Recommendation Letter

“I give him my strongest possible recommendation for pursuing doctoral studies at your esteemed university with no reservation.”

Says Professor Liu in his recommendation letter.

I hadn’t been able to read the recommendation until today, when I spent a month at Tsinghua. Tsinghua’s graduate application system is entirely online, which means I will need to invite professors to submit their recommendation letters online by sending them a link.

That means I don’t get the chance to read it, unless the professor asks me to prepare a draft, or I get admitted and am required to submit a signed paper copy.

Very out of surprise, Prof. Liu, as a scholar of fame, while serving as Director of the Lab, Vice President of the Institute, the Academy, and the IAPR, was very patient in preparing this letter. In mainland China, the recommendation letter is mostly a formality, and professors would let the applicant ‘per se’ to prepare a draft to be revised. I know this rule and prepared such a draft before even asking him.

But he rejected, only asked me to send a copy of the transcript, wrote every detail about me, and defended my weakness in his words. One Sunday afternoon in December, he sent me a message: “Jonathan, I have submitted the recommendation letter for you to Tsinghua.” That was just less than a week after I sought it.

Although I was eventually admitted, I completely forgot to prepare the paper copy. It wasn’t until a week ago that the staff at Tsinghua required me to submit the letter ASAP.

It wasn’t until today that I read this carefully prepared letter.

Words alone will not express my gratitude.