In our December "how can we help you?" thread, a reader ('G') writes:
I am a junior faculty member, and I started to get requests from students (undergraduates) for letters of recommendation for different purposes. I am wondering if people can share some tips, principles, and/or strategies for writing letters. I am especially curious about people's thoughts on the following questions:
1. If a letter only mentions positive things about a student, would it be less credible? If I need to mention some potential concerns, how should I do it? Should I be specific or not?
2. Do you use different strategies for different purposes, such as graduate school, scholarship, etc? I've learned that some people tend to be more positive if a letter is written for a scholarship (some only mention positive things about students). Is this the common practice?
3. How do people write letters for average students (below-average sometimes)? I know that some people just politely decline the request. But if I need to do it, how should I write such a letter?
Great questions! I'm very curious to hear everyone's answers. Here are mine:
On (1): I don't know whether people find a letter less credible if it only mentions positive things. But, for my part, this concern is a reason why I normally do include some discussion of specific areas where I think a student could improve. It has always seemed to me that if I only trumpet an applicant's virtues, then I've done the admissions committee (and applicant) a disservice. No student is perfect, and if my letter pretends they are (by omission), then it seems to me that someone reading it could read the letter very skeptically–particularly if the areas the applicant might need improvement in show up elsewhere in their application (e.g. their writing sample). So, I normally do include some notes in my letters where applicants can improve. When I do, I normally carefully qualify it something like as follows: "Like all students, X does have a few areas where they could improve. For example… However, I want to emphasize that they are good at X, and an excellent all around candidate for admission to your program…"
On (2): I've only written letters for graduate admissions, so I can't quite comment on this.
On (3): Generally speaking, I won't accept a request to write a recommendation for a student I believe to be below-average. In those cases, I'll usually tactfully suggest that the student seek out someone else. I have written letters for average students, but usually ones who I've seen made substantial strides through hard work. When I write these letters, this is usually what I focus on: the student's upward trajectory. I'll usually also give the applicant some heads up too. For example, when they ask, I might note in my email response, "I'd be happy to write you a letter. However, I do want to note that you've generally received B grades in my courses, so my letter would have to reflect your overall performance." On a few occasions, I think I've had the applicant decide to ask someone else for a letter instead–but for the most part, my experience has been that they're usually still happy to have me write them a letter (usually, I think, because their performance in my classes is fairly representative of how they've done in their other classes, as well). In any case, when I do write letters for such students, I try to go about it tactfully but honestly, writing things like, "My experience was that X was a good but not exemplary student. However, their performance in my courses improved significantly over time, and I believe they would succeed and flourish in your program for the following reasons…".
I have no idea whether other people go about things differently, and whether there are readers who think that I'm going about things wrong on (1) and (3)–though I will note that the students that I've written letters for (including average students) have done well at getting into programs. Anyway, what do you all think? How would you answer G's three questions?
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