From Tara Kuther, Ph.D.

As a college professor, many students approach me for letters of recommendation. Writing these letters is one of the most challenging aspects of my job. How do you fit a comprehensive profile and assessment of a student into a 1-2 page letter? How do you ensure that students provide you with all the relevant information that will help you to write the best letter than you can? How do you protect yourself from liability in writing letters of recommendation? This article takes a closer look at tips to help you in writing letters of recommendation.

Inform Students
Students tend to be uninformed about their needs and responsibilities in seeking letters of recommendation. Guide students by providing them with a detailed list of what will assist you in writing a letter on their behalf.

Many professors create a handout or web page listing the desired information. Here are some suggestions:

• Explain the purpose of the letter
• Desired focus of the letter (e.g., discuss my research skills and experiences in your lab, or discuss my responsibilities as a teaching assistant in your class)
• Useful skills (e.g., computer, statistical, or interpersonal skills)
• Related experiences (extracurricular, work experience, clubs, volunteer work)
• Courses taken with the faculty member, with grades and sample work (e.g., term paper)
• Reasons for pursing graduate study
• Resume
• Transcript

Think About It
Do not immediately agree to write a letter on behalf of a student. Instead, take a little bit of time to think about it and reflect on your experiences with the student.

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Before The Interview

Prepare in advance.
Ahead of time, consider the purpose of the interview. Review your UC application for admission as it may be brought up during your interview. Create mock questions you think might be asked. When formulating your answers, remember to emphasize your strengths.

Practice your interview skills with a friend.
Review your interview skills aloud with someone and brainstorm hypothetical situations the interview may encompass. Ask your friend to count the number of times you say “like” and “you know” to make sure you aren`t overusing such filler phrases.

Consider bringing letters of recommendation.
Letters of recommendation are optional. Submit them to your interviewer at the time of your interview. (Letters of recommendation sent to the office may not be considered.)

The Interview

Dress appropriately.
Dress comfortably for your interview, but not too casually. Rule of thumb: wear business casual and no more than two colors. If you are interviewing on the UC Berkeley campus, wear walking shoes.

Arrive on time.
Create a positive first impression by arriving on time.

Monitor your body language.
Good posture gives a confident impression. Keep your hands in your lap or on the table to seem calm rather than touching your hair and face.

Monitor your speech.
Answer in complete sentences when possible, avoiding interjections of “uhm”, “like”, and “you know”. When asked a yes/no question, follow up with a brief, interesting detail that the interviewer might remember. If you don`t understand a question, it`s perfectly acceptable to ask the interviewer to rephrase or repeat the question.

Make eye contact.
Make eye contact throughout the interview. Avoid looking at the floor or ceiling while listening and speaking.

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This is my first contribution to malaysia-scholarship.net, I hope this info will be useful for all. I google around and found this info

How to get scholarship, step by step

1. Lay an eye to particular scholarship.I usually look at scholarship advertisment. If I found it interested, then I will apply. Although it is possible to find the department where you want to study first then apply the scholarship, I don`t do that because usually the nominal of scholarship is small. I am only interested to fully funding scholarship. Some scholarship, however, request you to apply officially to university and get accepted before apply the scholarship (mostly European scholarship I think)
2. Get the scholarship form and read it carefullyMake sure that you are elligible to the scholarship, you are within the age range, the topic you want is included, your background is acceptable etc. Some scholarship is mainly for gov. employee, some are for age 35 and below, you fulfil the minimum language requirements etc.
3. Find the university you want to goMake sure that you know where you want to go. Only very few scholarship that just want you to write down what subject you want to do and you can choose the university later. Again, check the requirements carefully
4. Collecting the requirementBe very careful with the requirement. If it requires international TOEFL/IELTS, then do it. If it is not specified, better ask than sorry. If it asked for 2 recommendations, get two, some even specifically asked for direct supervisor, make sure you get it as well. Some scholarship request you to develop contact with the department you want to study, then try to get it.
5. Continued