The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

I am currently applying for the fall 2011 Award. The award will be for my Junior/Senior Years. I currently work full time and have been very successful in my current career. I do not have any research experience to speak of.

After a little background, my question is with regards to the letters of recommendation. I have two letters from teachers at my school. One letter I believe will be good the other I am concerned about (Math professor - Not a writer). I also have a letter coming from someone I have worked with for about 7 years. Would it be better to include the work reference and the one professor reference or both of the professor's references? To add to the problem... the letter I think will be better is actually from a professor I have only known for one semester. I have taken several classes with the math professor.

I would do one work and one academic, actually, that is what I'm doing. I figure that we aren't just applying for a scholarship, but also for a job so having an employer reference letter lets the SMART people know that you can succeed in both academic and professional environments. That's just my opinion though. Good luck!

I'm not sure if the application has changed, but from what I recall the letters of recommendation had to be from someone that is familiar with you in terms of the "field" you're applying under. If you're applying as anything other then a mathematician the letter from the math professor isn't worth much, and if you haven't been working in your "field" then the letter from your employer is moot also.

I didn't take it that way...

" References should be scientists, engineers, faculty members, or others who have current or recent knowledge of your academic accomplishments or your professional experiences."

I didn't take the application to be limited to those already in there field of work. Wouldn't that eliminate undergrads?

Anyone that knows you from a professional or academic background is good.

A well written letter is always a plus, but as long as it's positive, I would not worry about it unless you're afraid that it will be horrible. I think a test case could be: Did their homework questions generally use decent grammar?

I got mine from a professor of one of my major classes and the Dean. I knew I was going to apply for the scholarship since the beginning of the semester last year so I stopped into their office hours, introduced myself and told them about the scholarship, and then kept coming back a few times so they'd remember me. I actually told them the first time I met with them that i'd be eventually looking for a letter, as a heads up.