Letter 1

I am writing to provide my strongest possible recommendation for XXX. I have had the pleasure of
knowing XXX for the past three years. In that time, I have served as his instructor for two upper
division undergraduate courses and we have collaborated on three separate research projects. I
would place XXX in the top 2% percent of my students for his ability in the classroom and he is,
without a doubt, the best student with whom I have conducted research.

XXX will be very successful in his graduate courses. He earned the top score in, both, my XXX
courses. XXX is a talented student who is extremely intelligent, but his real strength is found in his
dogged work ethic and time management skills. XXX starts every assignment on the day that it is
assigned and, then, commits to finishing early. His work reflects a consistent level of polish that is
rarely seen at the undergraduate level. In sum, it is clear that XXX simply loves learning and is
passionate about the field of Computer Science.

XXX’s impressive technical and problem-solving skills are juxtaposed by his ability to work well in
teams and to also communicate effectively. In courses that require group projects, XXX is often a
sought after and desired colleague. XXX’s teams always produce excellent work. His teammates
frequently mention that they enjoyed working with him. As a colleague myself throughout our
coresearch process, I have also been very impressed working with XXX.

Over the past three years, I have collaborated on three separate research projects with XXX. [...]
Throughout these projects, I have seen XXX really come into his own as a researcher. During our first
project, I worked closely with XXX and directed his efforts. The XXX project entailed a year of fairly
intensive effort. Early on, we were meeting multiple times in a week but, as the project progressed,
XXX required less supervision. By the end, XXX had taken such ownership of the project that I came
to view him more as a colleague than an assistant. [...]

XXX is truly an amazing student and researcher. He is a gifted Computer Scientist, who works
independently as well as on teams and is a passionate researcher. I am positive he would be a
productive addition to your program as well as a distinguished graduate. Please do not hesitate to
contact me if you have any further questions about XXX. I look forward to hearing of his
accomplishments in the years to come.

Letter 2

I am writing this letter as a recommendation for XXX’s admission to your Ph.D. program in Computer
Science. XXX was a student of mine in XXX during the spring 2014 semester, and he has worked with
me as a grader and a course producer every semester since fall 2014.

YYY is the third programming class in our introductory programming curriculum, and it is a very
rigorous course that covers XXX. In that class, XXX earned an A, exceeding the expectations for the
course. XXX has always responded to every email I have sent in a timely manner and performed
above my expectations in everything assigned.

XXX has been working with a Computer Science professor at ZZZ focused on artificial intelligence.
He has spoken with me about his desire to pursue a Ph.D. in this area to bridge the gap between
humans and technology. I think that XXX will succeed in whatever field he wants, and I strongly
recommend his admission to a Ph.D. program. He has exceeded my expectations as a student and I
think that he would be a great addition to a graduate program.

Letter 3

It is my pleasure to write a recommendation for XXX. She was a visiting student who took my
senior-level operating systems course XXX in spring 2014. Ms. XXX was extremely hard-working and
earned a very solid A in the course, with more than 100% on her homework assignments (due to extra
credit). Indeed, she earned A's in all four classes she took while visiting XXX.

I did not have a chance to work with XXX in a research capacity, but I do know she is extremely
intelligent, attentive, sharp, and personable, and I've no doubt she will be an excellent student and
research team member. As director of the graduate professional program, I believe she would be near
the top of the hundreds of master's students I have worked with. I have no hesitation in strongly
recommending her for admission. Thank you.

Letter 4

XXX is the single most impressive undergraduate that I have taught in my four years at XXX. [...] Last
year, as a third-year undergraduate, XXX asked me if she could take my graduate programming
languages course. This is an advanced course on the formal semantics of programming languages,
involving sophisticated mathematical techniques, and proving properties of programs and
languages alike. I had never had an undergraduate take the course, but when I asked my colleague
ZZZ, for whom XXX had worked as an undergraduate teaching assistant, he told me, "Anything she
wants to do she will be good at." He was right.

XXX not only did well in this graduate course, she did better than anyone else who had ever taken it.
[...] Even more impressive to me was XXX's poise and leadership in the classroom. XXX often
volunteered to solve exercises in class, helped explain concepts to students, and asked very
insightful questions---all the while leaving space for other students to contribute. She often
answered student questions on our online discussion board. She found subtle technical errors in
some of my homework assignments, including errors that in essence had appeared in one or two
years of related homework assignments. At the same time, she was always positive, supportive, and
clear. [...]

This semester, I have interacted with XXX as a member of a reading group. This group brings
together faculty and students to read papers and give presentations on advanced topics in the area.
XXX is one of a handful of undergraduates who participates. She has been one of the most vocal
contributors among all of the students, let alone the undergraduates. XXX recently gave a practice
talk our software analysis group about her research, and it was one of the best conference-style
presentations that I have seen given by a student.

