample Letters of Recommendation
Recommendation Letter for Graduate School - Sample 1
Recommendation Letters: Tips, Tricks, and Advice

EMAIL REMOVED - Send PM to This User Instead

[Spetsnaz26]

Originally Posted by judyabbot

Dear Sir/Madam,
First of all I should thank you for having such a good and useful web based English learning forum, I am Sediqa Javadpour, Master Student of Industrial Engineering and I am really eager to apply a foreign qualified University for PHD degree. Is the job vacancy applying request useful for this kind of letters or not?
In fact I don't know how I can write a letter for example to North Carolina University Industrial Department and ask them to send me their PHD future program and the way I can apply for.
And also I want to know how my teachers can write a Recommendation Letter? What is the standard form for the Recommendation Letter?
Thanks for your care and kind support
Sediqa [Miss]

Hi,
I'm also a graduate student planning to study in US. Although I'm not applying for a PhD program I still have a bit of advice: you'll have to contact those professors whose areas of research are consistent with yours in the way Particleman has suggested. After establishing contact with one or more professors who seem to be interested in you, it's necessary to continue communication with them in order to persuade them that you're a suitable candidate for this PhD program. To do so you need to read their papers, understand what they're interested in (academically) and what you're interested in, discuss related topics with them via email to get them interested. Remember just one letter is never going to work, unless you're done some world-renowned research that they're aware of.

As for recommendation letters as far as I know there really isn't any strict format requirements. But beware that these letters, or most of them, have to be from faculty members at your current university that are academically related to you. They'll have to be in the position to judge your research ability or they'll have nothing to work with. Typically your current supervisor is your first choice.

I hope these can help. You should be aware of their application deadlines, by the way.