Reference Letter I
Dear Committee Members,
I have known Student A for two years as an undergradate student at our university. Initially I came to know this student in my senior electrodynamics class, where she earned the top grade that year. Last summer Student A approached me for a position in my lab. Because of her performance in class, I believed she would be a constructive addition to our small group consisting of a PhD student, another undergraduate student and myself. She excelled in work that I assigned her directly, but refused additional collaborative work with one of my PhD students who could have used an extra hand on his project. During our weekly meetings she was eager to show her results, but frequently spoke over her colleagues and voiced criticisms that I considered to be non-constructive. I tasked her with comissioning a new piece of lab equipment, which she did very well at and learned to use, but she refused to teach the other students how to use it. Unfortunately, this delayed our progress for a week when she was later off sick for several days and as a result Student B missed an opportunity to submit results to the Big Science Thingy Conference. In my opinion, Student A is a bright student and eager to learn, but I would not invite her to return to my laboratory nor could I in good conscience recommend her to your program because she has not demonstrated the collaborative and interpersonal skill set that I feel is needed for further success in academia.Professor X
Reference Letter II
Dear Committee Members,
I have known Student A for two years as an undergradate student at our university. Initially I came to know this student in my senior electrodynamics class, where she earned a high grade that year. Last summer I approached Student A to fill a position in my lab. Because of her performance in class, I believed she would be a constructive addition to our small group consisting of a PhD student, another undergraduate student and myself. She excelled in work that I assigned her directly, but more importantly she took the initiative to collaborate on a side project with one of my PhD students. This resulted in a publication in a major journal in our field. During our weekly meetings she was eager to show her results and demonstrated interest in the work of her colleagues, offering constructive feedback when warranted. I tasked her with comissioning a new piece of lab equipment, which she did very well at and learned to use. Student A went out of her way to draw up precise instructions for its use and helped Student B to gain a basic operational knowledge of it, which came in handy when she was later off sick for several days. Although not on the abstract, Student B thanked her in a talk at the Big Science Thingy Conference for her assistance on Student B's project. Though not the top student in the class, Student A is bright, excells in her studies and is eager to learn. I would gladly invite her to return to my own laboratory for graduate studies. I predict she will be very successful in your program because she has demonstrated the collaborative and interpersonal skill set that I feel is needed for further success in academia.Professor X
Which one would you want?
