What does it mean if the Proff. Said this...?

[mphct]

I sent a list of schools I am applying to my recommendar. It is six in total, and 2 of them are schools are really want to go. My recommendar replied "All are fine, and all are American...Choose three, four maximum...I will prapre for a generic one"...I don't know what does that imply?

Edited November 17, 2013 by mphct

[Quantum Buckyball]

A "generic" letter of recommendation won't get you into a good school. You need someone who can write a person LoR. It seems like he/she doesn't like the fact that you're only applying to US schools...

[mphct]

I am hoping that by "generic", he means that he will make the letter suitable for all schools. I am wondering by pointing out the number of school, does that mean he sees a point of getting focused on schools, and as well for his letter? And by the way, he is a Canadian.

[Cesare]

I know all of my letter writers wrote letters that could be submitted to all schools. They are professors, they don't have time to personalize each letter to each school. However, I am in a different field where it is the norm to apply to 15 schools...

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

If he prepares a generic letter, I don't see why he wants you to choose 3-4.

[mphct]

Thank you guys for your response. I am very confused as well...I don't know what can I do...Can I ask him directly why he would suggest me to just apply 3-4 schools? Or he is just simply too busy to submit lots of schools? The full sentence read" Choose three, maximun four and keep me posted."

[purpleperson]

If you want to apply to more, I would say choose a different letter writer if you can.  I think it's a bit insensitive of him to say he'll only submit four for you.  These professors know -- or should know -- how students have to apply widely in order to get in.  I'm applying to 14, and my letter writers are fine with it.  Even if it's time consumption for them, at no point have they heaved sighs of distress or told me they'll only submit four for me. 

[TakeruK]

If you are a Canadian in Canadian program right now then the "All are American" comment might imply that it's hard/expensive to do grad school in America and you might want to consider having at least one Canadian "backup"/alternative. Otherwise, I don't really know why he would say that!

 

Maybe you can ask him what he meant by "4 max" -- it could be him hinting that he doesn't want to write more than 4 LORs, or it could be him just suggesting that you don't need to apply for more than 4 schools. Again, if you are a Canadian in a Canadian program, this might be because most Canadians don't apply to as many programs since there just aren't as many schools in Canada and maybe he's giving this advice from this perspective (which isn't helpful for those applying to the US). Considering that there are about 15 research intensive universities total in Canada, applying to 10-15 schools means you are pretty applying to every single school!!

 

And, it's also not clear what he means by "generic" letter. It could mean that he will write a very bland letter, that isn't very personal at all. Or, it could mean that he is going to write a great detailed, personal letter documenting all the great things about you and the "generic" part just means that he will submit the same (or virtually similar, with only school names changed) to all the schools. 

 

So I would ask him to clarify if he would actually write more than 4 letters and say why you want to apply to all six and see what happens. I guess his response to you isn't very clear at all! But maybe the response to this question might let you gauge whether or not the letters will be good and whether or not you can get more than 4 letters from him. I feel like you might be better off getting a LOR from someone else if this recommender doesn't want to submit more than 4 or if you feel that the letters won't be very good at all.

[mphct]

Thank you so much, guys!! I replied saying that A and B schools are actually the programs (which are the top two in my field) that I really want to attend. Proff. replied: Then go with them. Both are exellent and both are expensive, but I take it that funding is not a key issue for you. I will write after reading your statement of interests, and blabalabala......He is generally nice and helpful. But he is really tough on academic, maintain high standard...

I am not sure if how I should imply weather the letter will be good or not...

Edited November 19, 2013 by mphct

[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

Just a thought: what if you use him for your top choices, but find another rec for the additional schools?

[mphct]

Thank you, TakeMyCoffeeBlack! That's what I think as well!