Information for Recommenders

This set of short videos provides advice from Purdue faculty and staff who have deep experience writing letters of recommendation for prestigious scholarships. If you are writing a letter for a student applying to one of the awards coordinated by Purdue’s National and International Scholarships Office (NISO), you will have received guidelines with specifics on the scholarship’s criteria. If not, please email: niso@purdue.edu

Video Video Transcript

 

Strong letters...

• include specific details and examples to support your statements: experiences paint a picture of the student that will make him or her memorable to the committee. Instead of writing how “this student is a hard worker,” tell an anecdote about an interaction with the student to demonstrate why one would arrive at your characterization.

• set the student apart as an individual. They do not read like a generic letter with cut-and-paste sentences.
• do not summarize a candidate's résumé or transcript, cite GPA, list activities, or describe classes. Instead, focus on the work the candidate did within those contexts. Résumé information is found elsewhere in the application.
• avoid hyperbole.
• do not awaken readers’ potential gender bias. We at NISO read hundreds of letters and have noticed that even the most intellectually superior women, the strongest leaders, are often characterized as outstanding students due to their perfect attendance, poise, good organizational skills, being the ones to smooth out social problems in a group, always having smiles on their faces. Men are more often spoken of in terms of their intellectual prowess and the results they procure. Scholarship foundations are looking for students with potential to bring results and real, positive change.
• are looked over by a colleague before submitted. Once finished, set the letter down for a day and reevaluate its overall characterization.