There are many instances in life that you can not control, but you can contribute to them or influence them. Similar is the case with a Letter of Recommendation or LOR for undergraduate education abroad. You can not probably control or write a LOR as it is supposed to be written by a recommender—teacher, manager, or lab assistant—but you can surely guide them on how to write one.
A letter of recommendation is an official document that depicts proof of your candidature for a particular university or program. It is usually 400-500 words. Mainly all the universities abroad ask for 2 to 3 UG letter of recommendation. As the name suggests, it is a recommendation from the writer's end describing your ability to perform well while pursuing the course and afterwards.
So whether you share this article with a recommender or are supposed to write LOR samples for undergraduate students, let’s get amazing insights without further delay.
| Table of Contents |
Categories of LOR for Undergraduate
The most critical pointer for the preparation of a UG letter of recommendation is the selection of a suitable recommender who knows your traits, achievements, experiences, and goals. Let’s check the type of LORs required by a university/b-school abroad.
- Academic LOR: This letter of recommendation is required for bachelors and masters admission. If you are planning to take admission in bachelors, your LOR must be written by a high school teacher. However, in the case of masters, your bachelor’s professors can write a letter of recommendation.
- Professional LOR: This type of LOR is mainly asked by MBA institutions abroad, where the student is required to provide work experience. This is expected to be written by the candidate’s current or previous manager, employer, team leader, etc.
Suggested: LOR Guides MS, MBA, etc.
Next, let’s explore the critical pointers to include in a UG letter of recommendation.
How to Write a UG Letter of Recommendation
An actionable and well-represented LOR must cover the following pointers. These pointers are not by the books; however, they are recommended by various study abroad experts/counsellors.
1. Introduction to a UG LOR
The introduction to a LOR must include basic information about the student and recommender; how they both associate with each other; the student's previous qualifications; the name of the subject the recommender used to teach; the association duration; etc.
2. Body Paragraph
These paragraphs must include the student’s qualities, achievements, extracurricular participation, growth chart, responsibilities, etc. The recommender must present valid examples and anecdotes to support each occurrence. They can explain a student’s team management skills, organisational abilities, contributions to a given task, etc. Further, they must tell when did they observe these qualities. They can also share the student's setbacks, if any and how they overcame them.
3. Conclusion
Lastly, the recommender can summarise your qualities and specify how you will be a perfect fit for a program and your expected future contribution to the university. They must encourage the admissions committee to connect them in case of a query by leaving the contact details.
Read: LOR Recommendations for Masters
Now you know the gist of a LOR sample for undergraduate. Next, let’s explore the top UG university’s LOR requirements abroad.
University Requirements of UG Letter of Recommendation
According to the QS World University Rankings 2023, the top three universities to pursue an undergraduate degree are:
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US
- University of Cambridge, UK
- Stanford University, US
Further, let’s check out their LOR requirements.
|
University |
LOR Requirement for Undergraduate |
|
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US |
2 LORs from teachers; 1 from maths or science teacher, and 1 from social science, humanities, or language teacher. |
|
University of Cambridge, UK |
3 LORs, 500-word limit The LOR must include: Comments indicating rank order in class Evidence of willingness to explore out of the box Reasons for underperformance, if any Updated information about progress or personal circumstances |
|
Stanford University, US |
2 Letter of recommendations; it is advised to include LORs from 11 or 12th grade’s maths, science, English, foreign language, or history teacher. Up to 500-word |
Read: Sample LOR for MBA
For other universities, you can browse their official websites. Next, let’s explore a few tips to ace a UG letter of recommendation.
Tips to Write a LOR
Following the steps mentioned above, writing a LOR might seem simple. However, a recommender must follow the given pointers to create an impactful LOR for undergraduate degree abroad.
- Stay in touch with the candidate while writing a LOR.
- Keep the content crisp and ensure that all the formalities remain on the left-hand side of the page.
- Each LOR should have distinctive qualities and achievements as part of it. This will give an extraordinary picture of the student.
- Give a clear view of the candidate's journey depicting development and growth.
- The LOR must depict the candidate’s strengths and capabilities without exaggeration.
- Stick to the word limit and end on a positive note.
Suggested: Types of Bachelors Abroad
Now you know the process of writing a LOR for undergraduate. But so many steps and details can be intimidating for first-time recommenders. However, worry not; connect with our expert counsellors by subscribing to Yocket premium, and take guidance on what to include in a LOR and other requirements of an undergraduate abroad admission process.
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