­　　推薦信是美國留學(xué)文書構(gòu)成中一個(gè)不可缺少的組成部分，它在申請(qǐng)中起著至關(guān)重要的作用。

­　　何為推薦信

­　　推薦信，是推薦者對(duì)申請(qǐng)人的一個(gè)評(píng)價(jià)，它以第三人稱，一個(gè)旁觀者的角度來介紹所了解的申請(qǐng)人的性格特點(diǎn)、科研能力、學(xué)術(shù)水平、組織能力和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)能力等。

­　　對(duì)于美國研究生來說，推薦信的數(shù)量因?qū)W校不同而有所差別，通常學(xué)校要求0-3封不等。其中，個(gè)別學(xué)校不要求提交推薦信。隨著不需要提交推薦信的學(xué)校數(shù)量的增多，這讓不少學(xué)生開始質(zhì)疑：是不是現(xiàn)在學(xué)校不再看重推薦信啦？我們?cè)谏暾?qǐng)中也可以不必那么錙銖必較啦？實(shí)則不然，國外十分依賴推薦人的個(gè)人信用。國外沒有類似我國的人事和戶口制度，人們?cè)谡夜ぷ?、換工作，學(xué)生在升學(xué)、轉(zhuǎn)學(xué)過程中除了自己填寫的表格外，就只有原先的雇主或教授的推薦信來證明自己的身份。

­　　正是由于這個(gè)原因，推薦人也非常重視自己提供的推薦信的真實(shí)性。由此可見，既然還有學(xué)校要求提交推薦信，那么推薦信必然作為該校評(píng)估申請(qǐng)者能力的一個(gè)重要途徑。學(xué)子們還是要對(duì)留學(xué)推薦信寫作予以重視。

­　　如何選擇推薦人

­　　在推薦人選擇上，國人們往往有一個(gè)誤區(qū)：推薦人越知名越好。其實(shí)，這要視具體情況而定的。到底該怎么挑選推薦人？小侃給你來支招：

­　　1. 最最最基本的原則，教授/實(shí)習(xí)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)跟你有直接且緊密的聯(lián)系。也就是說，推薦人和你接觸的時(shí)間越長越好。在美國教授眼里，只有推薦人和你接觸的越頻繁，才有可能對(duì)你有深入的了解，所寫出的推薦信就更全面且具備說服力。

­　　2. 在第一條基礎(chǔ)上，推薦人職位越高越好。

­　　3. 切忌選擇只有一面/幾面之緣的業(yè)界大牛。親屬更不能做推薦人（此為學(xué)校明確規(guī)定）。

­　　推薦信包含哪些內(nèi)容

­　　?教授/實(shí)習(xí)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)和學(xué)生的關(guān)系和認(rèn)識(shí)時(shí)間。

­　　例如：

­　　I have personally known Walter for nine years, ever since he joined Costco’s Atlanta regional headquarters as a 20-hour-perweek student employee in the advertising department. Costco Southeast usually hires final-semester university students parttime in order to then offer a very limited number of them full-time employment upon completion of their studies, depending on their performance. Walter was somewhat special in that he joined the company with four semesters still to go at Emory. We had never done this before, given that we give our part-timers a heavy workload. But Walter was eager, and under my supervision, he handled his dual duties so well that ever since then we’ve continued hiring students with up to four semesters left in college. Of course, I hired Walter as soon as he graduated, and working directly for me (multiple interactions every day), he set several “records” in terms of achievements, assignments, and promotions. In his early years as Marketing Assistant, I placed Walter in some of our most important projects, such as our big Spanish-language media thrust and selected special sporting event sponsorships in southern Georgia and the Florida Panhandle. In 2008, I promoted Walter again: to become Costco’s youngest-ever Assistant Brand Manager. We still interact daily—he’s my right-hand man—so I know more about his impact than anyone who’s worked with him.

