Questionnaire

Thank you for asking me to write a letter for you. I’m glad to do it. To write one that helps, I need to write from what I’ve actually seen. A letter carries weight with the reader precisely because it comes from firsthand knowledge: your work in my courses, our conversations, the project I watched you do. So the questions below focus on our work together, not on your whole record.

That focus also tells you what I’ll leave out. If you did excellent work in a lab I wasn’t part of, or a volunteer role I never supervised, that belongs in a letter from the person who saw it, not from me. I can note where you’re headed and speak to your fit based on what I observed, but everything I claim will be something I can stand behind.

You won’t have an answer for every prompt, and you don’t need one. They’re here to jog your memory about our time working together. Anything you share stays confidential and is used only to write your letter. If you’re unsure whether something fits, include it and I’ll decide what I can honestly speak to.

1 The basics

Your name. The full, formal name you’d like on the letter.

University email. In case I need to check a detail with you.

2 What you’re applying to

These help me aim the letter and get it in on time. They’re logistics, not claims I’m making about you.

2.1 Programs, schools, or employers, with deadlines

List each place you’re applying and when its letter is due. Flag the earliest deadline, and note anything about a program that should shape what I emphasize.

For example:

A bioinformatics PhD program that weighs computational research experience heavily, due December 1.
A biotech internship that wants evidence of hands-on coding, due October 15.

2.2 Format, length, and how the letter is submitted

Tell me any requirements: a word limit, a specific prompt to address, a portal link, an email address, or a signed letter on letterhead.

For example:

A 500-word letter answering a prompt about how you handle setbacks.
An online portal that emails me a private upload link.

2.3 A draft of your personal statement or statement of purpose (if you have one)

Share a draft so my letter lines up with the story you’re telling instead of cutting against it, and point me to the parts that matter most. I won’t repeat your statement; I’ll back it up with what I saw.

3 Our work together

This is the heart of it. Everything in this section is something I can write about directly.

3.1 Courses you took with me, and how you did

Which of my courses did you take, and how did you perform? This lets me speak to your record from my own experience of your work rather than from a transcript the reader already has.

For example:

An A in Computational Biology, with one of the strongest final projects in the section.

3.2 Projects, papers, or presentations from my courses or from work I supervised

Describe the substantial work I actually saw: what you set out to do, what you did, and how it turned out. Remind me of the specifics; they’re what make a letter concrete.

For example:

Your machine-learning approach to protein-ligand docking for the final project, which you later turned into a poster.
The gene-expression analysis tool you built in my course.

3.3 Research or other work you did under my supervision

If you worked in my lab or on a project I oversaw, remind me what you were responsible for and what came of it.

3.4 Our interactions and mentorship

Point me to specific moments: a question in class, an office-hours discussion, feedback you acted on, a problem we worked through together. These are the details that make a letter ring true.

For example:

You came to office hours repeatedly to refine your modeling project, with a sharper question each time.
After feedback on a rough draft, you rebuilt the report into a much stronger final version.

3.5 Materials from our work

If it helps, attach work that came out of my courses or our project: a paper you wrote for me, your project files, or your transcript for context. Please don’t send praise written by other people. I write from what I saw myself.

4 Strengths and skills I saw in you

Tell me which of these to emphasize, and keep them to things I could have observed in our work. Those are the ones I can support with a real example instead of an adjective.

4.1 Two to four strengths you’d like me to emphasize

Which qualities from our work should I put front and center? Give me the moment that shows each one.

For example:

Leadership: you organized your project group and kept it on deadline.
Persistence: you reworked a failed analysis until it held up.

4.2 Technical skills you used in my course or our project

List the tools, languages, or methods I actually watched you use, and what you used them for.

For example:

Python, for the docking models in your final project.
R, for the genomic data visualizations you presented in class.

4.3 Personal qualities I observed in our interactions

Which traits came through in how you worked with me and your classmates, such as clear communication, collaboration, or composure under pressure?

For example:

You explained your project clearly enough that classmates started bringing you their questions.
You kept a group project on track when a disagreement stalled it.

4.4 How you compared to your peers in my course, lab, or project

A reader badly wants to know where you rank, and this is something I can only say honestly about students I’ve taught. Tell me how you think you stood out among the others I worked with.

For example:

You turned in the most careful project write-ups in the class, week after week.
Your final project went past the assignment in a way few others attempted.

5 Where you’re headed

I cannot watch your future, so treat this section as background. It helps me connect what I saw to where you’re going and speak to your fit.

5.1 Your goals, short and long term

What’s the immediate step, this program or job, and where do you hope it leads?

For example:

A master’s in computational biology now, aiming toward a PhD and academic research.
An industry role in drug discovery, building toward leading an R&D team.

5.2 Why this program or opportunity, and how our work prepared you for it

What draws you to it, and which parts of your work with me support your fit? This is where I can tie your time at Pitt to why you belong there.

For example:

A lab whose docking research lines up with the project you did in my course.
A program built around the kind of interdisciplinary work you started with me.

6 Anything else

6.1 Points from our work you’d like me to stress, or leave out

Tell me if there’s something specific I should emphasize, or something you’d rather I not raise.

For example:

Please highlight the leadership you showed on the group project.
You’d rather I not dwell on the course you retook; your statement already addresses it.

6.2 Something from our time working together I might have forgotten

If a moment between us mattered to you and I might not remember it, remind me. If it happened somewhere I could see it, I can write about it.