Sample Scholarship Recommendation Letter printable pdf download

Sample Mitchell Scholarship Recommendation

October xx, 20xx

The US-Ireland Alliance

1747 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, 12

Floor

Washington, D.C. 2006

To the Mitchell Scholarship Selection Committee:

I am writing a letter on behalf of Ms. Janet Lerner, an international studies student at Mythic University

who is applying for the Mitchell scholarship. To get straight to the point, Janet is, without a doubt, one of

the strongest undergraduate students I have had the pleasure of working at Mythic University.

I am Janet’s co-advisor for her honors thesis and she has enrolled in several of my classes. Most recently,

Janet was the sole undergraduate student in a graduate seminar I taught titled Qualitative Methods. Her

performance was outstanding. I enjoyed watching her successfully grapple her way through some very

difficult readings in the area of social theory. Additionally, she was a wonderful asset in this class in that

she was always prepared to lead a class discussion. As a discussion leader she grounded very difficult

theory which helped alleviate some of the initial nervousness of the other students in the class. As I

noted from her discussions, she is one of those rare students who can operate at an advanced theoretical

level while keeping firmly rooted in an empirical realm.

Over the past year I have watched Janet’s interest in Peace and Conflict Studies blossom into a very

powerful thesis topic on issues of gender and politics in Northern Ireland. My area of expertise is in the

area of gender and nationalism in Northern Ireland; for this reason I am confident when I say she has

chosen a fascinating topic for exploration. As part of her research, Janet conducted a case study of the

Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition (NIWC) last summer. She spent three months in Belfast conducting

ethnographic and archival research. The NIWC is a cross-community coalition that was formed in 1996

and fully participated in the peace talks which led to the signing of the Easter Agreement. Recently, the

NIWC has found itself at the center of political debates focused on issues of gender, class, and

nationalism.

Having carefully reviewed Janet’s data based on her NIWC case study, I can affirm that her work is top-

notch and is on par with the graduate students in the geography department. Such a claim is no small

matter: Mythic University’s Geography Department is the highest ranking geography department in the

country based on a recent report by the National Research Council, so it is important to understand that I

am comparing Janet with some of the best graduate students in the discipline.

Finally, Janet has a strong understanding of political theory and strong intellectual facility. She writes

well and clearly and will complete her career at Mythic University undoubtedly to much acclaim. She is

a rare and gifted scholar and has my strongest support. She really is one in a million.

Sincerely,

Janet Teacher

Assistant Professor of Geography and Women’s Studies

Sample Scholarship Recommendation Letter