General Guidelines for Strong Fellowship Letters:

• Letters should be 1-2 pages single-spaced in length. These scholarships appreciate longer letters of recommendation that give the sense of the student as an individual. (This does not apply for the Fulbright teaching assistantships which require a short question and answer form).
• Address the student’s academic performance or extracurricular engagements in detail and with examples. This gives a stronger impression and demonstrates personal knowledge of the student beyond their grade (the student should indicate what your letter should address, i.e., will your letter be an academic recommendation, leadership skills recommendation, etc.).
• Provide a context in which you know the applicant and for what length of time.
  
• Situate the applicant’s performance in a larger context of your experience, but without using quantitative phrases like, “the top ten percent of students I’ve taught” since this connotes something different at every university and college.
• Discuss why the student would be a strong candidate for a specific scholarship (see information below)
• Be candid but not negative. These grant foundations are looking for realistic evaluations of students rather than overly positive hyperbole which may be unfounded or unsupported.

Weak Fellowship Letters:

• Too short, too vague, no specific examples for points made
• Generic letters or letters for other purposes (grad school admission, for example)
• Letters that merely summarize information from application
• Letters that focus on courses taken or descriptions of activities/organizations rather than the work that the applicant did within those contexts
• Letters that evaluate the student as mediocre or average or too many negative evaluations

When writing the recommendation, the foundations ask you to please provide concrete evidence to support one or more of the following criteria specific to each fellowship. Don’t feel that you should address all criteria. It is best to speak to your own experience of the student and his/her work:

Fulbright

• A proposed project that is feasible and has merit
• Strong level of knowledge and potential for future growth in the chosen field
• Ability to carry out research and think and write analytically
• Maturity, motivation, and seriousness of purpose
• Appropriate linguistic preparation and ability to adapt to a different cultural environment
• Likelihood of making a favorable impression as a United States citizen abroad

Marshall, Mitchell

• High academic achievement and intellectual promise
• Strength of character as demonstrated through community/campus service
• Demonstrated leadership ability and potential for leadership

Rhodes

• High academic achievement and intellectual promise
• Strength of character as demonstrated through community/campus service
• Demonstrated leadership ability and potential for leadership
• Physical vigor, i.e., sports or other related activity (Rhodes only)
  

Additional Guidelines

• Please address the letter to the scholarship selection committee to which the student is applying, i.e., “To the Rhodes Selection Committee” or “To the Fulbright Selection Committee”
• In the letter please write specifically that you are recommending the student for the Fulbright, Marshall, Mitchell, or Rhodes.
• If the student requests a letter for more than one Scholarship, please address each specifically.