Recommendation Letters for Midlife Graduate Students

Recommendation Letters for Midlife Graduate Students Thinking about changing careers? Graduate school is the ticket to a career change; its not just for recent graduates. Many adults consider returning to school to earn a masters or doctoral degree and begin the career of their dreams. Think graduate school is only for the young? Think again. The average graduate student (collapsing over masters and doctoral programs in all fields) is well over 30 years of age. Midlife applicants to graduate school have special concerns. For example, what do you do about letters of recommendation when youve been out of college for a decade? Thats a tough one. Before you resign yourself to completing another bachelors degree or, worse yet, give up on applying to graduate school altogether, try the following: Contact your professors from college Professors keep records on students for years. Its a long shot, though, because professors are known to move on to other schools or retire, but try anyway. More importantly, professors probably wont recall enough about you to write a competent letter. While its helpful to obtain at least one letter from a professor, it might not be possible to contact your old professors. What then? Enroll in a class Before applying to graduate school, try taking a few classes, either at the undergraduate level if youre entering a new field or at the graduate level. Excel in those classes and let your professors get to know you. If theyre doing research in your area of interest, volunteer to help. Letters from faculty who know you now will help your application immensely. Ask a supervisor or employer to write on your behalf Given that most graduate applications require three letters of recommendation, you may need to look beyond faculty for your letters. A supervisor can write about your work ethic, enthusiasm, maturity, and life experience. The trick is ensuring that your referee understands what graduate admissions committees are looking for in applicants. Provide your referee with all the information he or she needs to write an excellent letter. Include a description of your work-related experiences, why you wish to attend graduate school, your skills, and abilities as well as examples of how your current work demonstrates those skills and abilities. In other words, consider exactly what youd like the letter to say, then provide your supervisor with everything he or she needs to write that letter. Provide phrases and paragraphs that contain important material and examples illustrating your capacities; this can help your supervisor frame the task and his or her evaluation. It can also subtly guide yo ur letter writer; however, do not expect your supervisor to simply copy your work. By helping - providing detailed information and guidance - you can influence your letter by making it easy for your supervisor. Most people like easy and your letter is likely to reflect that.

Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject-Verb Agreement Subject-Verb Agreement Subject-Verb Agreement By Guest Author This is a guest post by Jacquelyn Landis. If you want to write for Daily Writing Tips check the guidelines here. My copyediting students occasionally stumble when they see a sentence like this one: All the shirt needs is/are buttons. Which is it? The singular is or the plural are? Most of us know instinctively that the verb form must match the subject form in number. This is called subject-verb agreement. But sentences such as this one seem ambiguous since all can be either singular or plural when it’s used as an indefinite pronoun. It would be an easy choice if all were followed by a prepositional phrase to help us determine whether it’s singular or plural: All of the water is draining. (singular) All of us are tired. (plural) So, what many writers would do with the problematic sentence is turn to buttons to help them make the decision. And since buttons is plural, then the verb should be plural, too. Right? Well, not quite. Buttons in this sentence is whats called a predicate nominative. Now, I know grammar terms like this are enough to send most people screaming into the night, but stick with me. A predicate nominative is simply a noun that is the same as the subject. It describes it further, just as buttons describes all. Predicate nominatives do not determine the verb form; only the subject can do that. And the subject of our puzzling sentence, all, is a singular pronoun even though what it substitutes for (buttons) is plural. It stands on its own with no help from a prepositional phrase. When this is the case, it’s singular. Thus, the correct verb form is also singular, so this is how our sentence should read: All the shirt needs is buttons. Follow the same logic when the subject is what: What he ordered was steamed clams. Whenever Im tempted to use a plural verb in sentences such as this, I remind myself of a song: All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth. The songs authors were teachers, and they got it right. Jacquelyn teaches an online copyediting course to students from around the world Education to Go. Check it out. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Inquire vs EnquireList of Greek Words in the English LanguageUsing "zeitgeist" Coherently