LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

Faculty members are quite willing to write recommendations for majors applying for jobs, graduate school, off-campus programs, internships, etc. Just ask the professor of your choice. The more information we have from you concerning your interests and experiences both in and out of Carleton, the easier it is for us to write more specific, and therefore stronger, letters of recommendation for you. Therefore, we urge you to prepare the following biographical statement/résumé for us, which we will keep on file after graduation in order to help faculty write letters of recommendation.

Please note also that before you list our name(s) for a recommendation you should see us individually about your career plans and alternatives, even though we will have your written comments available to us.

When you ask the Career Center to send us the recommendation forms they will ask you to indicate what your interests are: graduate study, private business, etc. If you are the least bit uncertain, indicate all career interests you may have, partly because we will tend to write a somewhat different letter for a job application than for a graduate school application (to take just two possible examples) and partly because your own plans may change after you leave Carleton and it will be desirable, therefore, to have a number of different letters on file. The Career Center forms ask us to comment on such characteristics as dependability, character, intelligence, initiative, personality, poise, appearance and speech habits. Would you rate yourself on these, commenting on your rating and the basis for it? Please note anything unique about you with respect to any of these characteristics that you think would be helpful to us in preparing a recommendation for you, and to a prospective employer in assessing you.

Please type your responses to these questions and send them to Jean Goss (232 Leighton Hall) as soon as possible in your senior year so they can be put into your individual folders for future reference.

QUESTIONS

1. Name
2. Permanent address (where you can always be reached) and phone number
3. Age
4. Class
5. Major
6. "Minors" (other departments in which you have done extensive work)
7. Mathematical background (including math, computer, statistics, methodology)
8. Summer experience
9. Work experience at college
10. How good in general has your academic record been? In what courses did you excel? Why? In what courses were you weak? Why?
11. What about extra-curricular activities? Have you been active or merely a member?
12. What kind of job would you like to be recommended for?

Is there any other information you think would be helpful to us in preparing these letters? What aspects of your background, abilities, and experience do you feel justify recommending you for this position? Are there any other specific strengths or weaknesses you would like us to extol or explain in our recommendations?