So you need a letter of recommendation. Am I the best person to write it? Let’s consider it.
About My Title
Although I have taught more than 100 undergraduate psychology courses at UMass Lowell since 2004, and even though I’ve advised students, consulted on textbooks, won awards, been invited by the American Psychological Association as a subject matter expert to co-author a psychology curriculum around neurodiversity and disability, I am, by title, Senior Adjunct Professor of Psychology.
If you’re not familiar with titles in academia, that’s pretty much the worst title ever, and it’s one of the first things I will be asked to share on your letter of recommendation form.
I strongly advise you to request recommendations from full-time faculty, even junior faculty. Admissions committees will value their letter more than they will value mine. I am telling you this because I care, and with over two decades of experience supporting students and their goals.
Please continue reading this page, because I try to share other, related advice and considerations that will hopefully guide you towards the best possible outcome for you, okay?
Here are links to UMass Lowell Psychology Full-Time Faculty and Adjunct Faculty too.
About My Role
How do I know you? In what role have we worked together? When I lived close to the university, I taught a 4-4 courseload, and I often had students in at least two classes over a span of years.
Since relocating out of state, my teaching at UMass Lowell is only online teaching now. This means I only have the Community Psychology course, which means that I only know you from the context of one, ten-week online course.
This is about another early question I will be asked to share on your recommendation form. After they read my title, they will read how long, and in what context, I have known you.
And I’m telling you, when I indicate that I’ve known you for ten weeks, in the context of one online course, after they read that I am merely a “senior adjunct professor” at this institution, your graduate admissions committee reader is not likely to conclude that I’m a strong recommendation for you, because of my limited role in your education and, and they might likely conclude, my limited capacity to recommend anybody due to my title.
I strongly advise you to request recommendations from faculty with whom you have taken more than one course. Admissions committees will value those letters considerably more than letters from faculty with whom you have only taken one course.
If possible, request recommendations from faculty with whom you have worked on something beyond the classroom also – i.e. a research project. Admissions committees will find these the most valuable letters in your application packet, because grad school is about more than coursework.
About My Knowledge of You
This is related to “About My Role” but I want to spell it out more. After I fill out the parts which signal to the reader how credible a reference I may be able to provide to the reader, the bulk of the recommendation form is some combination of ranking on scales, and writing open responses, in which I must detail my assessment of a wide range of professional qualities that the receiving institution wants input on from references.
Here’s the thing: among the long list of questions there’s some version of a “no basis for judgment” checkbox for each one. And, dear ones, if I only know you from one ten-week online course, I will have no basis for judgment for many-to-most of the questions on a typical recommendation form.
Me submitting a mostly blank form on your behalf, which is what I would have to do unless we have worked on something together beyond the classroom, would be devastating to your application.
I suggest you strategize whom to ask for recommendations. Read the blank recommendation form first if you can, and think about who knows you well enough to be able to answer such wide-ranging questions about you.
“Who Should Write My Letter of Recommendation?“
I know this whole page is not what you were expecting to find here when you (probably) emailed me asking me to write a letter of recommendation for you and I replied giving you this link. You thought I’d just say yes. Well? I wrote this all out because I care about you.
When I used to teach a 4-4 courseload, I got to know some students quite well. I used to enjoy writing recommendations and doing what I can to help students onward to the next thing for them. I’m not currently in the right position to help you, or I would continue to do that.
I know it’s sometimes harder for online-only students to form relationships with faculty, and because I offer to stay in touch after our course ends, former students sometimes think I’d make a great reference. I wrote this out to explain why I’m not the best letter of recommendation writer for you, and also to hopefully guide you towards figuring out who’s likely to be a better fit. I want you to be able to do and to be the things that you value.
After you identify the faculty who know you and can best support you in this way, I suggest you ask the right people politely (i.e. “Dear Professor” not “hi there”), recognizing you are asking them to do work for you, right? Explain why you’re asking specifically them (i.e. their multiple roles in your learning journey). And don’t ask at the last minute. I’m rooting for you. If I can help in some other way, let me know what you need.