Sample Graduate School Recommendation Letter

In a nutshell, a recommendation letter is a correspondence usually prepared by a former employer, immediate supervisor, colleague, professor, or someone else with the purpose of vouching for the character, skills, and achievements of the person being recommended.

In the Philippines, job hiring managers usually contact character references indicated in the applicant’s resumé by a phone call for such purposes. However, colleges and universities still require printed recommendation letters from former professors and even current employers upon admission of the student candidate in the program, more especially in the graduate school.

Consider the sample graduate school recommendation letter below.

Sample Recommendation Letter from a Former Professor

I am pleased to submit to you this letter of recommendation for my former student, Marc Kenneth Marquez, who is a candidate in your Master of Arts in Education in English Language Teaching.

As his former professor in most of his English and Education courses, I found him as a student who was always eager to learn new things, and hence, was very zealous about the teaching profession. Through the years of his academic journey, he has developed to be a confident, intelligent, and responsible student-teacher. He was also then a consistent AMY Foundation scholar and an active leader of student organizations where he assumed major positions in the Educators’ Society and English Club.

Reaping the fruits of his hard work and dedication, he earned his degree in Secondary Education as Cum Laude and Best Student Teacher in English. He became very focused on his goals that after his graduation, he qualified and joined right away our teaching workforce. In the academe, he has exhibited the character and attitude perfect for his chosen profession.

As his professor and mentor, I strongly recommend him for admission into the program. I believe that he has always been ready to go an extra mile for his personal and professional growth.

Thank you very much.

Sample Recommendation Letter from a Former Employer

I am pleased to submit this recommendation letter for our former employee, Marc Kenneth Marquez, who has communicated his candidacy in Master of Arts in Education in English Language Teaching at Philippine Normal University –Manila.

He was employed at our school, iMillennial Colleges Foundation, Inc. as a full-time Faculty Member under the College of Arts and Sciences for a period of approximately two (2) years from January 2012 to May 2014.

Being a young member of our teaching force, he reported directly to me as his Academic Head. He was at all times very cooperative, friendly, hardworking, and extremely competent. He accepted all his responsibilities with eagerness, and he accomplished these in a timely and professional manner, hence at par with my expectations. His attendance was exemplary, and his interpersonal skills were very polished. Indeed, his concrete success with us can be conveyed in his continuous pursuit of professional development.

Please admit him into the program. With your reputation as the Center of Excellence for Teacher Education, I am very confident that he will have a successful academic training for his chosen profession.