Letters of Recommendation

This document provides information about letters of recommendation within Slate, including how it looks from the applicant's perspective, the reference's perspective, and a reviewer's perspective.

Letters of recommendation are submitted via the Slate application. The number of required letters of recommendation are determined by the program; to find how many letters your program requires, check your program's Guide page or check your program's application details in Slate.

Submitted recommendations do not carry over from one application to the next. If applying to multiple programs that require recommendations, an applicant's recommender(s) will need to complete a new recommendation for each application submitted.

Applicant's Perspective

Applicant View in the Application:

When an applicant enters into the Recommendations section of the Graduate School application, they will see something like the screenshot below. It will show how many recommendations are required and the ability to add a new reference by selecting the Add New link. They will also be shown a list of their references as well as the recommendation's status:

Awaiting: the reference has yet to submit the recommendation
Received: the letter of recommendation has been submitted
Excluded: the reference has decided not to use this reference for the application

Screenshot of the recommendations section of the Slate application from the applicant's perspective

When the applicant selects the Add New link, a window will pop up to provide the reference's contact information, as shown in the screenshot below. The applicant is notified that by using this system they are waiving their rights to view letters submitted by references. Additionally, there is an optional free text space where the applicant can add a note to their reference. By selecting the Send to Recommender button, the applicant triggers an email to be sent to the reference, which includes a link to submit the recommendation. The email the reference receives is discussed further in the Reference's Perspective section below.

Applicant View in the Status Page:

Once an applicant has submitted their application, they can review the status of their recommendations on their Status Page as shown in the screenshot below.

On the status page, the applicant also has the option to re-visit the recommendations page of their application to edit their references or send them a reminder email. They can also choose to add additional references and/or exclude references that they have received.

Reference's Perspective

When an applicant sends a reference request, the reference will receive an email like the one in the screenshot below. It will include some contextual information and a link to Submit Recommendation.

Screenshot of the reference request email text.

When the reference clicks the Submit Recommendation link, the reference will be brought to a recommendation form like the one in the screenshots below. It includes some identifying information about the reference and the applicant followed by a questionnaire and the ability to upload a letter of recommendation document. The reference is required to provide a digital signature before they can submit.

Screenshot of the top of the letter of recommendation portal, showing the recommender and applicant information.

Screenshto of the second part of the letter of recommendation portal, which asks the reference how they know the applicant.

Screenshot of the third part of the letter of recommendation portal, which is a rating scale on a number of attributes.

Screenshot of the last part of the recommendation portal, which asks the reference to give an overall rating, upload a letter of recommendation, and submit.

Reviewer's Perspective

To locate the recommendations in the reader, use the left-hand menu and navigate to the References section.

The first page of the References section provides a summary of the references and their contact information, as shown in the screenshot below:

Screenshot of the summary page in the Reference section

Each recommendation consists of two parts. The first part includes identifying information about the reference and answers to the questionnaire, as shown in the screenshot below. The scale for the recommendation questionnaire, which was updated September 25, 2024, is as follows: