Hello! If you’ve been directed to this page, you’ve likely asked Kris Dorsey for a letter or to serve as a reference. Please follow these steps to help me write the strongest letter possible:
0. Writing evaluation letters or serving as a reference is part of my job, and sending gifts or material “thank yous” reduces my appearance of impartiality. Please do not send gifts/tokens/etc, either now or later. Letting me know the outcome of your application (and how things are going for you more generally) is more than thanks enough!
1. If I have not previously served as a reference or written a letter for you, I will submit the letter or complete the online form within 10 business days of receiving your application materials and spreadsheet (info below). If your deadline is shorter than this–I’m very sorry, but I cannot accommodate it.
If I’ve served as a reference or written a letter before, I will submit an updated letter or online form within 3 business days.
2. Please read this article: https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-to-ask-for-a-recommendation/ If you cannot access it due to a paywall, the take home messages are:
- Please direct me in what qualities, projects, your strengths to highlight in your letter (and remind me of the evidence for this, please!). It’s much easier to write a strong letter for a student who says:
- “I’m applying for X fellowship, and one of the categories is leadership, so if you could, please write about the time I organized a writing workshop for the lab in the letter” or
- “I worked on X project in EECE 5554, if you could, please mention that we achieved the lowest noise you’d ever seen, thanks!”
- I can only comment on things I’ve directly seen in your work, either in my class or through external evidence such as a thesis, GitHub repo, etc. Please don’t ask me to highlight a skill that I can’t evaluate in some way. Your other letter writers might be able to highlight difference facets of your application, though!
3. Please send me all the requests or links at the same time if it’s at all possible. I understand some programs annoyingly don’t send the rec request or link until you’ve submitted your application, but the more you can “batch” request links, the easier it will be for me to keep track.
4. Tell me about you and the program(s) you’re applying to by downloading this Excel spreadsheet and filling it out.
5. Please email the Excel spreadsheet and any application materials (resume/CV and statements) directly as file(s) with the subject line: YourLastName Letter Request. Please do not send me a link through Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.
6. Please send me a reminder email two days before the application is due if you haven’t received confirmation that I sent the letter(s) or have followed up on the reference