Student Success and Tips

While writing resources will be essential not only in this class but in many others that will require essays and research papers, its also important to have skills on note-taking and studying. The following resources are for general student success.

Resources at MCC

Macomb Community College offers Student Success Seminars every semester to help you learn the skills necessary to be a successful college student. Additionally, they have a Canvas page with student resources on everything from study skills to stress management.

• Click here to enroll in Macomb's Student Success Canvas Page.

Learning Labs at Macomb Community College provide tutoring in many subjects.

• You can make an appointment at Macomb's My WCOnline site.

• More information on the Learning Labs can be found on this Canvas page.

External Resources

UNC Chapel Hill

• Includes resources on:

  • Studying

  • Effective Note Taking

  • Procrastination

  • Online and Remote Learning

  • Reading and Annotating Texts

  • Test prep

  • And much more

Since many students at a community college plan to transfer to a four-year university or apply for programs, such as nursing, which require an application process, many of you may find yourself needing letters of recommendation in the next few years. Since this can be a confusing process if you haven't done it before, I've put together some advice and links to resources below.

Summary

• Give your professors at least a month (longer is better).

• Make sure to choose someone who knows you well and is appropriate for the program/position/etc. that you are trying to get into.

• Include enough information in your initial request that your professor can make an informed decision about whether they feel they can provide this recommendation.

• Provide the information and materials to your professor about the program/position/etc and also about yourself.

Timeline

Before you do anything else, make sure you give yourself a reasonable timeline. Writing letters of recommendation takes time for your professor. For some context, one letter can take me several hours to write to make sure that I am doing the student justice. I'll look back through their coursework, brainstorm what traits that I think will be most important to highlight, write the letter, and then revise it. Just like any type of high stakes writing, this takes time. And you don't want a rushed letter of recommendation—that situation will not do you justice.

Here's a good timeline for asking for a letter of recommendation:

• 2 months before the deadline: Figure out who you want to ask and get your materials in order (see Materials section below).

• 6 weeks before the deadline: Ask your professor(s) for the letter of recommendation; if they agree, offer to meet with them and send the materials to them. Additionally, ask if they would like a reminder at some point.

• 1 week before the deadline: If you haven't received the recommendation or heard from the professor, send a follow-up email. Do not pester with daily/weekly emails through this process, but sometimes, unfortunately, things fall off people's radars unintentionally, so a one-week (polite) follow-up is generally appropriate.

Now, sometimes things come up suddenly, like a scholarship, and most professors understand that. However, you still need to be reasonable in that they are going to try to squeeze this work in between all their other work, so two weeks should be the absolute minimum timeline. And that timeline is a "rushed timeline," so while a professor may be able to get it done in that time if they understand that you didn't have much warning on needing this (like a scholarship opportunity that popped up suddenly), they will be less willing to move their workload around if this was lack of planning on your part. In other words, for any letters needed for getting into a program or school, make sure you give your professors plenty of time.

Additionally, by asking early, if you have a professor turn down your request, you will still have enough time to ask someone else.

Who do I ask?

It is important that you ask a professor:

• Who knows you and your strengths

• Is an appropriate professor for this particular letter of recommendation.

Make sure to ask someone who will likely feel that they got to know you and your strengths during the semester(s) you took them. If you didn't participate in the class or did the bare minimum, it will be hard for the professor to honestly say that they know enough about you to give that recommendation.

Additionally, make sure that you are asking the right professor for the position/program. For example, if you are trying to get an internship at a bioengineering lab, a recommendation from your English teacher will likely not be considered a strong recommendation. For general university admittance, any professor will usually be fine. But if you are trying to get into a specialized program, scholarship, internship, or position, make sure you are asking professors who are in that field or adjacent to that field.

Initial Request

Make sure to approach your initial request as a question and not an assumption that they will write you a letter of recommendation. If a professor feels that they do not know you very well, they might not feel comfortable recommending you.

For your initial request, I recommend that you include the following information:

• The class and semester you had that professor (we have many students in a year and sometimes it takes a minute to place a name with a face).

• What you are applying for that requires the recommendation.

• When the recommendation is due.

• A brief explanation of why you want to get into this program/school/etc. (e.g. Why should they write the recommendation for you?)

Materials

The information and materials you should provide your professor may vary with the program, position, or reason that you need the letter of recommendation. However, the following should always be provided:

• Any details you have about what you are applying for and what they are looking for. You can often link the professor to this information or copy and paste the blurb that you received from this program/scholarship/etc.

• Who this should be addressed to (if specified), where it needs to go, and any important dates.

• Your personal deadlines—if it's currently February and the deadline for the program is June 15th, if you would like to have your materials in by April 30th, be sure to specify that. Just make sure you are giving the professor enough time.

• Why you want to be accepted into this program/get this scholarship/get this internship/etc. Why does this matter to you? How does it help you reach your goals?

• Any other information that might be useful, such as your transcripts (if the scholarship requires certain grades/achievement), a reminder of a particular project you did in that professor's class that is worth mentioning, what you think your strengths are as a student and why this would be a good fit for you. Basically, the more information your professor has about you, the easier it will be for them to write a good quality letter of recommendation.

Additional Resources

How to Ask a Professor for a Letter of Recommendation

The Dos and Don'ts of Asking Professors for Recommendation Letters

How to Ask Your Professor for a Letter of Recommendation (with template emails!)