To summarize, XXX is creative, hard-working, mature, and brilliant. I would have been delighted to
be her research supervisor. I have no doubt that she will be a first-class researcher.
Statement 1

I am a XXX computer scientist whose research interest lies in the broad area of Distributed Systems
with a current focus in optimizing their management in multi-tenant data centers. I aim to pursue a
doctoral degree due to passion and excitement for my field and research.

[...]

Statement 2

My research activities and interests span over a broad spectrum of Information Retrieval (IR). I use
mathematical models, Machine Learning (ML) and data mining algorithms for improving the
performance of different components of search engines as well as Recommender Systems (RS).
Additionally, I am concerned about the application of formal methods in software engineering.

I have attended several conferences and summer schools, where I have presented my research
outcomes. Conversations with reputed academicians at those congregations have deepened my
perception of an accomplished researcher. Now, I feel that I need to take relevant graduate-level
courses to be able to do cutting edge research. Besides, I also need to work in a lab guided by a
mentor, so that I can collaborate with different people who are striving to enrich the knowledge of
the field I am interested in. In that process, I would be able to hone my skills for formulating and
solving problems as well as expressing their solutions cogently. Doctoral studies can open up such
opportunities for me and I have taken adequate preparation for becoming a graduate student.

[...]

After five to ten years, I envision myself as a tenure-track academician directing my own research
lab. Moreover, as a citizen of a developing country like XXX, I would like to assist the government as
a policy maker in education sector. Presently, I am involved in carrying out my own research,
teaching courses, supervising and advising students being a Lecturer of XXX. It is reasonable for me
to seek an advanced degree like Doctor of Philosophy, as I want to progress my career further. I have
read several on-line articles designated for Ph.D. students and come to know about both the
enjoyment and challenges of graduate-level research. Finally, I have chosen to accept these
challenges as a motivated young scientist.

Statement 3

The ability to store and process large amounts of information has brought great benefits to society.
This “big data” enabled scientists to map the human genome, discover the Higgs boson, and manage
international commerce. While collecting this data has brought many benefits to society, it also
comes with risks. When critical systems such as air traffic control rely on the quality of data,
incorrect data can have devastating consequences. As a computer science major, I am interested in
ensuring that the software systems that we depend on are reliable.

Since my sophomore year at XXX, I have had the opportunity to collaborate with my advisor ASA,
BBB at XXX, a world renowned researcher who is currently on the editorial board for XXX, and their
PhD student CCC. While I was analyzing the data from my experiments, I realized that I was the first
person in the world to know what the performance trade-offs looked like for XXX. The excitement of
discovery from this experience drove me to participate in a summer research experience for
undergraduates (REU) program funded by the National Science Foundation. As part of this program, I
traveled to XXX to use machine learning to evaluate XXX.

My research has resulted in published papers and released software. This summer, I continued my
collaboration with AAA, BBB, and CCC, and presented our paper titled “XXX” at the XXX conference.
Our software for conducting XXX experiments is available on GitHub. This year I am continuing work
in this broad area for my undergraduate thesis, which focuses XXX. I am also working on a
continuation of our previous work which we hope to submit to XXX. Upon graduating from XXX, my
goal is to enter into a PhD program and continue to conduct research in the field of software
engineering, and to persue a career as a research scientist.

Statement 4

My goal is to automatically improve programs ― to let the computer handle part of the work so that
human developers can spend their time solving more important, more interesting problems.
Academic research, especially in software engineering and programming languages, appears to be
the best place for me to do so. In particular, I am excited about David Garlan’s work on adaptive
systems, Claire Le Goues’​ work on automated program repair, and Christian Kästner’s​ work on
program variability. I believe that I would be a strong addition to Carnegie Mellon SCS because I have
demonstrated competence both as a researcher and as a TA, and because I am highly motivated to
complete a PhD.

I have spent the last year working on a new research project under of the direction of XXX [describes
project and contributions]

The rush of euphoria when you figure out a tricky problem: that’s why I started studying computer
science in the first place. However, it’s easy to forget that software developers “in the real world”
spend time dealing with other kinds of problems ​ I’m never as excited about discovering a typo that a
forgetful coworker made as I am about coming up with a clever solution to a major roadblock. As an
intern at XXX, I saw software development in action, and it seemed that day​ to​
day development
contained more of the tedious former than the stimulating latter. I want to spend my life solving
interesting problems, but I’d also like to make it possible for other people to do so, and automated
software engineering research offers me the chance to do both: as a researcher, I would be solving
the interesting problem of how to let other developers solve more interesting problems.

...