­　　這個(gè)推薦信，在開篇就說清楚了認(rèn)識(shí)了九年，認(rèn)識(shí)的過程，以及各自的職位，概括了被推薦人所做的一些重點(diǎn)項(xiàng)目。更重要的是，評(píng)價(jià)了被推薦人突出的工作表現(xiàn)。

­　　?明確學(xué)生的優(yōu)點(diǎn)和長處。介紹被推薦人在學(xué)習(xí)和工作方面的能力是推薦信的核心內(nèi)容，也是國外教授們重點(diǎn)閱讀的部分。

­　　例如：

­　　Bob’s most important strength is leadership, and he demonstrates it over and over again in the way he manages projects, leads teams, and works productively with others. Bob’s tax partner, Sheila, recognized Bob’s talent for leading people and projects early on and began giving him more responsibility than associates his age normally get. In one case in 2008, Sheila gave Bob complete responsibility for setting the time line, monitoring and enforcing the deal flow, and assigning responsibilities to individual parties for a $32-million restructuring of an REIT. This means that Bob was the de facto leader of a team that consisted of a partner and two associates from Thames Tower Real Estate Group; a partner and two associates from our Capital Markets Group; five attorneys from an outside law firm; and the tax director and CFO/VP of our client. That Bob showed such leadership in what Sheila later called “the most complicated deal” she’d ever worked on speaks volumes about what Bob is capable of doing when he’s at the front of a large organization.

­　　此段，為推薦信核心優(yōu)勢(shì)部分寫作。推薦人選擇被推薦人的一個(gè)突出優(yōu)點(diǎn)-領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力來寫。此篇推薦信之所以稱之為范文，是因?yàn)槲闹型扑]人選擇用具體的項(xiàng)目事例來說明被推薦人的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力素質(zhì)，讓文章更有信服力。同時(shí)，推薦人采用量化的方式-3.2億，證明推薦人的工作能力，再通過解析團(tuán)隊(duì)的成員，來說明成員結(jié)構(gòu)復(fù)雜，管理難度之大。當(dāng)錄委會(huì)看到這樣一個(gè)推薦信時(shí)，一定會(huì)流露欽佩之情，想要錄取學(xué)生。

­　　?總結(jié)/表明態(tài)度：極力推薦/保留推薦

­　　例如:

­　　I am pleased to provide Jack Sims with my highest recommendation. He will be an asset to Wharton as he has been for us. I would be delighted if I could work with Jack again in the future.

­　　切不可碰觸的雷區(qū)

­　　從上面的推薦信范例，我們可以看出，一封好的推薦信需要避免以下誤區(qū)：

­　　用盡所有優(yōu)秀的形容詞，卻沒有一個(gè)具體例證。這樣的推薦信太過假大空，沒有任何說服力。

­　　把申請(qǐng)者完美化。贊美要在合理范圍內(nèi)，人無完人，可以在推薦信末尾簡單提及申請(qǐng)者的不足，希望其改進(jìn)這樣的期許。不要把申請(qǐng)者吹成一個(gè)大師，讓人難以置信。

­　　套用模板。國內(nèi)推薦人往往會(huì)傾向于讓學(xué)生自己去寫推薦信，由于內(nèi)容匱乏，申請(qǐng)者通常會(huì)效仿別人的內(nèi)容，經(jīng)常會(huì)出現(xiàn)雷同內(nèi)容：課堂上所有別的學(xué)生都無法回答某個(gè)問題，只有這位天才站起來侃侃而談，“顯示了深厚的功底和創(chuàng)造力。” 一個(gè)有說服力的推薦信，需要推薦人說出具體討論的是什么話題，某學(xué)生的思路有什么樣的創(chuàng)造力。

­　　內(nèi)容事無巨細(xì)。既然是申請(qǐng)者自己起草的推薦信，就需要大家留意寫作口吻，千萬不要本末倒置。同時(shí)，注意三封推薦信所體現(xiàn)的優(yōu)勢(shì)能夠相互補(bǔ)充，避免內(nèi)容重復(fù)。在內(nèi)容上，不要描述細(xì)節(jié)，站在推薦人的角度，她/他并沒有完全參與你完成任務(wù)的全過程，不可能了解你具體參閱了哪些文獻(xiàn)/搜索了哪些數(shù)據(jù)庫等等細(xì)節(jié)問題。

­　　如果學(xué)子恰巧遇到了愿意自己寫推薦信的國內(nèi)推薦人，那么你是幸運(yùn)的。如果，你擔(dān)心推薦人對(duì)不夠了解你的長處，或者擔(dān)心推薦人沒有充裕的時(shí)間回憶你的素材，小侃建議你可以提供一些線索或素材供推薦人參考。