Sample Letter of Recommendation – Grad School 
                   
                  Here is a substantial 2-3 page recommendation for graduate school [Recommendations matter not only for 
                  gaining admission but for scholarship consideration].  If you are applying to a very highly competitive 
                  program or fellowship where the admission rate is under 20% - that means your letters of 
                  recommendation should be in the top 20% of all recommenders backing a candidate. If merit scholarships 
                  go to the top 5% of candidates, you need a letter of recommendation in the top 5% of other 
                  recommenders. 
                   
                  A good flow of a recommendation letter goes something like this: 
                       •   Paragraph 1:  Appreciate the opportunity to speak on behalf of the candidate, use language from 
                           the school/program’s guidance on their criteria for admission 
                       •   Paragraph 2:  Recommender shares in what context they worked together 
                       •   Paragraph 3:  Boilerplate on what City Year is 
                       •   Paragraph 4:  Recommender defines the role of the candidate when under their supervision 
                       •   Paragraphs 5: Short summary of why the candidate is excellent 
                       •   Following paragraphs:  Outline the strengths or competencies being assessed and share examples 
                           of how the person excels, with impact or results 
                       •   Concluding paragraphs:  What is absolute nicest thing you can say about the candidate that will 
                           help them compete against other applicants who will have weaker recommendations because of 
                           your sincerity ending the recommendation. 
                  Tip:  You can actually use the above format and write of some of the language or give prompts to your 
                  recommender to guide them in how you would like them to frame your recommendation. 
                   
                  [DATE] 
                   
                  Graduate Programs Applicant:  NAME 
                  Program Applying to: Master of Arts in Expressive Therapies with specialization in Mental Health 
                  Counseling 
                   
                  To the Admissions Committee: 
                   
                  I’m deeply honored to give my highest recommendation of NAME to continue her leadership and 
                  education experience with [University]. Thank you for allowing me to share my insights into her 
                  academic ability and extraordinary potential for a successful career as a Mental Health Counselor. 
                  In my role as [TITLE] with City Year, I’ve known NAME for four year and supervised her directly for 
                  the past two-and-a half years.  After serving two years as a City Year AmeriCorps member in 
                  Washington, DC (where I first met her), I hired her in DATE as TITLE and she has been an outstanding 
                  member of our team since her first day.  
                   
                  City Year helps students and schools succeed. Fueled by national service, City Year partners with public 
                  schools in 29 urban communities across the U.S. and through international affiliates in the U.K. and 
                  South Africa. Diverse teams of City Year AmeriCorps members provide research-based student, 
                  classroom and school-wide supports to help students stay in school and on track to graduate from high 
                  school, ready for college and career success. A 2015 study shows that schools that partner with City Year 
                  were up to two-to-three times more likely to improve on math and English assessments. A proud member 
                  of the AmeriCorps national service network, City Year is supported by the Corporation for National and 
       Community Service, local school districts and private philanthropy from corporations, foundations and 
       individuals. 
        
       In her current role, NAME leads communications and web / social media strategy to connect our alumni 
       network as volunteers and ambassadors of City Year, and to equip our national corps of more than 2,500 
       with resources and benefits to support their career and leadership development.  Additionally, she builds 
       and manages relationships with admissions staff from more than 70 colleges and universities around the 
       country who offer exclusive scholarships, totaling nearly $3 million annually, for City Year corps 
       members, alumni and staff.  
        
       NAME is an excellent communicator across a range of platforms and always conveys her key messages 
       with poise, grace, humor and sensitivity to all audiences.  She frequently leads conference calls with City 
       Year staff across the country, facilitates retreat sessions at our National Alumni Board meetings and 
       regularly addresses City Year corps members and alumni at events (ranging from 30 people to 200 
       people) where she speaks very passionately about the alumni network as a lifelong resource.  She writes 
       the majority of our alumni and national corps communications including our monthly career and 
       education eNewsletter, maintains fresh content and storylines on our alumni website homepage, develops 
       monthly correspondence for university partners and email recaps for bi-weekly conference calls with 
       staff.   
        
