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Dear [Recipient's Name] or
To Whom it May Concern,
It is my pleasure to recommend
Jane Doe for admission to [name of program] at [name of university]. I
am a fifth year Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley.
I came to know Jane when I was her Graduate Student Instructor for Philosophy
111: Ethical Relativism, taught by Professor John Doe. The course comprised
[short description of course]. Jane distinguished herself by submitting
an exceptionally well researched and interesting project on ethical practices
in ancient Greece. I would rank her in the top 2% of students that I have
taught in the past five years in respect of her writing ability and research
skills.
Overall, Jane is highly intelligent
and has good analytical skills. Her project on ethical practices in ancient
Greece demonstrated her ability to come a detailed understanding of the
ethical practices of another, very different culture, and to analyze the
consequences of those practices for contemporary ethical theories. She
gave a particularly interesting discussion of the difficult practice of
infanticide, and showed both sensitivity and detachment when discussing
its ethical consequences. Her overall intelligence is also reflected in
her grades for the course, which were by far the best in the class.
Jane has excellent communication
skills. Her written work is both clear and concise, and interesting to
read. She demonstrated her oral articulateness in the discussion sections
that were an integral part of the course. Each discussion section focused
on a particular ethical dilemma. Students were required analyze morally
problematic situations, and to develop and argue for their own ethical
views with regard to the issue in question. Jane was highly proficient
in applying the course material in analyzing the problem situations. She
always explained her views very concisely and gave supporting arguments
that were both clear and persuasive. Jane also demonstrated good team
working skills in group assignments.
At a personal level, Jane is
a well disciplined, industrious student with a pleasant personality. She
went well beyond the course requirements in the quantity and quality of
her project, putting in a lot of extra research and attending office hours
every week. Throughout the course, Jane demonstrated great perseverance
and initiative. She was not only interested in and motivated to learn
the material, but put great work into assimilating it to her own experience
and developing her own ideas about each ethical topic that we discussed.
Jane is unquestionably an exceptional
candidate for graduate study in Ethics. Jane's work in Philosophy 111
suggests that she would greatly benefit from the opportunities for intellectual
development provided by a sustained period of graduate study. She has
proven herself to have the perseverance and initiative, and the intellectual
creativity necessary to complete an advanced graduate degree. I would
therefore highly recommend Jane Doe. If her performance in my class is
a good indication of how she would perform as a graduate student, she
would be an extremely positive asset to your program.
If I can be of any further
assistance, or provide you with any further information, please do not
hesitate to contact me.
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