NOTE

I retired July 2021. Asking for a letter from a retired faculty member probably makes no difference for programs beginning in 2022 or 2023. Beyond that, your guess is a good as mine. Try to see it from the point of view of the institution to which you are applying. If you have been in a Masters program but don't have letters from them and instead skip back to me who taught you as an undergrad, that will definitely look strange. However, if you have been employed but are returning to academic, a letter from an academic makes a lot of sense. Also, if you are applying to a program in Japanese literature then a letter from me might make a lot of sense to them. These are just a couple of the factors you might need to consider. Give it a bit of thought before contacting me but know that I will support my past students regardless of how much time has passed since we were in the classroom together. I have pretty good records and we can meet online if I feel I need to get an updated sense of what you have been doing recently.

1. STEP ONE—Initial Contact

I often don't complete and send off letters earlier than a day or so ahead of the due date. If that is okay, keep reading.

1. If possible, please ask me no later than two weeks before the due date.
2. Please make your initial official request no earlier than three months before the due date. In that request please let me know a general sense of when the letter(s) would be do and be as specific as possible about how many different portals I will need to navigate. (For example, students applying to law schools or medical schools sometimes use a service to which I send only one letter; others us a process that requires a letter to each individual institution.) I ask for the number of institutions because I might need to know this to know whether I have time to submit to them all.
3. Then please wait for a response from me.
4. Then email me again if I don't answer within two weeks—or sooner if it is a short notice request. *If you put "RECLETTER" or "recletter" in the subject line with your name that can help me notice, and open, the email.
5. In my response, I'll let you know whether I can write a letter or not.
6. If I say "yes" then please send me a "TRACKING" email, following the below instructions.
7. Please remind me two weeks ahead of your first deadline.

2. STEP TWO—The "TRACKING" email from you to me

This is an email, not a message or a verbal conversation.

If you do not send a TRACKING email WITH TRACKING IN THE SUBJECT LINE, nothing will happen. You simply will never be put on my recletter to-do list or countdown app.

All students need to formally ask via email to my berkeley.edu address. I use the emails to generate to-do list entries, remind me of unfinished work, and track completed letters once sent off to the institution.

2A. TRACKING email content: the subject line

Please put these items in the subject line using the format in the examples: 

1. First recommendation letter due date as mm/dd/yyyy and how I will submit it (ex: online / postal mail)
2. The word "TRACKING" in all caps
3. Your "LAST NAME" in all caps
4. The first name you will use on the applications (then in parenthesis your first name as I know you by, if different that the application first name)
5. The word "RECLETTER" in all caps

Examples:

Jan 18 2021 (mail) TRACKING POLK Alicia RECLETTER

June 1 2021 (online, rolling) TRACKING YAMADA Albert Tatsuo ("Tatsu") RECLETTER

2B. TRACKING email content: the email itself

Cut-and-paste into your TRACKING email the below list, then complete the portions that have "lorem" following the instructions listed under the next section "TRACKING email content: details on each of the above"

RECOMMENTDATION LETTER LIST

1. LINKS and/or FORMS

lorem

2. CLASSES

Classes (number, semester, year) you have taken with me:

lorem

3. PRIOR LETTERS

Have I written a letter for you before? (When): lorem

4. WAIVER STATEMENT

lorem

5. CONTACT INFO

Ways of contacting you on short notice in the week ahead of the due date:

lorem

6. RECLETTER START LINES

lorem

7. COMMENTS TO ME

lorem

8. ATTACHMENTS

lorem

2C. TRACKING email content: details on each of the above

2C-1. LIST

List all recommendation letters you are requesting IN CORRECT ORDER BY DATE (first to come due as at the top of the list, with ACCURATE & HONEST due dates (if they are dishonestly listed, this might be mentioned in the recommendation letter itself), of services or institutions or enterprises to which I am sending letters, as well as how I am sending the letters.

IF THIS LIST CHANGES (EITHER ADDING OR DROPPING REQUESTS) YOU MUST SEND A NEW REQUEST. You cannot just ask the university to send me a link I will not complete it unless your request is in the TRACKING email and I will not look at more than one TRACKING email. Keep it organized and up to date.

