Why study at Lakehead University
How to Get a Good Letter of Recommendation
How to Get a Good Letter of Recommendation
A letter of recommendation can make the difference in admission or hiring in borderline cases. A substantive letter from and informed referee can often be very persuasive to admissions committees, and should mention all your positive qualities not obvious in your academic record. A good letter can also mention your research skills for graduate program admission, your thoughtful contributions to class work, your interpersonal skills, your leadership skills, and contributions to any extracurricular activities. These points can provide the big picture of your promise and potential. And letters are even more important if there is some anomalous or contradictory aspect of your application. Always try your smaller, more intensive classes first.
The best way is to give your referee good information!
What you can provide: grade-point average, class standing, work experience, volunteer experience, leadership experience, list of political science courses you have taken, awards you have won, your minor if you have one, activities you have participated in, offices you have held, the title and abstracts of papers you have written.
The Lakehead AdvantageLakehead's Department of Political Science is the first department in Canada to offer lobbying, advocacy and political strategy courses! Along the core courses about Canadian, provincial or local politics, you'll find courses that teach you how to put that knowledge to use in the real world. Take these courses as a political science major, and look towards a career in any of a variety of areas (see below). Take them as electives if you are in Nursing, Environmental Science, Women's Studies, and learn how to be a mover and a shaker in your own field.
Shown here is Dr. Paquette with, left to right, Nicole Burt, Antonella
Franze, Hendryk Van Harne, Claudia Belda, Gord McLean, Frank Fabio, Don Aiken and John
Ianni, the graduating class in lobbying and advocacy for 1999-2000.
Our graduates can consider a great variety of futures, with more education or straight out of university:
For more on careers, click on Canadian Political Science Association - Career Guide. For current job opportunities, go to Job Bank / Guichet emplois.
Choosing CoursesPierre Guérard and Mike Poulin, members of the Lakehead University Native Student Association executive in 1999-2000, used their political knowledge to work on Aboriginal student issues at Lakehead University.
Plan your course choices with care, since we rotate our course offerings on a two-year period. or course descriptions and schedules, click on Lakehead University - Registrar and Calendar.
Lakehead University's generous alumni are the source of most of the scholarships in the department, and given its small size, a student has a much greater than normal chance of receiving one of them during his/her career. Among the scholarships awarded specifically by the department are the Hugh Badanai scholarship, the Geoffrey Engholm award, the Margaret Sideen Memorial Award for Political Science. Students are also eligible for a variety of University Awards, including the Robert C. Addison Scholarship, the Keith and Carrie Black Family Award, the Jewish Community Silver Jubiless Award, 13 Legrow Scholarships, the Legozzo Award, the Dr. C.C. McCullough Scholarship, to name only a few of the internal awards. The list of off-campus awards is equally impressive, and we do our best to encourage the qualified students to compete for them. And some of the professors also hire research assistants through the Ontario Work-Study program.
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This page was originally designed by Laure Paquette. Last updated April 30, 2000 (10:27AM).