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What makes a competitive applicant? Assessing students for graduate/professional school applications
Author(s) -
Sayer Erin M.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.2022.36.s1.0i174
Subject(s) - presentation (obstetrics) , process (computing) , computer science , reflection (computer programming) , writing process , medical education , graduate students , face (sociological concept) , zoom , psychology , mathematics education , pedagogy , sociology , medicine , social science , lens (geology) , petroleum engineering , engineering , radiology , programming language , operating system
Whether a faculty member is asked to write one letter or several dozen letters of recommendation/reference, the process can be reflective or challenging for the writer as we support our undergraduate students applying to graduate or professional schools. What makes us “qualified” to assess students for these important letters? What process do we use to be sure we provide the schools/programs with the information they need to make an informed decision? In addition, there are recent challenges we face as letter writers when we are asked by students we barely know due to COVID‐capped in person classes or faceless Zoom sessions required by synchronous learning requirements. This presentation will discuss the difference between a “good/strong” letter of reference and a balanced letter of evaluation. We will consider what content makes a good letter of reference, what a writer can and cannot discuss in the letter, and what process a writer can use to collect relevant information to write a well‐rounded, factual letter that presents an accurate reflection of the student.