Many of you will soon be asking members of the department to write letters of reference in support of various types of applications that you may be filling out. Before we write letters of reference for you, we would like you to fill out an informational resume and give it to each faculty member who is going to write references for you. You should also include a stamped, addressed envelope for every position for which you are applying and also a separate, single list of all places and deadlines. Please fill in all blanks that you can on each form that you leave for us--e.g., your name, our name and position, etc. Please give us at least two weeks to write the letters, as the quality of the letter may suffer if we have less time. (Joel Weisberg will not accept letters with less than two weeks' notice.) Also, please note that before you supply any one of us with the forms, resume, etc., you should first check with us to ensure that your designee will be on campus to receive your forms before the deadlines. (We have had several painful cases of recommendation forms languishing well past their deadline dates under a pile of mail of faculty members on leave.)

Information that might be contained on your resume includes:

1. What position(s) are you applying for? Include dates when the material is due. Please list all institutions (including full addresses) and deadlines in one place on a separate page.

2. Scholarships and academic honors that you have received.

3. Grades received in physics courses and the instructors' names.

4. Details of employment within the physics, math or other science departments. What terms, what courses, what capacity, supervisor's name?

5. Other campus (or off-campus during the school year) employment.

6. Relevant¹ work experience during summer or winter break.

7. Relevant¹ extracurricular activities.

8. Are there particular strengths or weaknesses on your transcript that should be emphasized or clarified? (e.g., have you done a lot of work in another area, such as foreign language or music?)

9. Is there any specific evidence of your ability to communicate well in speaking and writing--e.g., public speaking experience, writing for the Carletonian or other publications, advanced rhetoric courses?

10. What do you perceive as your major strengths?

11. What are your immediate and long-range goals?

12. Is there anything else that might (or might not) be included to bolster your application? Remind us of the details of talks or projects or any other relevant special efforts you have done, (especially those you have done with the designated recommender), as these will enable us to personalize and greatly strengthen our letters.

¹Relevant should not be interpreted in a narrow sense of implying a direct relation to physics. In addition to that, cite evidence of your qualities of leadership, perseverance, organizational ability...