If you are a GBDA undergraduate student or alumni who requires a reference letter for admission to graduate studies, please first check that you meet the following requirements before contacting me.
- Minimum Grade Requirements: To make the reference competitive, I can provide reference letters for students who achieved 85% or above in the classes they have taken with me. Additionally, your cumulative grade average on your transcripts should be at least 80% and higher.
- Choose Right Professor: Am I a professor who knows you well enough and can speak positively about your academic performance, character, and relevant skills? Did you come to office hours? Did we interact frequently during and outside of class?
- Provide Ample Notice: Reference letters are time-consuming to write. Request the reference letter at least 3–4 weeks before the deadline.
If you satisfy the above minimal requirements, you can email me the following. I request this information because profs interact with hundreds of students per year, and we have difficulties recalling the details of the projects students have worked on. This information will help me write a more personalized letter to increase your chances of getting accepted.
- Transcript (unofficial version is fine)
- CV (Curriculum vitae) or resume
- Course Summaries.
- Include a list of courses you’ve taken with me and the semester (e.g., GBDA402 Winter 2023)
- For EACH course: Remind me of 1-2 projects or other deliverables that you are particularly proud of. Include the grade you achieved for each project and briefly describe how your work met or exceed the project’s expectations (e.g., where do you think you did particularly well? What did you learn?). If it’s a team project, clearly describe your contributions.
- Attach your best projects from my courses that you’d like me to highlight in the reference (original or screenshots).
- Describe the skills you developed during the course that you'd like me to highlight in your reference letter. For example, how did you gain research skills, leadership skills, interpersonal skills, design skills, and technical skills?
- Point out any other interactions with me that you think are relevant (e.g., did you attend office hours? What did we discuss?).
- This information will help me personalize the letter and include relevant details.
- Statement of intent. Attach your statement of intent (if required by the program you apply for). if it’s not required in your application, please describe what you hope to achieve in the graduate programs that you are applying to. This will help me gauge how you might fit in the program and what I should highlight from GBDA that meets their requirements.