Recommendation for Advanced Standing

[ksocialwork]

I am an undergraduate BSW student applying to graduate school for advanced standing. One of the schools I am applying to requires that applicants have a "recommendation for advanced standing" form filled out by the chair of their undergraduate program. Not a letter, a form. It is listed separately from the LOR section. As a satellite student, I have only met the chair of the program once but we have not crossed paths since then. They are almost 3 hours away at the main campus. I am not sure if I should email the chair directly, introducing myself and explaining the situation or if I'm supposed to just straight up put their information in since it's a form and they would probably need to reach out to my site coordinator to fill out anyway. Any comments on how to address this or format the email? 

[fuzzylogician]

I'd contact the chair and give them a heads-up that they're going to receive this email. It's an admin thing and shouldn't be a problem, but I think the chair would still appreciate understanding why this email suddenly appeared in their inbox. It can be short: "Dear Prof. Chair, I am Stu Dent, a BSW student in Program who is currently completing my applications for an MSW degree. As part of the application, School requires that I provide the email address for the chair of my program, so they can certify that I have advanced standing in the program (<or whatever, I'm not sure I actually understood what advanced standing means here>). I just wanted to give you a heads-up that I'm about to submit the application and you should be receiving this email soon. Thank you for your help and happy thanksgiving, -Stu". This is kind of generic because I'm not exactly sure I followed what needs to happen, but just tell the chair what they need to know so they're not surprised. I assume you're not the first or only student to make this request. 

[ksocialwork]

6 minutes ago, fuzzylogician said:

I'd contact the chair and give them a heads-up that they're going to receive this email. It's an admin thing and shouldn't be a problem, but I think the chair would still appreciate understanding why this email suddenly appeared in their inbox. It can be short: "Dear Prof. Chair, I am Stu Dent, a BSW student in Program who is currently completing my applications for an MSW degree. As part of the application, School requires that I provide the email address for the chair of my program, so they can certify that I have advanced standing in the program (<or whatever, I'm not sure I actually understood what advanced standing means here>). I just wanted to give you a heads-up that I'm about to submit the application and you should be receiving this email soon. Thank you for your help and happy thanksgiving, -Stu". This is kind of generic because I'm not exactly sure I followed what needs to happen, but just tell the chair what they need to know so they're not surprised. I assume you're not the first or only student to make this request. 

Thank you for the feedback. Basically, the chair has to fill out a form recommending me FOR this Advanced Standing MSW program. Advanced Standing basically means since I will be graduating with my BSW, I am applying to do this MSW program in 1 year instead of the regular 2-year program. My concern is that I don't know her well, so she would not be able to fill out this form recommending me without reaching out to a representative at the site or without me personally telling her how I've done in the program. I just wasn't sure what people usually do in these situations since it seems different than asking for a letter of recommendation.

[TakeruK]

In that case, I think you should check with your main advisor/letter writer to see their advice. You might also have to check with the school you're applying to in order to find out what they want. Maybe this is a letter of recommendation that needs to specifically recommend you for advanced standing MSW instead of just a regular MSW. Even so, it's not clear if one of your letter writers should be writing this instead of the standard LOR or in addition to the LOR. Your own advisor should know the answer if this is a normal thing in your field. If it's not, then you'll definitely get the best answer from the program itself.