recommendation letter--sample 3

                  Nov. 22, 1995

Dear Sir:

I have just learned that Lee is applying for admission into our own graduate program and I am very pleased to write in her support.

Let me first comment on her school work.  I taught Lee in her third year in my now infamous course on thesis writing.  It was not an easy course, for the students had to start from scrap and build toward a more-or-less comprehensive understanding of a topic that had some relevance for Taiwan before they embarked on real writing.  Lee had done very well in the first semester when we were writing regular essays; in fact, she went away with the highest grade because she was always very organized and thoughtful in her writing.  Her English was smooth and sophisticated too; I never had to spend too much time working over or commenting on her paper.  When it came time writing the research paper, however, Lee struggled long and hard.

To start with, Lee had great difficulty settling on a topic.  For almost one third of the semester, I couldn't figure out what she wanted to do.  She kept switching from one thing to another.  Half way through the semester, she became quiet and reserved, as if she was thinking over some grave issue.  In the ninth week, she came to me with a topic that she had been working with: how the ideology of the "family" actually breeds domestic violence.  I was pleasantly surprised with the approach for I had not expected any student in the undergraduate program to grasp what I meant when I talked about the concept of "Ideology."  Once the topic was settled, Lee needed no help from me to finish the paper.  At the end of the semester, she turned in a carefully organized, thoughtful paper that showed personal struggle as well as indignation.  I hope she included that paper as her writing sample.

I should also mention that during the course of the second semester, I selected her to work with me on a research project consigned by the Ministry of Education.  I wanted her to have a chance reading a lot of women-related stuff and getting used to the routine of dealing with a wide variety of information.  It was during this period of contact that I began to know Lee as a person rather than a mere student.  I learned that she had worked for three years before coming back unto the education track.  I learned that she has a close boyfriend and was having some problems with her family because of that.  I also learned that she is completely devoted to anything that she picks up to do; the volumes of sorted research material in my office files serve as evidence.

This fall when our research team began operating, the first person I called upon to take on the work-study position was Lee.  I had hoped that she could continue helping with the research that we have been working on for the past two years.  But I discovered quickly that besides regular boring academic work, Lee has a great talent for creative artwork.  She then designed and produced all the posters that we pasted all over the Liberal Arts College.  Some of the posters showed such ingenuity that one of our overseas guest speakers took the poster home with her as a souvenir.  What surprised me most was that every time we needed her to do some posters, she always took the request as a challenge to explore other designs and other color coordinations.

I have often thought that people who are both studious and creative are hard to find, but I found a perfect example in Lee.  She may be somewhat shy upon first encounter, but very soon she catches on and gradually loosens up.  I think the shyness has a lot to do with an extremely rigid family background.  Lee has come to me many times with her personal and emotional problems and I understand that she is struggling to get away from a home environment that seeks to restrain her and put her into the most traditional role for women.  But Lee longs for a life much different from that.  For a young woman who has all the right stuff to make something out of her life and her education, Lee deserves a chance.  I truly hope she can be admitted to our program.

         Sincerely,