Barebones LOR?

[cunninlynguist]

My third letter writer is Commissioner of a pretty significant state department, but doesn't want to include any letterhead so as to not implicate any state affairs. He let me view the LOR itself, and it's pretty bare. Just the letter itself with his signature and name at the bottom -- no mention of his position or his department.

Is that acceptable? Do admissions committees generally look up references if their name isn't immediately known in the academic community? The content of the letter probably takes precedence anyway, right?

Any insight would be much appreciated -- thanks!

[runonsentence]

Can your writer mention these circumstances in his letter? That might be a bit of a help, to start.

I would think it would look a bit strange or even fishy...but then again, committees in your field might be used to these kinds of contingencies, if other applicants have worked in government positions.

[cunninlynguist]

Actually, I just looked on Yale's application and they have fields for Organization and Position/Title. I'm hoping the other applications provide similar instructions! In that case, do you think it's a big deal? Before the adcomm reads the letter, they'd likely see the basic information first and learn who the person is that way.

[runonsentence]

Can your writer provide that information on the application? Your first post had me thinking s/he couldn't, which was why I said it might seem fishy to an adcom. (If so, perhaps s/he can state somewhere in the letter that her/his title and organization have been disclosed on the application itself?)

As long as your writer can provide enough information to seem like a legitimate person (hah), I think it's going to be okay. It's not so much that they're necessarily going to Google your writer—though they may very well routinely do this, I'm not sure to be honest—but you just don't want your letter to look like Uncle Al wrote it for you pretending to be a legitimate recommender.

But I'm not in your field; it's possible this is routine. Hopefully some others applying to policy programs can weigh in.

[cunninlynguist]

I asked him yesterday if he'd be able to simply add some identifying information after his name/signature on the document itself. That would certainly help, so we'll see what happens from this point.

The letter itself is great and clearly communicates how he is able to appraise my skills and suitability for graduate study. It just looks a little weird -- and bland!