Requesting a Letter of Reference - Undergraduates

I (Dr. Bliss-Moreau) am happy to write letters of reference for students who have taken my classes and/or worked in my lab. In general, writing strong letters of reference requires know that I know the person pretty well so that I can speak to both academic performance and other qualities that are relevant for the reference (motivation, ability to overcome obstacles, etc).

For students who have taken one of my large classes (PSC154V, PSC121, PSC122, etc.): if I have not gotten to know you in office hours or during class (e.g., the lab of 121 or 122), I can write a letter that speaks to your academic performance alone. Generally this includes the grade you got in the class, relative info about the class distribution (how you performed relative to other students), and any info about improvement across time and/or the quality of your assignments that I have. This is generally not the sort of letter that is the best to include in PhD applications, although some students do elect to submit such letters.

I generally can write stronger letters for students who have taken smaller seminar style courses as well as students who have attended office hours regularly, or have worked with me in some other capacity (e.g., my lab).

If you wish for me to write a reference, please follow these steps:

  1. Reach out at least 4-6 weeks before the letter is due to request the letter - you can send me an email to do this. I rarely can accept requests to write letters with less than 4 weeks notice. Once I have a letter written for you, I can generally update it more quickly.

  2. Send your CV/resume, transcript with grades, and info about what programs/jobs/schools you are applying to. Please include a list of the places where the letter will need to be sent and the dates they are due.

  3. If you are from a big class and I did not get to know you well, remind me of which class and the term. (This sounds nuts, I know, but I once wrote a wonderful reference for a woman with a common name who took my 154 class. I wrote it for the person who took the class in 2019, not the person who requested it who took the course in 2020).

  4. Generally, for graduate programs, you will fill out part of an application and it will generate a digital link that is sent to me to submit the letter. Do this EARLY so that I have the link as quickly as possible.

  5. If I have not confirmed that I sent the letter(s), follow up ~ 5 days before the due date(s). I typically forward confirmation that I have submitted the letter directly to the student. Please keep track of this so you can alert me if a letter has been missed. The UC Davis email spam filter for facutly and staff is super aggressive and occasionally an email request gets lost.

  6. Finally - let me know the outcome of your applications!