Here is a common scene: A supervisor agrees to write your letter of recommendation with one condition—you draft it. Shocker. We, too, were surprised the first time this happened to us. We assumed ...

Good tidings to you! I write this letter today to tell you: personal writing is tough. Sure, elementary school might have taught us about structure and form — the textbooks say a well-composed letter ...

This story was originally published on April 24, 2025, and has been updated. The art of letter writing is not dead. Rachel Syme, a New Yorker staff writer, learned that during the early days of the ...

Undergraduates need them for graduate-school applications; PhD students and postdocs use them to apply for fellowships and jobs; senior scientists often have to have them to apply for awards and ...

Writing a counselor recommendation letter for a student applying to college is a meaningful responsibility. You're not just offering support — you're adding valuable context that college admissions ...