       NAME’s major strengths that will most affect her ability to succeed in an academic setting are creativity, 
       leadership and verbal communication skills. I see this unique combination of qualities on full display 
       every day through her work in City Year’s National Headquarters.  Here are examples of these strengths: 
          ●  Creativity:  Her primary project when initially hired in YEAR was to support the launch of 
            the new City Year Alumni Website and Online Career Center.  Using her background in 
            Photography and Visual Arts and extensive research of peer organization websites, she 
            conceived the initial layout of the website, infusing many of her own photographs of alumni.  
            Our website went from receiving about 3,000 visitors per month to between 10,000-12,000 
            per month. The jump in traffic I would greatly attribute to how great the website looks and 
            how well the content is organized.  To build awareness and to celebrate the launch, she also 
            planned a “Website Launch” party at our Headquarters where all members of the team who 
            contributed to its development were recognized with their own headband (in the primary 
            colors of the website) in appreciation for their hard work. 
             
          ●  Leadership: She has led two community service trips with 25-30 City Year alumni board 
            members in New Orleans over MLK Day Weekend.  Leading an out of town trip requires 
            coordinating all logistics (housing, meals, service details with our New Orleans site, etc), 
            communicating to all participants both the big picture and little details, engaging them in 
            reflection exercises and generally being responsible for delivering a life-changing, high-
            impact service experience for our most involved alumni.  Every alum who has participated in 
            these trips loves their experience and it’s in very large part due to NAME’s leadership ability. 
             
          ●  Verbal communication skills:  NAME can make any person or group, teenager to senior 
            citizen, feel extremely comfortable in any setting – conference, board meeting, 1:1 
            discussion, phone call (1:1 or conference call), informal conversation at a networking event, 
            addressing a large group.  She has a great gift for connecting with people.  Very recently, she 
            facilitated a team-building exercise for 70 development professionals (ages 23-60)  so we 
            could get to know each other better at an internal conference and convinced Enterprise to 
            release two 15 passenger rental vans for our New Orleans service trip when they repeatedly 
            told her they were sold out for the Super Bowl. She is always gracious and thoughtful in how 
            she represents City Year.   
        
       Beyond an assessment of her strengths and ability to excel academically, there is NAME the person. She 
       has what I like to call a “likeability” factor that is off the charts. She is emotionally intelligent, funny, 
       sharp-witted and the nicest, most thoughtful person I have ever met in my life.  She is caring, dedicated, 
       and humble.  It only takes meeting NAME once to realize that you would not only want to find her next 
       to you in a classroom, on your team or as part your circle of friends, but you would be honored to have 
       her as a member of your family.    
        
       In my [length of tenure] with City Year, I’ve worked with hundreds of highly-motivated, entrepreneurial, 
       creative staff members in the National Headquarters and 29 U.S. sites, hundreds of extremely talented 
       alumni on teams large and small, from national conferences to community service trips, and if I was 
       assembling a team to work on an important issue or affect change in a community, NAME would 
       be the very first person I would recruit and hire.  I wouldn’t even have to think about. She brings 
       enthusiasm, love of learning, tons of ideas to address a challenge and never forgets how important it is for 
       everyone to feel a part of the team’s success.   
        
       NAME represents the best ideals of the nation - full of integrity and idealism, refuse-to-fail attitude, and 
       appreciation for diversity. This master’s program is uniquely positioned to build on her interpersonal 
       skills, dedication to serving vulnerable population and passion for making a difference in the world. The 
       real value of having NAME as a member of your academic community will not only be seen in the vigor 
       with which she’ll approach her study, field work and assignments but also the degree to which she will be 
       a positive influence and a support system for other students. 
        
       NAME absolutely has my strongest recommendation.  The only reservation I have in recommending her 
       is I have no idea how I will replace her on my team but I also know how much helping others through 
       expressive arts means to her.  If accepted into the expressive arts therapy program, I’ll be very excited 
       that she will have the opportunity to prepare for and accelerate her dream career. 
        
       Thank you again for providing a space for me to whole-heartedly recommend NAME as a graduate 
       student with [University].  
        
       Sincerely,  
        
       NAME 
       TITLE 
       City Year