Dear Student,

Graduate school can be a wonderful and enriching experience for the qualified student. Graduate school admissions, however, are much more highly competitive than undergraduate admissions. In order to have a good chance of admission, you must prepare early in your undergraduate career. A final step in this preparation is the actual writing of letters of recommendation, reporting on your outstanding preparation and qualifications: your intellectual ability, your oral and written communications skills, your ability to think creatively, and your ability to do research. Outstanding course work and exceptional standardized test scores are also expected.

I enjoy writing letters of recommendation for qualified students. But writing a good letter is impossible for students who are not adequately prepared and qualified. I therefore write recommendations only for students I know well and who I believe possess the knowledge and skills to excel in a graduate program or in a job.

One of the most important things you can do as an undergraduate at UCI, a major research university, is research. UCI offers undergraduates extraordinary opportunities and resources to get involved in research. Since graduate school is primarily about research, lack of research experience despite attending a major research institution is a bad sign and can eliminate your application from consideration. Check out UCI's resources for undergraduate research through the Undergraduate Research Opportunites Program (UROP) at http://www.urop.uci.edu/. You can get funding for your own research, present your research at the annual Symposium, and publish it in the UCI Undergraduate Research Journal.

If you want a *good* recommendation for graduate school from me (or any other professor), be sure you do the following while you are earning a bachelors degree:

• Take my courses and earn the highest grade in the class (or at least, earn a high A). Intro courses (e.g., ICS 21, 22, or ECE 10) are not suitable for letters of recommendation for graduate school. It is impossible to write a convincing letter of recommendation on the basis of one or two introductory courses. Use the upper division or graduate courses. (Yes, undergraduates can and should take graduate courses while they are still undergraduates). The courses you take should not only meet requirements, but also show that you love to learn and enjoy challenging courses, rather than avoid them.
• Visit me during office hours, and make a good impression. Read about each subject before you discuss it with me. Show me that you can understand difficult topics and think about them critically. Better yet, show me that you can think of better solutions.
• Take individual study (e.g., ECE 199) and do independent research. Do something notable, write a paper, and submit it for publication. Graduate schools want to know about your ability to read, understand, think, and communicate, both verbally and in writing.
• Score high on the GRE. I believe the analytical and verbal tests are the most valuable. Everyone should do well on the quantitative, because it is basic math. I like to see scores 750 or above (out of 800) in all areas, but scores near 700 may be OK.
• Know the foundational work in the area in which you hope to focus your graduate work. For example, if you want to work with me, you'll need to know a large subset of the following topics: Java programming, CORBA, object-oriented design, (some) design patterns (such as Acceptor/Connector, Reactor, Proactor, ActiveObject), multi-threading, client-server design, etc.

I am extremely busy, but I do enjoy helping those students who prepare and are qualified for graduate study. Before I agree to write a letter, please provide me with the following:

• A one-page statement of purpose (why you want to go to graduate school, why you want to do research, how you are qualified, etc.).
• A copy of your UCI transcript (unofficial is ok, but it must be real).
• A copy of your GRE scores.
• A draft recommendation letter, about you, written from my perspective (in MS Word format), that describes how I know you and why I recommend you for graduate study.

You must also give me enough time to complete this work. Four weeks before the deadline is usually sufficient, but please consider that I am often away much of December.

Best wishes for your successful undergraduate and perhaps future graduate education.

Sincerely,
Raymond Klefstad, Ph.D.