Letter of Recommendation Policy


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You must have completed a course in which I was the instructor, or worked on a project/thesis I supervised.
I routinely write how well you did in courses you took from me, and also comment on what your CGPA means in context. What else I can write depends on what I know about you. It is generally in your benefit to ask for letters of recommendation from instructors you had the greatest interaction with.
After asking me, please submit all the documents listed below at least 31 days before you wish the letters to be ready for submission.Attach all documents in electronic form to a single e-mail. You may include supporting information or anything else you want in the body of the e-mail. Do not send zip or rar archives etc. Attach each document separately.
Transcript and ranking in class.
Curriculum vitae or resume, or a biography serving the same purpose in essay form.
Statement of purpose similar to those required by most institutions.
Any research or work experience not already covered in the above.
Any publications, even if minor or recently submitted.
If available, any standardized test results such as GRE, TOEFL, LES etc.
A list of universities, companies, etc. references are to be prepared for, should be included in the body of the e-mail. Please ask for all your reference letters in a single batch, not a few at a time.
I would prefer to upload or if there is no online system, e-mail the letter. Let me know if an institution mandatorily requires paper letters. If you decide not to send a paper letter I prepare to a particular institution or decide to send it to another institution, you must first inform me and return any unused letters. Some institutions require the reference letter to be given to the applicant who then uploads the letter. Since this violates the confidentiality of the letter, you should contact those institutions and ask them how I can send them the letter confidentially.
Please be sure to fill out as much of my information as possible when you are entering me as a recommender, to save me from having to fill the information myself. This applies to both online forms and paper forms. Use the information below:
Haldun M. Ozaktas, Professor
Bilkent University
Department of Electrical Engineering
Bilkent University
TR-06800 Bilkent, Ankara, Turkey
Tel: (90) (312) 290 16 19
Fax: (90) (312) 266 41 92
E-mail: haldun@ee.bilkent.edu.tr
URL: www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~haldun
If the institution is in Turkey, you should indicate whether the letter should be prepared in English or Turkish.
If you are applying to departments other than electrical engineering, please indicate so.