A recommendation letter is one of those things you will come across when you are applying for graduate school or in some other rare cases when you are looking for a Job. Different schools have different requirements for a recommendation letter, while some require that recommendation letters come specifically from professors that taught you previously and that are in the line of academia, some require that the letters can be from a variety of notable figures in society whom you came in contact with, they could be your boss or maybe a church leader. Recommendation letters are notes from someone in high standing about your personal qualities and accomplishments and/or experiences that the person associates you with and of course they are the good kind. Let us see how to write thank you email to the professor for recommendation in this article with an example.
Thank You Email to Professor for Recommendation:
If your professor had written one from you, and you got into the program you applied for, you must thank your professor, cause his recommendation of your academic performance and attitude is a major part of why you got in, you can send a thank you email to the person for taking out time to write out the recommendation on your behalf, a thank you email becomes more necessary if the program you applied for, requires the professor to write and submit the letter by himself. Although this is not a necessity, it is a very simple act of courtesy, especially if you have plans for applying to other schools in the future for other different programs.
Information to include in your thank You email:
Recommendation letters are not as easy as most people think they are. Professors may have taught about 20 – 30 students during your academic year, and you are not the only student requesting a recommendation letter, since these letters are usually tailored to the individual requesting the letter, your professor has to recall what you were like in school. The letter would show why you are a good fit for the program and why it is necessary for the school to take you in for your graduate study. These are some reasons why you should take the time to craft individual thank you emails for the different professors you contacted to help you with those letters. While thank you emails are subjective and there are different ways to be written , it should carry some basic thoughts and feelings.
Formal:
Your professor, is a professional figure and your email needs to be formal, don’t write a thank you note like you are sending a mail to a friend who helped you out or to another fellow student, the email should generally begin with Dear sir/Ma’am and follow the formal way an email should be written.
Gratitude:
Now, this should be what the body of your mail carries, although you can use a bunch of different words, it should generally be about your gratitude for the time used to write the recommendation letter.
Example of a thank you email:
Dear Prof. John doe.
Thank you for the time you took to write and submit my recommendation letter to my graduate school. I want to also inform you that I successfully passed the first steps and I am currently heading to be enrolled. I appreciate your support and I will keep you in the loop about the process. Thanks once again.
If you want to write a longer email, you can, with information like what course you enjoyed the most (course he taught), this is pleasing to the professor, because they always enjoy reading how their classes were particularly enjoyable.
Other things a thank you note can be used for:
If your professor had been dear to you, maybe he was your course adviser or you just had a particular bond during your academic years and you feel the need to thank him, a thank you note doesn’t only have to be an avenue to say your feelings concerning the recommendation letter that was written, you can also express other feelings as well for his guidance during your years in school or for his mentorship, or any other meaning interactions you had with him outside the classroom. The thank you note can be used to express those personal feelings you gained from the personal attention you got during your academic years.
Other tips for writing a great thank you note:
If you want to craft a more intimate thank you note for a professor, you have a special bond with, you can first remember that the note is still just a letter and not something out of the ordinary, from there you can create the basic outline of how you want your letter to go, don’t just start pouring your feelings you will make a lot of mistakes, write the how you want the mail to progress and then remember the letter is a formal letter, things like the Dear Prof. should be included, it is advisable to write the note immediately you get confirmation that you got in your graduate school, this would help make sure you are writing the mail in a happy state and have a positive flow of words coming in. Although the professor is special to you, try to keep the letter short, and lastly proofread your letter before clicking on send.
Does a Thank you note benefit you?
A thank you note does not only show that you have proper courtesy – which is a very important trait to be known by – it also positions you in a place where those professors can help again, a simple thank you note can go a long way in shaping the perspective your professors have of you, when you need another recommendation letter, you can easily get on, it also creates a channel of communication between you and your professors and in a more distant future it can pay off, for example, you may have graduated and want to gain experience as a graduate assistant, the channel of communication opened usually has the potential for you request becoming a graduate assistant under them and since they are aware of your graduate journey, they can easily say yes.
Conclusion:
A thank you note is of a lot of importance, professors and other people that write recommendation letters, take out time to do so and so it is necessary to write them a thank you note afterward, seeing how technology has made things a lot easier, a simple email can go a long way when used properly. It is most importantly a matter of courtesy to write a thank you email to them afterward.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- What is the purpose of a recommendation letter?
A letter of recommendation is used to determine if a candidate for a graduate study or other cases is of good academic discipline to embark on the course.
- Do you wait for a letter of acceptance before you thank a professor for his recommendation?
No, you do not have to, even if you do not get accepted into the graduate program, you should still thank him and inform him that you did not get in and that you would be applying for other schools and still hope for his/her support.