申请美国博士学会这5点！写一份含金量高的推荐信，斩获理想offer！

申请美国博士，推荐信是申请中相当重要的材料，很多院校在官网明确写出重视推荐信。目前正是申请季，不少同学咨询我们推荐信该如何写？对于GPA相对低，学校普通，又缺乏科研经历的申请者，利用好推荐信可以极大地提升拿下offer的概率。

一. 什么是Reference Letter

申请美国博士时，在学术圈教授们对于名誉的在意程度甚至超过了科研水平。由于西方对诚信看的十分重要，尤其是国外的教授在给学生写推荐信时非常严谨，他们如果接受了请求，会非常客观的评价为推荐人写推荐信。

推荐信其实是学校深入全面了解你的一个方式。通过你身边的导师、教授等来了解你在学习和专业方向的真实情况。所以院校都十分想要知道其他人对你是怎么看的，也是帮助同学补充申请材料的一个好方式。

二、如何选择推荐人？

尽可能找到可以全方位展现你的推荐人。选择和科研相关的指导老师，学校也能从推荐信中的事例了解你平时的某些优秀品质。

有一点值得大家注意，选择一位了解你并对你有正面评价的老师，不仅老师自己很有可能愿意抽出时间亲笔给你写信，如果是自己撰写，老师也会给你一些意见，让这封信更有“含金量”。

三、Reference Letter怎么写？

推荐信可以分成 Opening、Body、Closing 三个部分，每个部分需要写的内容见下方提示：Opening第1段

主要内容：自我介绍 / 陈述推荐信的目的 / 解释推荐人何时、何地、如何认识申请者，交代自己很熟悉申请者

例如：一起共事多久，平时的合作频率是什么样的，如果平时接触不是很多，则可以侧重说明两人一起合作的深度。无论从哪种角度，都要传达出推荐人对于被推荐人很了解。

Body第2段

主要内容：描述申请者是怎样的人 / 结合具体的事例 / 解释为何申请者想要谋求更远的发展

例如：能找到别人没注意到的细节亮点，先下定义，然后再列举例子来支撑前面的综合评价。

Closing第3段

主要内容：表明推荐人对于申请者的信心 / 解释为何你认为他非常适合这个学校、专业以及学术潜力例如：交上来的论文总是结构清晰、格式准确，来体现做事仔细、对学术认真；除了规定的reading list之外，还可以谈谈申请人如果被录取，能为学校或者课题组带来什么积极贡献。说明这个学生有学习主动性，学术广度较大。

四、推荐信模版参考

Dear [recipient’s name]: or To Whom it May Concern:

It is my pleasure to recommend Jane Doe for admission to [name of program] at [name of university]. I am a fifth-year Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley. I came to know Jane when I was her Graduate Student Instructor for Philosophy 111: Ethical Relativism, taught by Professor John Smith. The course comprised [short description of course]. Jane distinguished herself by submitting an exceptionally well researched and interesting project on ethical practices in ancient Greece. I would rank her in the top 2% of students that I have taught in the past five years in respect of her writing ability and research skills.

Overall, Jane is highly intelligent and has good analytical skills. Her project on ethical practices in ancient Greece demonstrated her ability to come a detailed understanding of the ethical practices of another, very different, culture, and to analyze the consequences of those practices for contemporary ethical theories. She gave a particularly interesting discussion of the difficult practice of infanticide, and showed both sensitivity and detachment when discussing its ethical consequences. Her overall intelligence is also reflected in her grades for the course, which were by far the best in the class.

 Jane has excellent communication skills. Her written work is both clear and concise, as well as interesting to read. She demonstrated her oral articulateness in the discussion sections that were an integral part of the course. Each discussion section focused on a particular ethical dilemma. Students were required analyze morally problematic situations, and to develop and argue for their own ethical views with regard to the issue in question. Jane was highly proficient in applying the course material in analyzing the problem situations. She always explained her views very concisely and gave supporting arguments that were both clear and persuasive. Jane also demonstrated good teamwork skills in group assignments.

At a personal level, Jane is a well disciplined, industrious student with a pleasant personality. She went well beyond the course requirements in the quantity and quality of her project, putting in a lot of extra research and attending office hours every week. Throughout the course, Jane demonstrated great perseverance and initiative. Not only was she interested in and motivated to learn the material, but she also put great work into assimilating it to her own experience and developing her own ideas about each ethical topic that we discussed.

Jane is unquestionably an exceptional candidate for graduate study in Ethics. Jane’s work in Philosophy 111 suggests that she would greatly benefit from the opportunities for intellectual development provided by a sustained period of graduate study. She has proven herself to have the perseverance, initiative, and intellectual creativity necessary to complete an advanced graduate degree. I would therefore highly recommend Jane Doe. If her performance in my class is a good indication of how she would perform as a graduate student, she would be an extremely positive asset to your program.

If I can be of any further assistance, or provide you with any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. Yours sincerely,[sender’s signature][sender’s name and title]

推荐信作用的差异是非常大的，其作用可以提升拿下offer的概率。大家除了提高自己的背景，还需要注意：提前联系推荐信导师，因为导师非常忙；告诉老师Deadline关键信息，时刻关注推荐信进度；最后是否拿到offer，都一定要给老师反馈。