Write Recommendation Letter

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Recommendation Letters

This Issue is for all the lovely people writing recommendation letters for me! I've added my CV, unofficial transcript, and the supervisors or labs I'm considering.

Table of Contents

• University Goals for Rec Letters
• List of Schools
• Rec Letter Plan
• UCSD Transcript
• Curriculum Vitae
• UCSD Classes with You
• Academic Stats
• Research Topics of Interest
• Potential Supervisors & Labs
• Rec Letter Suggestions
• My Strengths

University Goals for Rec Letters

• Intellectual Ability
• Academic Achievement
• Ability to Collaborate
• Aptitude for Research
• Evidence of Genuine Interest in Neuroscience

Schools

University	Deadline	Degree	Department
Stanford	Dec 5, 2023	PhD	Neuroscience
UC Berkeley	Nov 27, 2023	PhD	Neuroscience
Oxford	Dec 8, 2023	MSc + PhD	Neuroscience
Edinburgh	Feb 29, 2024	MScR	Integrative Neuroscience

Plan

University	Stanford	UC Berkeley	Oxford	Edinburgh
Referee 1	Rossano	Rossano	Rossano	Rossano
Referee 2	Johnson	Johnson	Johnson	Johnson
Referee 3	Powell	Powell	Powell	---
Referee 4	Arthurs	Arthurs	---	---
Status	✅	✅	✅	✅

UCSD Transcript

~Find my transcript here~.

Curriculum Vitae

Find my CV here.

UCSD Classes

List shows which classes I've taken with you.	Course	Title	Professor/TA	Term	Grade
COGS 13	Field Methods	Rossano	Winter '19	A
COGS 14A	Intro to Research Methods	Rossano	Winter '18	A
COGS 17	Neurobiology of Cognition	Johnson	Fall '18	A
COGS 100	Cyborgs Now & in the Future	Arthurs	Fall '21	A+
COGS 143	Animal Cognition	Johnson	Winter '19	A+
COGS 144	Social Cognition	Rossano	Winter '22	A+
COGS 184	Evolution of Cognition	Johnson/Arthurs	Spring '22	A
CSE 110*	Software Engineering	Powell	Winter '21	A
CSE 112	Advanced Software Engineering	Powell	Spring '22	A

*Tutored this course in Fall 2022

Academic Stats

• Overall GPA: 3.679
• Upper-Div GPA: 3.826
• Cognitive Science Classes GPA: 4.0
• Psychology Classes GPA: 4.0
• Credits Passed: 296

Research Topics of Interest

SLEEP MEMORY LEARNING DECISION-MAKING

Potential Supervisors & Labs

List of the faculty members I'd consider doing research with if I went to that school.

See the list here.

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Rec Letter Suggestions

Introduction

• Begin by briefly introducing yourself in the letter
• Describe your current position, research interests, and academic background
• Emphasize any significant contributions, achievements, and papers in your field

Relationship to the Candidate

• Explain how you know the candidate and in what capacity
• Highlight any research collaboration, tutorship, academic interactions, or other experiences you've had with the candidate
• Clearly establish your credibility and expertise to support the candidate's application

Notable Achievements

• Showcase any key accomplishments or milestones in your academic and/or professional journey

  [!Note] If you're a graduate student, mention your upcoming thesis defense or dissertation submission date (provide a specific date or month)

Regional Preferences

• For US schools, feel free to confidently highlight your achievements and the candidate's strengths
• For UK schools, adopt a more humble tone, emphasizing gratitude for opportunities and privileges
• For UK schools, stress the importance of clarity in the application's research goals and skills (they want the candidate to have a clear idea of their area of study and candidates are not afforded the time to explore)
• US schools often value entrepreneurial spirit, self-confidence, and determination
• UK schools appreciate humility, clear vision, and the ability to defend an argument

  [!Important] Some European schools prefer the phrase "enthusiastically support" for strong endorsement. If some European schools do not see "enthusiastically support", they may automatically reject the candidate

Overall Positive Tone

• Conclude your letter with a strong and unambiguous statement of support
• The most successful candidates tend to have a highly positive recommendation letter

Sourced from "Graduate School Admissions Essays", "A Field Guide to Grad School", and someone who was on the board.

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Strengths

Research Excellence

• Proven aptitude for research demonstrated by work for the "AI for Healthy Living" and IBM Electronic Nose projects
• Recognized as detail-oriented and proficient in research activities, including literature reviews, interviews, surveys, experiment design, physical and chemical sensors, data analysis, planning, and data visualization
• Passion for research extends through various aspects of my life, from hackathons to personal projects to academic pursuits

Self-Directed and Highly Reliable

• Demonstrated ability to work independently and self-direct research efforts
• Known for consistently meeting deadlines and delivering high-quality work without the need for constant supervision
• Proven record of taking initiative, pitching ideas, creating deliverables, and driving work, from school to my current role at Microsoft

Broad Skill Set

• Has a diverse skill set acquired from multiple disciplines including design, art, computer science, machine learning, data science, and anthropology
• This breadth of knowledge enables me to approach problems from multiple angles and adapt to various research and laboratory settings

Passion and Perseverance

• Unwavering love of neuroscience, as evidenced by my continuous enthusiasm, from drawing brains on whiteboards, to representing roommates as neurotransmitters, to daily discussions about neuron-related topics
• History of taking on challenges and persisting through adversity, as seen in my academic journey in computer science and athletics
• Dedicated to neuroscience through my willingness to commit to the long, rigorous PhD process

Empathy and Ethics

• Demonstrated sense of responsibility in research, ensuring it benefits society without causing hard
• Shown an awareness for data privacy, ethical research practices, and impact of work on vulnerable communities
• Exhibited a passion for promoting diversity and inclusion, demonstrated through my actions at UCSD and campaign at Microsoft to address gender parity
• As a tutor, actively supported students' well-being, academic growth, different learning styles, and showed compassion

I was asked to outline what I think is important to include in my letters and what I see as my strengths. I'm happy to elaborate on any of the points if needed. This isn't a complete list, but they're the things I value the most about myself.