For recommenders
A student has asked you to recommend them. It is four short questions and a readiness check, about fifteen minutes. There is no letter to write.
The Lu Memorial Scholarship is $5,000. We select students who are ready to finish their education and whose path is narrowed mainly by money. You are being asked because you know something about this student that their transcript does not show.
What we ask you
Four questions, three of them required, and one readiness check.
- How you know the student, and for how long.
- What you know first-hand about their circumstances.
- One thing they did with limited time, money, or support. One concrete thing is worth more here than a paragraph of praise.
- Optional: what they will not say about themselves.
The readiness check is the last item: is this student ready to succeed in their education? You answer yes, yes with support, not sure, or no. “Yes with support” and “not sure” are real answers and we read them as such.
Short answers are fine. Two or three sentences to a question is what we expect, and the whole form takes about fifteen minutes.
What we do not ask you for
- No letter, and no school letterhead.
- No subject-specific recommendation. There is no rule that this come from a teacher of any particular subject.
- No School Report and no counselor form. We retired both, and nothing replaced them.
- No ranking of the student against their classmates.
- No test scores, honors lists, resumes, or portfolios. We do not read those if they arrive.
Why the form is short
A letter takes you an hour and tells us less than four direct questions do. The things only you can tell us are what you have seen first-hand, so those are the only things we ask about.
Who may recommend a student
Any adult who knows the student’s circumstances, other than a member of their family. A teacher, a counselor, a coach, a supervisor at work, a clergy member, or a youth worker all count. Knowing the student well matters more than the title you hold.
A student needs one recommendation. They may add a second from a different adult, and a second is never required.
If the student is applying to a graduate program
The questions are the same. Graduate applicants complete the undergraduate and graduate form, and their recommender is more often a professor, a research adviser, or a supervisor than a teacher. Answer about the work you have actually seen.
How the request reaches you
The student enters your name and email address in the application, and the portal sends you a link. If nothing has arrived, ask the student to check the address they typed, then write to scholarship@lu-memorial.org.
The student’s application must be in by April 1, 2027 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.
| Applications open | |
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| Deadline | |
| Decisions |
If you would rather not do this
Tell the student early, so they can ask someone else. A late recommendation is worse for them than a different recommender.
If you work at the student’s school and want to know what we no longer ask schools to send, read for counselors.