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Nydja	Todd

Views #1030 | Intermediate (B2)

Letters of Rec

Nydja talks about getting letters of recommendation and have to submit writings for grad school.

Script
Vocab
Quiz

Todd: OK, so you didn't have to do the test but you had to do letters or recommendation?

Nydja: I did have to do three letters of recommendation and ...

Todd: Can I ask? Who did you ask? Professors?

Nydja: I did ask a few professors, an employer, and a long time family friend.

Todd: So you had a quite diverse mix?

Nydja: Yes.

Todd: One professor, one friend, family friend, and one employer.

Nydja: Yes.

Todd: Now, were you worried about what they were going to say?

Nydja: Well, when you ask for a reference you definitely want to ask from somebody you trust to write a good one for you. I've know people who have just randomly asked people, and not gotten the results that they had wanted. But even still, you kind of wonder like, what good do they have to say about me. What are they going to pick and choose because sometimes you want them to mention certain things, and it's best to actually ask them to.

Todd: So you kind of feed them what to say?

Nydja: Yes. A little bit.

Todd: So you took the test. You got the letters of recommendation. Is there any other part that you have
to do to get in to grad school? Like show your transcripts? Summit transcripts?

Nydja: Yes, you have to pay your undergrad, wherever you got your degree for your undergrad, you have to pay them all this money for them to send an official transcript to your new school that you want to go to.

Todd: Now, do they actually send you the transcript as well, or do they just send it straight to the school?

Nydja: No, they send it straight to the school because the schools require an official transcript, so they don't trust you to send it in cause they figure you might mess with your grades.

Todd: You might fidget or something.

Nydja: Yeah.

Todd: So is that it then? The transcripts?

Nydja: Transcripts, letters of recommendation, essays, letter of intent.

Todd: Letter of intent. Is there a difference between the essay and the letter of intent?

Nydja: An essay can sometimes just be a writing sample, whereas a letter of intent ... they want to know like your life goals, and your purpose of being on this earth. I don't like writing those personally, but ...

Todd: Why not?

Nydja: Cause it just changes, and I think it's just contrived really. I don't see ... I can sum it up in a couple of sentences, but they want, you know, a three page paper on your life goals and I just don't like to have to write something.

Todd: Right, right, especially most people are quite young, so like they really know right?

Nydja: Yeah, yeah.

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

letter of recommendation

I needed three letters of recommendation.

A letter of recommendation is a letter written for someone as a reference for a job or application process. In the letter of recommendation, the writer lists good points about the person being recommended. A letter of recommendation often is written by someone of authority or higher status, such as a professor, teacher, or boss. Notice the following:

I asked my professor to write me a letter of recommendation for grad school.
My old boss wrote me a great letter of recommendation for my new job.

a diverse mix

There's quite a diverse mix.

A mix of something is a collection of different things or substances. Diverse means varied or different. Actually, a mix is already diverse but we say diverse mix for emphasis. You could say "quite a mix" and mean the same thing. Notice the following:

There is quite a diverse mix of students in class.
The video store has a diverse mix of movies.

feed

You feed them what to say.

Normally, feed means to give someone or something food, such as when you feed a baby or feed a dog. But you can feed other things such as items or information that will be used later. Notice the following: