5) Letters of Rec

Asking people for letters of recommendation is a necessary evil. Some of us may not be totally comfortable with the idea of asking someone to write a letter about how fantastic we are. I've had the chance to aquire my own letters of recommendation, and I actually have some pretty awesome tips to make the whole process a lot less painful for you. So I think that I'll spread out these tips over multiple blog posts this week to make them last ;) To make it exciting, I think that I'll make it a count-down! :D Here's numero cinco.

Ask them in an email.

This is a lot less confrontational, and will give them the opportunity to appropriately respond. It will put less pressure on them to say yes if they don't feel comfortable doing so. I would rather allow someone to say no if they don't feel like they could write you a strong letter of recommendation, because that is perfectly okay! You certainly wouldn't want to have someone who secretly doesn't like you writing your letter.