Writing letter of recommendation Forum

[313D313]

i asked one of my professors for a letter of recommendation. He said sure, just write it up and send it to me.

any advice on what i should include??
how good can i make myself sound..lol?

[84Sunbird2000]

Umm....that sounds extraordinarily unethical.

[313D313]

i know, but i need the letter of recommendation so..

[acrossthepond]

no idea what to suggest - but that is pretty common over here in the UK. I guess they think... they wouldn't sign it if they didn't agree with it?

I would start with how you have "excelled" in their particular courses.

[Georgiana]

Umm....that sounds extraordinarily unethical.

Happens more often than you might realize.

OP I don't really have much advice, I was scared of the same thing happening to me. You may want to do a little research on sites telling profs what to write (e.g. http://www.boxfreeconcepts.com/reco/).

[313D313]

Umm....that sounds extraordinarily unethical.

Happens more often than you might realize.

OP I don't really have much advice, I was scared of the same thing happening to me. You may want to do a little research on sites telling profs what to write (e.g. http://www.boxfreeconcepts.com/reco/).

Thanks Georgiana!
The link defintely helps.

[mb88]

Umm....that sounds extraordinarily unethical.

Somebody is jealous that their professors didn't give them the same chance...

[kazu]

Ken talks about the possibility of this on the section about LORs... http://www.top-law-schools.com/letters- ... ation.html (scroll down to "drafting your own recommendation")

I definitely agree with what he says here, especially the part "Admissions officers have stated that they can tell if an applicant has drafted his or her own letter of recommendation because it either mimics too closely the applicant’s own writing style or fails to effectively capture the point of view that a recommender inherently possesses." I don't think I would ever be able to "mask" my writing style convincingly enough, or cover up for the fact that I've never actually been a professor. I would think how a professor evaluates a student compared to other students would be noticeably different from how the student evaluates himself against his peers.

Personally I ask the professor if he could actually write it, stating the reasons above, and offer to provide some appropriate assistance (for example a letter on why I wish to become a lawyer, my background, transcripts / copies of the work I did in his class, etc.) I think if you have a good enough relationship with the professor he would be happy to write the letter himself. Maybe the reason he wants you do write it is because he doesn't know you that well, or that he's too busy to take the time..? If that's the case, you might be better off with a different recommender...

[313D313]

Ken talks about the possibility of this on the section about LORs... http://www.top-law-schools.com/letters- ... ation.html (scroll down to "drafting your own recommendation")

I definitely agree with what he says here, especially the part "Admissions officers have stated that they can tell if an applicant has drafted his or her own letter of recommendation because it either mimics too closely the applicant’s own writing style or fails to effectively capture the point of view that a recommender inherently possesses." I don't think I would ever be able to "mask" my writing style convincingly enough, or cover up for the fact that I've never actually been a professor. I would think how a professor evaluates a student compared to other students would be noticeably different from how the student evaluates himself against his peers.

Personally I ask the professor if he could actually write it, stating the reasons above, and offer to provide some appropriate assistance (for example a letter on why I wish to become a lawyer, my background, transcripts / copies of the work I did in his class, etc.) I think if you have a good enough relationship with the professor he would be happy to write the letter himself. Maybe the reason he wants you do write it is because he doesn't know you that well, or that he's too busy to take the time..? If that's the case, you might be better off with a different recommender...

Very solid advice. Thank you very much!
This is exactly why i am worried about writing it myself. I have taken 2 classes with the professor and he knows me pretty well. He is just very laid back about almost everything and i actually expected this response from him.

[kazu]

Very solid advice. Thank you very much!
This is exactly why i am worried about writing it myself. I have taken 2 classes with the professor and he knows me pretty well. He is just very laid back about almost everything and i actually expected this response from him.

No prob! Hope everything works out