How to Write a Letter of Recommendation for Students Applying for Scholarships

What is Letter of recommendation?

A formal document that offers an outside viewpoint on an applicant's knowledge, skills, and abilities is a letter of recommendation. Letter of recommendation are used for many purpose like scholarship application, job and University application etc.

Letter of recommendations for student are very important, but at the same time, this is the most neglected part of any scholarship. Usually, applicants don't pay any attention to letter of recommendations, and that's why almost 95% of the applicants to the scholarships get rejections.

I will share 10 tips of letter of recommendation. If you follow these 10 tips then you are good to win any scholarship in the world.

• Relevant
• Specific attributes of the person
• Mention the skills that you have
• Research skills
• Strengths
• How student challenge himself
• How he deals with the deadlines and pressure

Relevant

If we consider the first point of letter of recommendation for  for student, which is very important, is relevant. Relevancy is the key, guys. If you're applying for any scholarship in the world, applying to any program, either its PhD, either it's master's or bachelor's, relevancy is the key. And especially in Erasmus, relevancy is the key. If you want to win Erasmus, your letter of recommendation, your CV, your letter of motivation, everything must be relevant to the program.

If you are approaching to the professor, just ask him to write only those things which are relevant to the program that you are applying. For example, you are applying in a program of embedded system, but you're an electrical engineer, write only those projects which are relevant to the program that you have done with the professor.

Communicate with your professor that you're applying in a specific field. So, only those things must be written in your field. For example, you have 10 projects with the professor, but only three projects are relevant to the course that you're applying. Only write those three projects in the letter of recommendation for students. You have to communicate with the professor who is writing for you. 

Specific attributes of the person.

Ask your professor to write your specific attributes, not write a generic document. Like I have reviewed so many letter of recommendations and everyone is writing like he has very good communication skills, but which communication skills? Where professor has interacted with you that he can comment on which communication skills that you have and it is good to which level it is good.

So, everything must be specific that which communication skills, which speaking skills, writing skills you have and where your professor has seen you. For example, he has seen your presentation in the class, he has seen your presentation in the conference or anywhere. If he has seen you presenting something, if he has seen you in a managerial task, for example, you were working in some of the clubs or societies in your school.

Mention the skills that you have and how Professor knows that you have that skill?

If you have done any project with the professor, you should explain the project in the document that what was the project, which software student has used and what the achievements of the student in that project were and what technical skills like software’s and other technical skills he gained from the project. So, it's important.

Research skills

Only your professor can comment on your research skills. No one else can comment on your research skills. So, it's important to ask your professor to write something about your research skills because if you're applying for master's or PhD and in scholarship, admission committee is looking for those people who have prior research experience maybe, not if they have publication or something like that, but they must have done something related to research like research projects.

So, ask your professor to must write your research skills potential in your letter of recommendation. It's very important.

Strengths

It's the fifth point and also the weaknesses because in letter of recommendation for student, usually professor writes only strengths. He has this strength. He's very good at research. He's very good at this software, at a particular software, but they are not mentioning the weaknesses, how he handles pressure or anything that he needs to improve with something like that.

He should mention those things too because it's always a learning experience and admission committee also accept these things too. If a person has to improve something, it's not a negative thing. Letter of recommendation can have these things too. So, it's also important to mention the weaknesses if you have any because no one is perfect and admission committee knows this.

How student challenge himself

This is the important point. I would say most important point in any letter of recommendation. How student challenge himself, how he's open to new tasks. If student is given any task, how he deals with it, how he research because research is something that you don't know and you are exploring something new and how we explore something new. That's the important thing.

Your professor must write this thing in your letter of recommendation that how he perceived new things, new cultures, new adaptabilities, new work environment. So, it's important.

How he deals with the deadlines and pressure

In research, you will face a lot of pressure and your admission committee wants to know that how you can deal with the pressure. So, it's important that you ask your recommender that he should write something like this. That how was his experience seeing you dealing the pressure?

Extracurricular activities

Professor should mention about your extracurricular activities.

How you work in a team, how you deal with people, how you present yourself. Basically, it's your extracurricular activities. For example, if you have worked with any club or society of your university, then your professor should mention the name of that student club or society that you were part of and also your position.

If he has seen you dealing with any projects related to that student club, he should write something like that too. It will help you to specify that letter of recommendation specific to you.

Research gaps in Country and benefit of your study.

Your professor should mention that what research gaps they have in the field in their own country and they lack professionals in that field or not and how it's going to help if you, the student, is going to study in their esteemed institute and how it's going to help the country of the student. So this is very important.

For example, professor is writing like I have a 20 years of work experience in the research of water resources of my country. And with that experience, I can tell that if he gets a scholarship, it will help my country to improve the research. You know, professor should mention something about the country also.

And the last point in my letter of recommendation is everything is specific. If you were working in a group, how many people you were working with? How many people you led? So it's very important to be in numbers because everyone wants to listen in statistics that I led five people, I led two people, these things, you know. And I think if you follow these 10 points, no one can stop you to win any scholarship in the world.

FAQ’s

Why is the Letter of Recommendation for student is  important?
It strengthens applications by offering credible insights into an applicant’s qualities from a trusted source.

What is the key to a strong recommendation letter?
Relevancy; the letter should focus on skills and experiences directly related to the program or job.

Should weaknesses be mentioned in a recommendation letter for student?
Yes, acknowledging areas for growth adds authenticity and reflects a realistic assessment.

Why should specific attributes be included?
Specific attributes and examples make the letter more credible and tailored to the applicant.

What role do extracurricular activities play in a recommendation?
They show teamwork, leadership, and involvement outside academics, adding depth to the applicant’s profile.

How important are research skills in a recommendation letter?
For scholarships or research programs, highlighting research skills is crucial, especially for master’s and PhD applications.

Can the letter mention how the student benefits their home country?
Yes, it’s beneficial for the recommender to note how the applicant’s studies can contribute to their country’s needs.

Should numbers or statistics be included in the letter?
Yes, specific figures (e.g., team size, projects led) make the letter more impactful and factual.

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