cpsylist: Best Practices for Scholarship Recommendation Requests

[Ellen McWhirter]

Dear Student Colleagues,

Scholarship Season is upon us! Apply for scholarships! COE scholarship letters are due January 19th   (See https://education.uoregon.edu/dean-office/scholarships  ). University scholarships are typically due March 1st.

Given the intensive nature of faculty workloads, it is important to provide a lot of lead time to those from whom you will request recommendation letters.  Please follow the best practices below when you request letters of recommendation for scholarships (or for anything else):

When you ask a faculty member for a letter of recommendation

1.       Ask a minimum of 3 weeks in advance except in very unusual circumstances (note that the deadline was moved up this year!!! Hurry!!).

2.       Be efficient with our time. Don't ask in one email and send what we need in the next one. Include in the initial email:
 A. Names, addresses, organizations, and deadlines for each scholarship and any supplemental forms that have to be filled out by the reference and sent with the scholarship materials. List any directions such as "must be sealed and signed across the seal" or "Please email directly to moneybags at org.edu<mailto:moneybags at org.edu>". Be sure to provide a hard copy if your signature is required on one of the forms (eg university scholarships). Put your name on everything including file names of attachments (imagine how many attachments faculty receive named "CV" or "final draft").
B. A list of bullet points the faculty member could highlight in writing about you that make you a great candidate for the particular scholarship(s) you are applying for- include how long you have known the faculty member and what classes you took from them (we forget what year you entered the program after a few years!). This is very helpful. We like humility, but we do not want you to practice humility when it is our goal to brag about you (note that excellent hair and superior affinity for beer are not actually things that improve the likelihood of getting a scholarship).
 C. A statement of your career goals as they relate to the scholarship criteria (oh, and it is really good to actually have career goals, btw)
D. An updated VC without any typos in it (get it?).

3. Do send polite gentle reminder emails to the letter writers (reminders occurring before the deadline are more effective than those occurring after the deadline).

4. Do not send multiple emails with different pieces of information in each email. If you forget something, re-send with all of the attachments so we have everything in a single email.

4. If you decide NOT to apply for a scholarship, IMMEDIATELY let your letter-writers know.

5. If you receive a scholarship, please let us know!

There are many, many scholarships. There are many donors, development staff, other staff and faculty who dedicate much time and energy to generate, fund, and manage scholarships, as well as to read hundreds of applications and select awardees. Low numbers of applications suggest that students are not in need of financial support.

Thank you in advance for following these best practices.

Ellen



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Ellen Hawley McWhirter, Ph.D.
Ann Swindells Professor of Counseling Psychology
5251 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-5251
(541) 346-2443 (office)
(541) 346-6778 (Fax)

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