Due date (how I will submit using "you" to mean me, Wallace and "me" to mean you the student) — Institution name

Your institution list should use the ACTUAL due date, except in the case of "rolling" admissions where you can request a reasonable date (explain your choice)

Examples:

Feb 1 2021 (online) Wharton School University of Pennsylvania

April 2 2021 (to be postal mailed overseas, directly from you to them) Cambridge Judge Business School

Feb 1 2021 (to be postal mailed overseas, from me to them) Osaka University

December 1 2021 (to be mailed domestically, from me to them) Stanford Hospital

May 15 2021 (reference listing only, nothing for Wallace to send) Microsoft Game Developer Teams (S.F. Office)

2C-2. LINKS and/or FORMS

Provide information regarding links or emails I should expect to receive from institutions or services. This is because most of the time these links do not include your name so it is hard for me to search for the email.

2C-3. CLASSES

When you leave classes information blank I will just say, "I have had a few classes with this student in the past few years" or some other appropriate phrasing. It is really better if you track this down. 

2C-4. PRIOR LETTERS

Tell me yes or no and, if yes, please give me some details. You don't need to give a full list or even be that accurate. I just want to know if I should be able to find something on my computer and if so, more or less where to look.

2C-5. WAIVER STATEMENT

It is the student’s choice whether or not to waive the right to read the letter that I write. I feel I write better letters when I don’t have to visualize “double readers”—How will the admissions committee interpret this sentence? How will the student interpret this same sentence? I feel the prose is more natural and persuasive when I can treat the admissions committee as the king/queen to whom I am talking. Also, some faculty say that letters where students have not waived their rights are taken less seriously. I have no real proof of this one way or the other but it is something to keep in mind. Most forms and websites tell me what you have done but you might want to include it in this email, too.

2C-6. CONTACT INFO

I ask this because now and then I get ready to write a letter on the last day and the URL has expired, or nothing ever arrived, or I can't find what did arrive. Sometimes, rarely, I have last-minute questions that I need answers to in order to finish the letter.

2C-7. RECLETTER START LINES

Recletter initial lines, written by you, for each institution. (So there might be just one of the below, or many of these.)

[address of the institution to which you are applying—if you do not include this, I do not include this and it looks better if there is an address]

Dear Admissions Committee,

[your full name as on the application] has asked that I write a letter in support of [his, her, or your preferred pronoun—if you use a gender neutral pronoun I will write the entire letter in gender neutral language) application to [name of institution]'s program in [name of program], to work towards a degree in [name of degree], beginning in [year the program begins or Fall / Spring plus the year the program begins].

If you are using a letter service instead of asking me to send to a specific institution:

[name of the letter service you are using]

Dear Admissions Committee,

[your full name as on the application] has asked that I write a letter in support of [his, her, or your preferred pronoun—if you use a gender neutral pronoun I will write the entire letter in gender neutral language) application to [name of degree] programs in [name of types of programs], to work towards a degree beginning in [year the program begins or Fall / Spring plus the year the program begins].

*NOTE: Don't worry about the "Admissions Committee" phrasing. Usually this is best but if it is an award or a fellowship or such I'll adjust it at my end (for example "Dear Selections Committee and Chair" or whatever).

Things you might want to share with me about your application. (I won't go back to and perhaps might not remember earlier emails, so repeat things here if you want.) You can say whatever you want, explaining the situation.

2C-9. ATTACHMENTS

I appreciate but do not require CVs, transcripts, statement of purposes, past essays written, etc. Your call on these. 

My contact info

Please input this information when possible.

Title: Senior Lecturer, Emeritus (if space is limited, then just "Lecturer")

Relationship: Instructor

Tel: I'll do this.

Email: jwallace@berkeley.edu

The full address: I'll do this.

3. STEP THREE—Reminders from you to me

I REALLY APPREACIATE A REMINDER TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE DUE DATE. This will insure there hasn't been any miscommunication between us.

You are also welcome to send me reminders at other times if you are nervous. I understand your concerns. I write 90% of my letters in the last 24 hours before they are due but I don't mind reminders. I might not reply to your email, but I'll read it for sure.