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For applying to both graduate school and fellowships, you will be asked to contact several professors or research supervisors for the purpose of soliciting letters of recommendation.

You will be required to provide between two to four letters.  These letters should come from faculty members in the department of your undergraduate major, and it is sometimes appropriate to include at least one person from a related discipline (chemistry, physics, math).  If you did any independent research you must have your supervising professor write one of the letters.  Not including this letter will raise questions, since this person will be the best witness of your research practices and your scientific abilities.  If for any reason you cannot get this letter, include an explanation in the application.  Unless the graduate school specifically asks otherwise, it is not wise to obtain a letter from someone not in a science or math department, or someone not in an academic/research environment.

There are a couple different ways in which the letter is required by each program.  Some graduate schools will simply ask for a composed letter, others will request a letter on a form provided by the school.  The main content of the letter will include how the person knows you, the length of that relationship, and how they believe you will perform in a graduate program.

Do not hesitate to ask a professor for a letter of recommendation it is considered a part of their job and many considered it a pleasure to do so.  It is also a positive reflection on your professor and the undergraduate school if you are admitted to a graduate school.  Keep in mind that the letter of recommendation also comes with great responsibility.  To help the professors that you have chosen, here are some recommended guidelines:

1. Always ask a professor if he or she is willing to write a positive letter for you. Do not assume that it is automatic for them to respond affirmatively. Reasons for a professor to decline include: not being able to honestly write a favorable letter, not believing that your contact was significant enough to provide material for the letter, or could not get the letter composed and sent in the time provided.

2. Be willing to sit with the professor and talk about your career plans, your experiences to date, etc. The better the professor knows you, the better the letter will be.

3. Professors get swamped with a lot of letter requests, so it is important that you provide them with enough time.  Approach the professor in time to allow at least four weeks before he or she must send off the letters to beat the graduate school's deadline. Be sure that the writer knows the deadline date and is willing to beat that date.  Send a friendly reminder at two weeks and the week before the due date.  Don’t worry about offending them, they will likely welcome the reminder.

4. Unless the professor knows you quite well, provide them with some information about yourself to help them write their letter. Include the following:
- your full name.
- a list of the programs to which you are applying.
- your career aspirations.
- the science, physics, and math course you have taken and are currently taking. Note the courses that you took under the recommender, and their dates.
- your current grade point average (overall) and the grade point average for science courses.
- your GRE scores, if available.
- a description of any research experiences you have had, and any  pertinent work and volunteer experiences.
- a list of any honors you have received.
- Anything that sets you apart from other applicants
- Any other information that you believe would help the writer.

5. Fill out your portion of the forms before you give them to the writer.  Do so only by typing, even if you have to hire a professional typist. Neatness counts.  If you can, get the electronic version of the form, fill in your information and e-mail it to the professor. They can then enter their information and print it out.

6. Provide the writer with appropriate envelopes, stamped. Type the addresses on the envelopes.

7. It is likely that you will be asking each writer for several similar letters for the multiple programs to which you are applying. Be sure that he or she knows this. If possible, provide all forms and requests simultaneously. If not, ask the writer to keep a copy of the first letter(s) to help shorten the time required to compose letters you request later.

Typically, you will be asked whether you want to waive the right to see a letter of recommendation. It is to your advantage to waive this right, since some readers of the letter will believe it to be more candid if you did not see it. If you are greatly concerned about the contents of a letter, perhaps this is an indication that you should reconsider using that person as a recommender.

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