October 21, 2018

Dear Sir or Madam,

It is my sincere pleasure to write this letter of recommendation for Miklos Petridisz. Miklos was my student in two expository writing classes at Harvard University: Fundamentals of Academic Writing, and Academic Writing and Critical Reading. In these classes I read multiple drafts of Miklos’ writing, which included persuasive essays on education, literary analyses and an extensive research essay. I witnessed his abilities to formulate intelligent, creative and original ideas and communicate them clearly and cogently increase with each paper. I was impressed by Miklos’ creative thinking abilities and sheer intelligence. I believe he is the smartest mind and best thinker I have come across in my teaching career, the kind of student that leaves one surprised and reconsidering preconceived notions. I learned a great deal from teaching Miklos, such as when he came up with the idea to use a mathematical theory as the lens through which to write a literary analysis of a memoir. The originality and cleverness of this piece was remarkable.

Miklos’ abilities to think and invent across disciplinary boundaries – combined with his outstanding abilities in computer science and technology – make him an ideal student. He has already won the national round of the Olympics of Technology sponsored by the Microsoft Corporation, attended Microsoft's 6-month Startup Academy, and been personally mentored by Jean- Philippe Courtois, the President of Microsoft International. More recently, he and two teammates won the national round of the Microsoft Imagine Cup, became Microsoft Imagine Cup World Finalists, won the national round of the Chivas Venture Competition and placed first in the Pitch @ Palace Hungary for a glove they created that translates text into braille for blind and partially sighted users. He also has worked in finance, managing equity portfolios, in which capacity he was promoted to partner and delivered lectures on financial topics to crowds of over 100 people, and has worked as a consultant in the field of technology. And he accomplished all this under the age of 22!

As a scholar, inventor and future leader in technology, Miklos undoubtedly has exceptional promise. Yet my confidence in Miklos goes beyond my belief in his skills and intelligence. I also believe in him because I have witnessed his way with people: he is ethical and kind, open-minded, and generous with his time and knowledge – an excellent team player. Miklos was always willing to support his classmates, and explained his thoughts and listened to those of others in such an insightful and collegial way that he helped turn our class into a community. Miklos’ peers admired his natural curiosity and ability to look at issues from multiple perspectives. He understands that the courage to try a new path leads to great new ideas, and his attitude inspired his classmates. I believe that this passion for the trial-and-error process is a testament to the maturity, confidence and stability that has already helped Miklos achieve so much at such a young age, and will carry him through the completion of his studies and on to accomplish so much more.

Sincerely,
Eileen Mary O’Connor
Harvard University