幾乎所有的大學都會要求申請人提交推薦信（recommendation letter），評審委員根據推薦者的文字描述，可以了解申請人的背景狀況。它可以說明各種成績數字以外的其他情況，補充過於計量化、公式化審核的一種評估方式。在決定出國申請是否成功的諸多要素中，有力的推薦信是錄取的重要條件之一，其份量僅次于于本科成績單和標準化考試（gre、gmat、toefl）成績。
同學們所申請的大學一般要求三封推薦信。推薦人的身份可以是曾經教你的教授，或者現（曾）職工作單位主管，自己視學校要求和自己的需要組合。例如，如果你畢業十年，你的推薦信可應有二封由工作主管來寫為宜，而畢業一兩年頂多一封即足夠。
推薦人的職務並不一定愈高愈有利，相反地，認識你的時間較長，雖然職位不高，但是由於對你有著清楚地了解，所以其撰寫的內容往往能夠適當地表達你的個性（personality）。這才是上乘的推薦。
接下來，我們將通過實例來討論推薦信包含的主要內容，基本結構，以及通常可以套用的模式。
例如：
to whom it may concern:
i take great pleasure in recommending miss××， a promising girl as a worthy candidate for admission and financial aids to your prodigious university. as her undergraduate advisor, i had known her for nearly four years. in this letter i would like to share with you my perspectives on this exceptional young lady.
miss×× strikes a balance in academic and extracurricular activities, which is rarely seen in university students. from an education perspective, i think miss×× is the type of student who can go far and broad as an integrated human being to fulfill academic mission and social responsibility.
when i taught her ××（課程）, unlike many other students loafing time in heavy complaints about the boring stuff, she was self-disciplined with the fundamentals and made step-by-step progress. she was also self-navigated. in addition to class assignments, she proactively broadened herself asking for extra reading list from me. naturally, she got good scores of 91 and 92 points respectively. in the meantime, she has obtained a macroview on the development of the schools of ×× and the trend of thought, which will establish solid basis for her future research in ××field.
besides her academic activities, i also attracted by her social activities and capabilities. miss×× has a strong ability in organizing, leading and controlling extracurricular activities. in the past three years she has organized many activities successfully. in particular, she took part in ××（association）. through a series of activities, many people were impressed by her leadership, humor and eloquence. she was elected as a student representative to take the speech in＃＃ delivered by ×× president and sponsored “＃＃”, a large-scaled sale for charity in cooperation with ××(公司名稱) to which she invited many ambassadors or cultural chancellors and raised an assistance fund. eventually, she received a highest honorary school diploma signed personally by the president of ××(大學名稱) for her performance in such activities.
all the observation on shanshan in closeness leads to the conclusion that she is both a candidate qualified for your graduate program towards a higher degree and a citizen that will impact the communities in neighborhood with knowledge and enthusiasm. if you need more information concerning her, please contact me freely.