LOR evaluation from Head of institution

[ksk]

Dear all ,

I have written a LOR for one the students studying in my institution. She is a good student and I have handled one semester for the girl. Other than that, I have had quite a lot of interactions with the girl in past 3.5 yrs as she is one the popular senior students in college. Now i am in a dilemma as to whether what I have written strongly recommends her, if my language is alright and if there are any mistakes in the letter. Since she has said she cannot look into the LOR, I want to make sure that what I have written is "strong"

Basically I have written many LORs till date, but most of the times the students have drafted a rough copy which i modify and send over. But this time around, my student wants me to write the entire letter (Of course I am delighted) But i just want to make sure my language and content is agreeable. I would really appreciate if a couple of you here can evaluate what I have written. Please let me know if anyone is interested in evaluating.

Thank You

[ksk]

Looks like no one is really interested

[fuzzylogician]

Looks like no one is really interested

Well, it is Sunday and you've only waited half a day to decide that we all are not interested..

But seriously. First of all, I had a hard time understanding from your post who you are exactly and what your question is. "LOR evaluation from Head of institution" -- are you the head of the institution? I understood you that you are maybe a TA/grad student. So what does this title mean? Aside from that, I doubt most of us who write here have experience writing LORs for students; I certainly don't think I could give advice on that. This forum is for applicants who are in need of letters; you should move your query to Officially Grads if you want input from students who are currently attending grad school. Lastly, and more generally, this question is probably best addressed to your advisor or to some other more experienced professor, not to anyone on a "applying to gradschool" website.

[Eigen]

Adding to what fuzzylogician stated, if you are the head of your institution, you should be in a better position than anyone here to know what makes a strong letter. I'm sure you receive and review them quite regularly, or have faculty colleagues who do.

As you mentioned from the student you are writing for, most of us do not get to see our letters, and we certainly don't know how they are received, exactly- just the end results of our packages as a whole.

I know in all of my applications I had to sign away my ability to see the letters, I'm sure many others are in similar situations. You mention that many of your previous students have written their own letters, all the faculty I know would consider that to completely defeat the point of a letter of recommendation.

Edited November 7, 2010 by Eigen