Five Tips for Writing an Effective Letter of Recommendation
By Rebecca Johnson, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVAA, Admissions Committee Chair, UW SVM, and Keith Poulsen, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, Director, WVDL
Has an aspiring veterinarian asked you to write a letter of recommendation (LOR) for their veterinary school application? Constructing a meaningful LOR can help place a candidate into the next class at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine (UW SVM) or other veterinary medical programs. Each year, candidate applications are reviewed to evaluate both academic and nonacademic factors. A LOR is one of those nonacademic factors, and an important tool for the SVM Admissions Committee.
Beginning with the Class of 2026, UW SVM faculty voted to remove the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) requirement. Because the GRE is no longer used as an objective tool, and to continue to build strong veterinary classes and future veterinary cohorts at UW SVM, the Admissions Committee now looks at each application holistically, evaluating criteria such as extracurricular involvement, veterinary and research experiences, and academic rigor. A strong LOR plays an important role in these evaluative processes.
Not sure where to start? Here are five tips for writing an effective LOR:
1. Invest time in writing a meaningful recommendation. You’re a busy professional, and your time is valuable. But spending an hour or so to write a letter to support a candidate who has dedicated months or years to working with you and your practice can make a big difference in admissions decisions. Reminder: even though it’s important to talk about how amazing the person you’re recommending is, don’t forget to provide some detail as to why you feel that way—because the why is what people will remember.
2. Be concise, but complete. Letters should be about one page in length. If you go over a page, be sure the information you’re including is important. And be sure to use sentences using quantifiers such as “Sally is in the top 10 percent of people I’ve reviewed,” or “Sally is absolutely the best candidate I’ve worked with.”
3. Be honest with the candidate. Have a frank conversation with the person asking you for a recommendation to get the insights you need to write a strong letter. Weak or lukewarm LORs are detrimental to a candidate’s prospects for success—so the more honest you are in your conversation, the more you’re helping them build a better future.
4. Match the letter to the rankings. In the Veterinary Medical College Application Service application, there are required rankings of professional abilities as well as a space for writing a personal letter. On occasion, the rankings from a reviewer don’t represent what’s written in the letter, or vice versa. This is confusing to the Admissions Committee and typically doesn’t help with the candidate’s ranking.
5. Advise your mentee on who to solicit letters from. An LOR is one part of an entire package that tells the candidate’s story. Candidates need at least one letter from a veterinarian, but more than one is strongly recommended. Professor and advisor letters are helpful if they have a sincere and authentic message, but not helpful if they solely report the candidate’s grade or attendance at their advising sessions.
An effective LOR helps a veterinary program’s Admissions Committee choose the best candidates. The goal of the committee is to compile a professional and exciting class of veterinary students who will grow into excellent veterinary colleagues. In other words, your well-thought-out, well-written LOR can help ensure a bright future for our entire profession. That’s why you should never underestimate the power of a reference.