美国留学如何选择推荐人-新东方前途出国

　　在申请美国留学时，所有的大学都会要求申请人提交2-3封推荐信，录取委员会凭借推荐人的描述，可以了解申请人的背景状况。推荐信可以说明GPA，GRE/GMAT，TOEFL这些数字化成绩，以及申请人自述性质的文书材料以外的第三方的建议，补充过于量化的信息，使评审方式更人性化。

　　在近期咨询和申请过程中，发现很多学生在选择推荐人的时候有很大误区，因此总结了一些相关情况进行说明。

　　首先，关于推荐人如何选择的问题，我们看以下3个学校的建议：

　　Stanford：Letters from famous people? The only thing that matters to me is how well someone knows the applicant and whether they can add something substantive to the review process. We’ve all got some mighty fine autograph collections, but many of those letters have value only in the signature and not in what was actually written.

　　NYU：As far as letters from VIPs – usually I appreciate these because I am able to add the signatures to my autograph collection that I will sell some day on ebay when I am ready to retire. Seriously, letters from VIPs have a positive impact only if the writer shows that the candidate supervised the candidate’s work in some professional setting.

　　Yale: As for important people, we can tell when the VIP writing on your behalf is doing it as a courtesy, and when they really know you personally – usually the former letter is short and perfunctory, and the latter is longer and more details (and signed in actual ink as opposed to a stamp). But even when the letter is personal, I would say the only time such a letter has carried any weight is when the person is an alum of our law school and has compared the applicant specifically to the type of people we normally admit. In other words, a detailed letter from former President Bill Clinton which says, “Jane is one of the most impressive people I have ever met and is easily the equal of any of the classmates I had when I was a student at Yale Law School,” will likely carry some weight. (NOTE: I’ve never gotten such a letter from President Clinton.) So unless the VIP went to Yale, s/he knows you extremely well (preferably in an academic or professional capacity, rather than as a family friend), and was impressed enough by you to write an over-the-top letter, don’t bother.

　　从这三个学校的要求可以看到，美国学校对推荐人的选择上，态度是一致的：录取委员会最看重那些与被推荐者目前正有着、或者近期内曾有过密切关系的人。许多申请者倾向于邀请地位较高的推荐人，但如果推荐人只有高的头衔，却和申请者几乎没有交集，缺乏了解，那么他就很难向录取委员会的教授们用详细的事例来证明申请者所具有能力，独特品质和潜力，导致推荐信内容空洞，缺乏事例支撑，最后往往不会起到积极的推荐效果。

　　对自己了解的老师可以是任课老师，系主任，班主任，院长，或者学生工作的负责人(可以是教授了自己课程的);也可以在强调研究层次能力的基础上展现其他方面的素质：比如社会活动能力，领导能力，公益心，良好的品质(诚信，坚韧，负责可靠)。

　　如果选任课老师作为推荐人，对老师职位的要求并不关注。国外的学校认为系主任和院长这些只是行政头衔;教授，副教授，讲师都没有太大关系，关键在于这门课是不是专业核心课，你的成绩是不是真的优秀，这能直接反映你在专业领域的学习能力。

　　如果在公司实习，那么实习的推荐人不宜选择董事长、总经理职位过高的推荐人，因为明摆了你的资历和地位都没法给他们做什么特别的贡献，对方也不了解你。一般直接上级主管，部门经理和同事，都可以给你推荐，并且由于跟你一起共事，可以用例证来突出你的实践能力，推荐信也是比较真实可信的。