Free letter of recommendation (LOR) for student template
An academic letter of recommendation from a professor for a student applying to MS, MBA or PhD programs abroad, with how the recommender knows the student, ranking, specific examples and a clear endorsement. Sample letter included.
What's in this template
Dr. Meenakshi Sundaram Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering · Coromandel Institute of Technology, Chennai 600119 · meenakshi.s@coromandeltech.example · +91 44 2450 8812 |
Letter of recommendation
Date: 2 October 2026
To the Admissions Committee,
MS in Data Science, University of Michigan
I am writing to recommend Vikram Nair for admission to the MS in Data Science at the University of Michigan. I have known Vikram for two years as his teacher for Machine Learning and Database Systems, and as the supervisor of his final-year project at Coromandel Institute of Technology.
Known since | July 2024 | Capacity | Course instructor and project supervisor |
Courses taught | Machine Learning, Database Systems | Overall ranking | Top 5% of students I have taught |
Academic ability
Vikram stood out from the start. In Machine Learning, a class of 120 students, he scored 94 out of 100, the second-highest mark in the class. What impressed me more than the grade was a question in the second week about why gradient descent can stall on flat regions, which showed a habit of asking how a method works, not just how to use it.
Research and project work
Under my supervision, Vikram built a model to predict paddy yields from satellite images for 40 villages in Kanchipuram district. He collected and labelled the data himself, tested three approaches and wrote most of the code. The final model predicted yields within 8% of actual harvests, and the work was presented at the IEEE Region 10 student symposium in March 2026.
Personal qualities
When a teammate fell ill before the project review, Vikram took on her part of the work without being asked and made sure she was credited for what she had done. He takes feedback well and is often the classmate others go to when a concept will not click, which I believe will make him a valued member of your cohort.
Overall assessment
Among the roughly 900 students I have taught in eleven years, I would place Vikram in the top 5% for intellectual ability, research potential and motivation. I recommend him without reservation for admission to your program.
Please contact me at meenakshi.s@coromandeltech.example or +91 44 2450 8812 if you need any further information.
Sincerely,
Dr. Meenakshi Sundaram
Associate Professor, Computer Science and Engineering
Coromandel Institute of Technology, Chennai
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