Cover letter

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Cover letter

anon (guest) 03 Sep 2015 21:50

Hi all-
I've received basically opposite advice from various people (including my advisors!) on the topic of the cover letter. Some have told me it can make or break an application, and is an important part of convincing the search committee that you are a good fit. Others have said that, when they are on a search committee, they literally don't even read it but move right on to the statements. So what gives?
I think the best policy is to treat every part of the application as important, but this makes me wonder how much space should be devoted to the cover letter. I've seen cover letters from successful applications that fit on a single page vs. three pages, but don't know if brevity or detail is preferred.

What is your experience? Does the cover letter matter? How much detail/ what length is appropriate?

Thanks so much!

Re: Cover letter

Cooper_cooper 04 Sep 2015 00:30

My two cents, is there is no "correct" way to write a cover letter other than clarity and an accurate description of who you are and how you fit with the position and department. From there IMHO it depends on the search committee. In other words, I think your intuition is correct. Treat it as important and be as clear and succinct as possible, but do not worry if it is too long or too short. Good luck!

Happy in the UK (guest) 04 Sep 2015 01:23

Yes, cover letter in my experience is the most important thing along with the CV. Most statements are canned and used for different jobs with little change, but the cover letter is where you show where you fit with the department and their needs. You should be able to fit everything in two pages or less. More than that and it's too long in my view.

formerapplicant (guest) 04 Sep 2015 14:42

FWIW, all of mine from my (successful) search fit on a single page. One paragraph on who I was/training background, one paragraph on research interests and plans, one paragraph on fit with either specifics of the job ad or things I knew about the dept/school. All of this was tailored, in some places I was focusing on aspect A of my research area and wanted to teach undergraduates, in others I focused on aspect B and wanted to train graduate students.

anon (guest) 04 Sep 2015 15:40

I agree that one page is better. I know that candidates love to write pages and pages on their research and interests, etc. They should remember the old academic joke: "I would have written you a shorter letter, but I didn't have time". Search committees are reading 100 or more applications at top places, do you think anyone really wants to read more than a page about you?

asstprof (guest) 04 Sep 2015 19:54

I think it depends on what kind of job you're applying for. In my experience, SLAC search committees will tell you that the cover letter is the most important part of the application and people will be immediately eliminated (or put onto a long short list!) based off of cover letter alone. This is because applying to a SLAC or any teaching-focused place you need to truly fit the institution. If you're applying to R1s fit is part of it, but if you have a long list of pubs in top journals, then you're already a good fit as long as your topic area is what they're looking for. For a SLAC you have to show this is the institution type that you want and that you will put your all into — i.e. you like to focus on undergraduate education first and foremost. This is harder to see on a c.v., even if you do have a lot of teaching and research mentorship accomplishments.

My successful cover letters at mostly SLACs, regional universities and the like (i.e. with 3-3 or 2-3 teaching loads) have been 2-2.5 pages, including lots of detail about what I teach / would like to teach, my research and how students have been involved, notable service, and most especially how I fit to the institution. I've had 5 offers plus another 8ish times I made it to the next round (e.g. phone interview).

anonz (guest) 05 Sep 2015 16:33

I really don't think it matters. Your CV is all that really matters and here's why I think that: asstprof describes writing tailored letters for SLACs and having success. But I did the exact opposite (I used a generic letter in which I just replaced the name of the college for each application) and I had no problem getting on campus interviews at top-tier SLACs (2-2, 2-3 teaching loads). So … keep it under 2 pages and don't say anything dumb?

SearchCommitteeMember (guest) 06 Sep 2015 15:45

The people who tell you that the cover letter doesn't matter? They are wrong.

Maybe half of the places don't look at it. That means the other half do.

For a strong liberal arts college or strong R2 program, it helps if there is some evidence that you are interested in us specifically and not sending out generic forms to every school.

Generally I look at the cover letter and CV first, then the rest in detail if things look promising. Make sure anything you want to the committee to know is on one of those two documents. When you come for campus interview, the only thing most people in the department will have read is your CV.

SLAC prof (guest) 08 Sep 2015 03:46

Having served on over 12 search committes I can share that I have excluded good candidates based on bad cover letters, and given candidates with ok records closer looks and more positive evaluations based on great ones.

It's the first thing the committee reads, and everything we know about anchoring, top-down processing, etc. says you want to get them ready to interpret everything in the most favorable possible light.

This doesn't mean long, and it doesn't necessarily mean tons of time individualizing for each school.

Anon (guest) 08 Sep 2015 14:44

As someone on a search committee for an R2 I can say that we read every single one. That was our first glance at the individual and gives you a sense of their personality and career goals. Sending the same letter to an R1 and a SLAC will show….a heavy emphasis on research when applying to a SLAC doesn't look so great. When I was on the market I had letters crafted for R1, R2, and SLAC and then just inserted a bit of individualized info for each school. But the order/emphasis on research/teaching shifted for each letter.

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