Recommendation letter writing and best practices

¶ … Board of Admissions

Here at the University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway), we take pride in the prestige and expertise instilled within the student body of our Literature Department. As a school with almost two centuries of producing distinguished graduates within the field of Literature, I must profess the respect and admiration all of the staff here has for our graduating class. The University has a prestigious reputation for its multi-disciplinary programs which incorporate thorough knowledge and experience of literature with other genres of study. Our school balances a load of 15,000 students with a long established reputation of teaching and research excellence. This excellence is only epitomized when looking specifically at the Department at hand, whose students prove masters at their craft within their level of expertise. As students with undergraduate experience, many have a long journey ahead until they reach their fullest potential; yet, it is students such as Anna Willington who astound us here at the University and will prove to have great careers within the context of a Graduate program.

It proves my pleasure inform the Board of Admissions at the University of California at San Diego regarding one current applicant, Anna Willington.

She has studied here at the prestigious University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway) for her entire undergraduate career. Throughout the years of our acquaintance, I have known Anna to be one of the hardest working and dedicated students within her student body. She has, and will continue to amaze me personally with her tenacity and ambition to succeed in whatever task she chooses to embark upon. In today's existence, I find it rare to have found a student with such devotion to her studies and the success of her future. It is this devotion which I know will carry her through all of her future endeavors with spirit and passion.

Time and time again, Anna has proven to both my fellow colleagues and me that she is truly a young, bright mind. As her Creative Writing Professor, I have had the pleasure to help guide her through her own journey as a budding artist, watching her develop along the way from a shy and polite student into a charismatic and strong writer. It was her charm which first caught my attention, and held it through our various classes together. Anna proved an asset to the class with her continuous participation and insightful remarks within the context of discussion. She also blossomed as an influence on her fellow classmates; helping others break away from their inhibitions as writers as she had done very early on.

Always great within a social context, Anna was a breath of fresh air in the classroom, for both me and her fellow students. Never one to ignore discussions, Anna continually stood out in classroom conversations -- without putting her classmates down to do so. She truly exhibits a passion for learning and her craft.

This energy and charisma is also illustrated in her writing. As a true devotee to her craft, Anna has never been one to be afraid of taking calculated risks with writing, within both a creative and academic context. Never once was I afraid to read her work in fear of bland and passion-less rambling, which proves typical of many undergraduates within their first few years. Rather, she proved exactly the opposite, and always took the hard route, with all its successes and lessons along the way. Courageous in both her technique and organization, she proved to have a thorough understanding of her audience as well as the rules of formal and informal writing structure. Yet, as ambitious as she is, never once was constructive criticism lost to an unbelieving mind. She was the first to listen earnestly regarding how her writing could improve, and was also the first peer her fellow students would turn to for honest and reliable advice on their own writing. Anna worked wonders with helping her classmates edit their work and prepare themselves to elevate their writing to a level which would take them all far in their chosen academic and career paths. I strongly believe that her abilities will only continue to improve and drive her forward in whatever path she chooses for herself.