Completing an Academic Recommendation

Education abroad recommendations are electronic and include specific questions regarding the student's readiness to go abroad. Education abroad recommendations must be academic in nature. Faculty members and academic advisers are ideal choices as references because they are most familiar with a student's academic needs and abilities. 

Recommenders who are not familiar with a student's academic aptitude for an education abroad program (i.e., sports coaches, non-academic internship or work supervisors, etc.) should not write education abroad recommendations. Such recommendations will not be accepted, and the student will need to request a new recommendation.

Faculty, staff, or teaching assistants who are leading education abroad programs themselves should not submit a recommendation on behalf of a student who is applying to their own program.  The student should select another eligible recommender so as to keep the application process impartial.

If a student submits a request for you to write their recommendation, please direct them to email EducationAbroad@psu.edu as soon as possible to reset their recommender.

Once selected by the student, the faculty member or academic adviser will receive an automatic email from the Education Abroad system requesting a recommendation for that particular student. The email will indicate the student's name, program, term of application, and a unique identifier number.
Make a note of the identifying number (or utilize the copy and paste functions). It is required to submit the recommendation.
A link is provided in the recommendation prompt email. Follow it to get to the electronic recommendation form.
Complete the questionnaire and submit the form.
The recommendation questionnaire typically takes 5-10 minutes to complete, unless the recommender chooses to write extensive comments.
Upon submission, the recommendation will automatically be tied to the student's application for admission to the education abroad program.
There is no need to write a formal recommendation letter, but there is a section at the end of the questionnaire that is open for comments. Recommenders can input as much or as little information in that field as they choose.

If you have questions or concerns about the academic recommendation process or about a particular student, please contact Education Abroad.