So, my LOR apparently were not great.

[clashingtime]

So, I've been flat out rejected across the board, and I contacted the professor I applied to work under at my top school for some advice about how to improve my application. Here's what she told me: I was a really strong candidate with a great GPA, SOP, CV, etc, but my letters of recommendation weren't great.

Ouch.

She said they had only really nice things to say, but there were other candidates who had recommenders that just gushed about how fabulous, brilliant and insightful they were. Mine were nice, but not of that caliber.

From this, I've learned my lesson, and I figured I would pass on the advice as well. Don't just ask people if they can write you a letter of recommendation, ask if they can write you an excellent one. It has to make you sound like the long-awaited golden child. Make sure you get people who can express how great and rockin' you'd be to have as a grad student, and that passing you by would be an awful thing.

[VAPHD]

Man....that has to hurt! Sorry about that...I wonder if you should pass this information onto your recommenders so they don't make the same mistake with other students?

So, I've been flat out rejected across the board, and I contacted the professor I applied to work under at my top school for some advice about how to improve my application. Here's what she told me: I was a really strong candidate with a great GPA, SOP, CV, etc, but my letters of recommendation weren't great.

Ouch.

She said they had only really nice things to say, but there were other candidates who had recommenders that just gushed about how fabulous, brilliant and insightful they were. Mine were nice, but not of that caliber.

From this, I've learned my lesson, and I figured I would pass on the advice as well. Don't just ask people if they can write you a letter of recommendation, ask if they can write you an excellent one. It has to make you sound like the long-awaited golden child. Make sure you get people who can express how great and rockin' you'd be to have as a grad student, and that passing you by would be an awful thing.

[SuperPiePie]

I'm really sorry about that. Maybe you can build new connections and apply again. Then you will get in!

[clashingtime]

Oh, it totally hurt! What makes it suck even more is that one of the recommenders is my current honors thesis advisor, who I've been working with for 2 years now. I thought he would have something really awesome to say, but I guess not! Luckily, the prof I applied to work with is helping me get a a volunteer opportunity at one of the labs at the school, so I can start building relationships with the people there!

[natsteel]

I was just talking to one of my mentors about something like this the other day. She's read graduate applications and LORs for many years now and she was saying how you'd be surprised at how many professors hurt their students by not understanding how to write an LOR or the "code" involved. LORs have suffered the same fate as inflated grades. If you don't praise a student by saying they were one of the best students you've ever had, it is assumed that the professor is not putting their full recommendation behind the student. Even if everything they wrote was praiseworthy and true but not hyperbolic, it will be interpreted as being a middle-of-the-road recommendation. She also said she wished she could email these professors to tell them that they were doing their students a serious disservice by not writing the letters "correctly." Unfortunately, there are no "Writing LOR" seminars in grad school...

Edited February 25, 2011 by natsteel

[Eigen]

I will note that this also depends on the school, field and the admissions counsel involved.

I know some Adcomms in the sciences who would much prefer an honest and balanced assessment of the student- highlighting some of their weaknesses in a positive light. They feel that these letters are a better portrayal of the student, and not just an "empty" glowing letter. I've had professors tell me point-blank they put much greater stock in a letter that seems to honestly talk about the student, from the perspective of a research adviser. Otherwise, it's just a generic, positive letter that the faculty member might have simply signed without having actually written.

I think writing letters is in general very tricky- and what some adcomms like, others really dislike, etc.

Edited February 25, 2011 by Eigen

[HatedByTheRegulars]

SO SORRY TO HEAR THIS!!! I made sure that I sought out recommenders who (1) completed the same program to which I was applying (when possible), (2) consistently made it clear to me that they thought I was a "cut above the rest," (3) were receptive to me providing them with a "cheat sheet" of my accomplishments and things that I felt they should include in their reference letter, and (4) that I had known for quite some time, or who served as the instructor for more than 2 graduate-level courses I've taken.....

So, I've been flat out rejected across the board, and I contacted the professor I applied to work under at my top school for some advice about how to improve my application. Here's what she told me: I was a really strong candidate with a great GPA, SOP, CV, etc, but my letters of recommendation weren't great.

Ouch.

She said they had only really nice things to say, but there were other candidates who had recommenders that just gushed about how fabulous, brilliant and insightful they were. Mine were nice, but not of that caliber.

From this, I've learned my lesson, and I figured I would pass on the advice as well. Don't just ask people if they can write you a letter of recommendation, ask if they can write you an excellent one. It has to make you sound like the long-awaited golden child. Make sure you get people who can express how great and rockin' you'd be to have as a grad student, and that passing you by would be an awful thing.

[natsteel]

I will note that this also depends on the school, field and the admissions counsel involved.

I know some Adcomms in the sciences who would much prefer an honest and balanced assessment of the student- highlighting some of their weaknesses in a positive light. They feel that these letters are a better portrayal of the student, and not just an "empty" glowing letter. I've had professors tell me point-blank they put much greater stock in a letter that seems to honestly talk about the student, from the perspective of a research adviser. Otherwise, it's just a generic, positive letter that the faculty member might have simply signed without having actually written.

I think writing letters is in general very tricky- and what some adcomms like, others really dislike, etc.

I think it's more standardized by field than by school or specific adcomm... I should have specified that I'm in the Humanities, so it may very well be quite different in a STEM field.

[InquilineKea]

I was just talking to one of my mentors about something like this the other day. She's read graduate applications and LORs for many years now and she was saying how you'd be surprised at how many professors hurt their students by not understanding how to write an LOR or the "code" involved. LORs have suffered the same fate as inflated grades. If you don't praise a student by saying they were one of the best students you've ever had, it is assumed that the professor is not putting their full recommendation behind the student. Even if everything they wrote was praiseworthy and true but not hyperbolic, it will be interpreted as being a middle-of-the-road recommendation. She also said she wished she could email these professors to tell them that they were doing their students a serious disservice by not writing the letters "correctly." Unfortunately, there are no "Writing LOR" seminars in grad school...

Oh yeah, that's so definitely true. Is there ever a way to tell whether or not a professor writes good LORs or not?

Haven't schools tried to correct for this by trying to send out forms that ask the recommender to rank where the applicant is relative to everyone else in the school? (for example, they could fill in "top 1%" that I've ever known on the form?)