Thank you to everyone who attended our Letter of Recommendation workshop hosted by Dr. Benjamin Cheung!
The workshop took place on September 23rd from 6-7:30 pm over zoom, with 75 students attending to get advice from Mr. Cheung. In this workshop Dr. Cheung spoke about a good Letter of Recommendation being an integral part of applications to grad school or professional schools such as law or medicine. He further emphasized the importance of choosing professors to write recommendation letters wisely and cleared up several misconceptions in the process. One such misconception which was cleared was that achieving good grades in a course ensures the professor of the course writing a good recommendation letter for the person.
A letter of recommendation is required by schools in order for them to see a third party’s assessment of the candidate’s potential in their program. Therefore, Dr. Cheung emphasized on choosing someone whose assessment would be of most value to write the recommendation letter. A professor writing a good reference letter requires them to remember and know you on a personal level. Dr. Cheung and the workshop attendees thus brainstormed actions students could take to exhibit good qualities and subsequently make a memorable impression on the professor. Dr. Cheung further went over strategies for asking a professor to write a recommendation letter, such as approaching them 2 months in advance and having a chart to keep track and ensure you’ve contacted everyone as required.
Finally, Dr. Cheung illustrated what makes a good and helpful recommendation letter by presenting a letter he himself wrote for a student. The workshop ended with a Q n A session where he answered various questions students had. We hope you found the workshop insightful and took away some helpful tips for elevating your applications!