Hi All,

I'm just joined the forum and had a quick question regarding recommendations. I'm currently in the process of gathering information for my referrers, and want to make sure that I provide them with the most accurate info to help them write my recs.

From what I have read, alot of schools provide specific questions that they would like thier recommenders to answer (mostly along the lines of how well you know the candidate, how does he fare among his peers, how well he takes criticism, etc..).

However, when I search online I see alot of talk about writing a "2-page letter", which seems to me like a more traditional reference letter. Also, I know some schools have a competency matrix on top of this that the referrer will need to fill out.

Is there a difference? Are the referrers supposed to simply answer the questions provided, or are they to provide a general letter (or do both)? I'm not too sure what is generally recommended and any insight would be really helpful.

Thank you all for the help, I really appreciate it!

J