Don: Well, the title is, Great Letters of Recommendation: How to Get Them. How to Write Them. The book is written for anyone who has ever felt anxious about either writing a letter of rec or obtaining an LOR, and the chapters are filled with advice for any LOR-related questions recommenders or LOR seekers may have. The book explains how to approach potential recommenders as well as how to write great letters that stand out from the rest.

Lilly: There are two intended audiences for this book: people who are writing letters of rec (college professors and teaching assistants, high school teachers, employers), as well as LOR-seekers. For seekers, we have a lot of information on how to get letters. From my research, there aren’t any other books that address the technicalities and protocols of requesting letters for jobs, grants, or admission into college or grad school. Usually, the perception is it’s a lot easier to get a letter of rec than to write a letter of rec. To get one, you just need to have a relationship, ask, and provide a few papers. But it’s really not so cut-and-dry.

Lilly: Exactly, there is an art to asking properly and following up. For example, asking for letters of rec can run an entire spectrum of courtesy. I’ve heard of cases in which a student uses instant messaging to ask for a letter of recommendation, and the request begins with “Yo!” The thoughtful, old-fashioned way is best, such as approaching your professor when he’s not busy.

Don: Ideally, you want to approach your professor in person, not via email. A polite way of asking for letters of rec is simply, “Hi. I’m applying to X, Y, and Z. Do you believe that you would be able to write me a strong letter of recommendation?” You know, sort of a pre-request request. Then comes confirming times and places—and showing up. Applicants need to realize that any LOR is not necessarily better than no LOR. Your relationship with your recommender and the way you go about it really matters.

Don: Well, we’ve included LOR horror stories from real professors. We emailed over 10,000 professors to hear their real-life experiences with writing letters of rec. They came up with some unbelievable stories about students requesting LOR’s—everything from just pure rudeness to legal action. These stories are sprinkled throughout the book, which makes for an entertaining read.

Lilly: The book is divided into three sections: advice for letter seekers, advice for recommenders, and advice for ghost writers. Often professors are too busy and will ask the student to “ghost write” an outline or a first draft of the letter. Sometimes recommenders will even have the student write it all, and the recommender will put his or her name to it. The second half of the book is comprised of over 50 sample letters – a great resource to help everyone.

Don: The sample letters cover a very wide scope. We have included great example letters for everyone from high school students applying for scholarships, college entrance, or a first job to graduate and employment letters. We even have post-graduate letters, such as a medical preceptor who is evaluating a med school resident, or a faculty member who is being recommended for a promotion.

Don: Yes, because we want to serve the largest possible audience. Teenagers, salespeople, law or medical school applicants—anybody should be able to pick up this book and receive great benefit. Our sample letters even address common blips or gaps in someone’s application. For instance, if one of your students has a low GPA or MCAT score and she wants you to write something to help overcome that in her letter of rec, how do you address the problem? Our sample letters have examples of how to overcome those glitches in a student’s academic past.

Lilly: The scope of the book. We wrote all the sample letters first, so the hard part was getting back into the mentality of high school again or writing about science research for a Chemistry professor’s med school recommendation. I actually showed my sample letter to a UCI science professor to see if my discussion on research made sense. We had to get our minds into as many academic and professional industries as possible, and make the letters as realistic and feasible as we could. And luckily, the UCI professor approved my letter, which confirmed that we were on the right track!