Would my drafts for LoR compromise my application?

[publiclass]

TL;DR: All of my three referees have asked me to provide a draft of my recommendation letter, and I'm freaking out that this might compromise the credibility of my LoRs *facepalm*

Full version:

I'm an international applicant for phd programs in neuroscience / biomedical sciences / biomedical engineering. Two of my referees are PIs from my university, where professors usually ask students to draft their own LoR before revising it slightly if at all and handing it in. The problem is, the third referee is a professor from a nice university in USA (where I did my summer research), and even he has asked me to draft my own LoR. I am extremely worried that if/when the admissions committee see that all three of my LoRs are basically written by myself, they would deem my LoRs untrustworthy, and my applications this year would be doomed.

If anyone has some good tips on how to make my letter drafts more credible / look less like random letters written by a student, I would greatly appreciate it  That said, I suspect that I'll have to look for RA positions in case I am rejected by every school I apply to this year *facepalm*

Thanks in advance!

Edited November 12, 2018 by publiclass

[p287]

It is pretty common for referees to ask students to draft LORs themselves, and admissions committees almost surely know that, so I wouldn't be too worried. That said, I sympathize with your having to do all three yourself-- I am having to draft one on my own and worry that it will be too similar to my SOP and writing sample, as I feel that I have a somewhat distinct writing style (at least, when multiple pieces are laid out next to each other).

I would recommend a few things. Firstly, look up LOR samples. Donald Asher's book, Graduate Admissions Essays, has some samples; and I'm sure there are others online. Try using samples to draft letters that have different formats from each other. Secondly, be aware of elements you fall back on in your own writing. Are there words you use often? Sentence structures you lean towards? Be aware of these and avoid them as much as possible. You don't have to pretend to be a totally different person -- I think pretending that you didn't write something when you did would be the worst option here (dishonesty is never a good look on an applicant) -- but you can make the LORs less obviously written by yourself.

[iwearflowers]

Sorry for the late reply on this. Another thing you might consider doing is to trade letters with a friend who is also applying so that your drafts have an obviously different "voice". (In other words, you write one of their drafts, and they write one of yours.) I've done this a couple of times with good results.