Many students ask about letters of recommendation, here is all in the info needed in one place! Between teaching, admin, and non-academic work, I am extremely limited in time to write letters. I will only agree to write a letter if the letter will be strong, specific, and meaningful, ultimately enhancing your application.

I am more than happy to write a letter fro you if you meet the following criteria:

• Worked one-on-one with me in either an Internship, TA, IA/Reader, UCSD departmental capacity or other industry involvement.
• You are applying to a job/graduate school in the fields of: data science, machine learning, AI, CS, etc.
• Do I have at least a month to write and submit? (Is flexible on a case-by-case basis)
• Do you have a plan with reasonable expectations and a list of realistic school choices? (not applicable if you just need a general letter for industry)

So you meet the criteria and I would be a good fit to write your letter. Great! What do I need from you? This depends if you are looking for a letter for industry or grad school. For industry all I need is a list of desired employers and jobs/roles. Graduate school please see the following list:

• Reach out and set up a meeting with me
• A copy of your unofficial transcripts
• Current resume/CV and personal statement
• A paragraph describing your goals in graduate school and what you intend to study
• A paragraph describing the work/projects we have done together and what you learned from working with me
• A filled out UCSD LoR release form ↗, UCSD requires this to release information about a student.
• A detailed, ordered list (for each program) of due dates, and where/how to submit the letter. E.g. mail or online submission portal, etc.

You often need to provide my information, you can use the following data:

Finally, I have found it is best to create a Google drive folder for all of your materials, and share it with me. Being able to create spreadsheets with info and have everything organized into one space makes everything easier for yourself and me. Please send all correspondence and materials to me through my UCSD email: kshannon@ucsd.edu.

Thank you for wanting to work with me as a TA. I get many TA requests each quarter and while I wish to be able to work with everyone, I usually only have room for 1-3 TAs depending on the class size. Graduate students in the Cognitive Science department typically get priority. I have the ability to make recommendations, but ultimately the final decision for TA assignments falls within the department and UCSD. That being said if you would like to gain my recommendation please do the following:

• Shoot me an email at kshannon@ucsd.edu with any supporting documentation (e.g. resume, CV, etc) attached
• Apply for the TAship through the UCSD TA grad portal

I typically send out a generic email to all applicants at some point, and will follow it up with any other specific documents needed. I really enjoy building close professional relationships with my TAs and look forward to hopefully working with you soon!

I think working as an undergrad IA or reader is one of the best academic experiences you can have as an undergrad. I happily accept several IAs for every class. To be an IA you must meet the following criteria:

• Have received at least an A- in the class you are applying
• Have upper division standing (this can be flexible)
• Be enthusiastic about working with undergrads and be willing to take direction from a TA

To get started the process is very simple. Email me at kshannon@ucsd.edu letting me know you wish to be an IA, and for which class. In your email let me know when you took the class, with which professor, and what grade you received. We can set up a short meeting to discuss your responsibilities and requirements. If all goes accordingly, you can then email cogsadvising@ucsd.edu (CC me) with the following information:

• Your name, email, PID
• The course, and term (e.g. Cogs 9, winter 2022) you wish to be an IA
• My information (name, email)
• The term you took the class and the grade you received

The Cognitive Science department will get the ball rolling and ask you for any additional information via email. I look forward to working closely together over the term!