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Importance of Rec Letters????

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2016 11:25 pm
by ontopoftheworld
Hello-

Can someone objectively share the importance of recommendation letters?
I am aware numbers are the most important thing but what if you send in general, bland "I dont really know this student" letters?
How badly will lame, unspecific letters harm you?

I am getting professors to write me letters, but none of which I am close to. How hard is it to be close to professors in a class of 80? Honestly.
And one professor said "I'll have to think about it... I'm not sure I know you well" and this sucks because this professor is the one I actually tried hard to bond with...

Re: Importance of Rec Letters????

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2016 8:47 am
by Itwasluck
Rec letters are hard to judge in my opinion. I know people that had bland, generic letters that got in across the HYSCCN spectrum. I got rec letters from 7 of my 8 1L professors and used them for different schools where the professor had a relationship. My professors were happy to write strong letters, so that made the process a lot easier. If I had to make a guess about where they stand on the totem pole of importance, I would say above personal statement and miles below grades. I could be completely off with that assumption though.