Credentials File

Letters of Recommendation for Graduate/Professional School

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION CAREFULLY!!

Why Is Our Credentials Service Helpful?

Career Services will maintain your letters of recommendation and send them out upon your request. This service may prove especially convenient for those applying to several schools with letters from multiple recommenders or multiple schools using several recommenders. In addition, undergraduates who will apply in future years find it useful to have letters saved on file while they are still at Princeton.

Who should use this File?

Students who are interested in applying to:

• Graduate School
• Law School
• Business School
• Internships, Fellowships, and Scholarships

These letters are not intended for employment purposes.

Who Can Write a Recommendation?

• University faculty and staff
• Supervisors for internships and summer jobs
• Employers for students who wish to apply to Business Schools

How to Establish a File:

In order to establish a Credentials File, a registration form must be submitted to Career Services. This form is available for downloading and printing.

• Registration Form: Complete all sections, sign, and date and return the form to Career Services. This form must be in our possession in order to open your file and collect recommendations on your behalf.

In order to submit letters, you will need to complete a waiver form for each letter. Our office provides official waiver/recommendation forms. This form is available for downloading and printing. You will a need a completed form for each recommendation. This form permits us to release copies of the letters written on your behalf.

• Waiver/Recommendation Form: Complete the top section of the form which requires your name, class year, degree, date, signature, and the name of your recommender prior to giving it to the recommender. Be sure to check the box indicating that the recommendation is confidential. You should then give this form to your recommender. The recommender can either type comments in the space provided, sign and return it to Career Services or write the recommendation on letterhead and attach it to the signed official waiver/recommendation form.

• If the recommender is on campus, the letter can be sent through campus mail.
• If the writer is off campus provide him/her with a stamped envelope addressed to Career Service, Princeton University, 201 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ 08542.
• It is your responsibility to be sure your recommenders send their letters to Career Services on time to meet your application deadline. Please call our office to check the status of your file.

RECOMMENDATIONS RECEIVED WITHOUT A WAIVER FORM:
If a recommendation is received on your behalf without the waiver form a notice will be sent to you. If no response is received back from you within 10 working days the letter will be returned to the writer.

Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free program, is required to open these forms online. These forms have been created so that you can fill them out using your computer before printing them out if you choose.

Procedures for Requesting Letters of Recommendation:

SEND IN YOUR REQUEST EARLY! During the busy season (November - January) the average turnaround time can be as much as TEN WORKING DAYS (about two calendar weeks) from the date we receive them until they are deposited in the U.S. mail. Requests are processed in the order they are received, regardless of size, so do plan ahead.

• Use the Recommendation Request Form that is available on this site. This is the only request form that will be accepted.
• Be sure to sign and date the form.
• The form can be delivered or mailed to our office.
• Enclose corresponding STAMPED AND ADDRESSED ENVELOPES with all requests.

PLEASE SPECIFY in your request which letters are to be mailed directly to the schools and the letters that are to be held for pickup at Career Services.

RECOMMENDATIONS SENT TO SCHOOLS VIA ONLINE SERVICES:
Most graduate schools requires an evaluation form in addition to the recommendation letters. If you are planning to have recommendations uploaded online it is imperative that you have all evalution forms completed and signed by the recommender. If the evaluation form is not received with the recommendation then your request cannot be completed, therefore causing a significant delay in the application process.

RECOMMENDATION REQUESTS FROM ABROAD:
If you are living abroad and are planning to apply to graduate or professional school, please make sure your request is sent to us in enough time to process it for your deadline dates. If you are unable to provide the necessary postage and envelopes because of your location, please make arrangements with someone to have these materials sent to our office.

IF YOU ARE UNSURE ABOUT ENVELOPES AND POSTAGE PLEASE CALL 609-258-3325.

Some schools require applicants to include sealed letters of recommendation with the rest of their application materials. For these requests, please provide us with 10"x13" stamped, addressed envelopes. If the envelopes are not stamped they will be held here for pickup.

FEDERAL EXPRESS REQUESTS: If you plan to have your request sent by Federal Express, you will need to provide us with valid credit card information which will include the card expiration date. You will be billed directly by Federal Express.

Confidentiality Issues:

You have the legal right to choose whether your letters are confidential or not. If you wish them to be confidential, be sure to sign each recommendation form before giving it to each recommender and check the box next to the confidentiality statement. The contents of a confidential recommendation cannot be viewed or shared with the candidate. In the opinion of the Career Services staff, confidential recommendations are more credible in support of applications to academic programs.

Charges:

Letters to the first ten schools you request will be processed free of charge. There is a charge of $5 for each additional school. If you request more than ten schools please include this payment with your request.

Maintenance Fee:

Your file will be maintained free of charge while you are a student at the University and for one year after graduation. Thereafter you will be billed a maintenance fee of $30 per year, or $75 for three years. Alumni who are opening a credentials file should include the appropriate maintenance fee with the completed registration form.

All checks should be made payable to Princeton University/Office of Career Services.

About Dean's Certification / College Questionnaire Forms:

Dean's forms are handled by, and should be addressed to the Pre-Law Advisor, Ms. Lyon Zabsky. Since they are processed separately from letters of recommendation, please provide separate, stamped and addressed envelopes for every form to be sent out. To avoid delays in processing, we suggest you send these forms separately. There is no charge for Dean's forms.

If you are an alumnus/alumna, please keep you current address, phone number and e-mail address on file with Alumni Records, located at 330 Alexander Road.