What should be included in a LOR?

[tallulah]

Hi all,

I’m a German student applying to Social Psychology PhDs in the US and asked one of my German professors to write me a LOR. He’s definitely willing to do so and knows me extremely well but is not sure what to emphasize in his letter. He asked whether I could tell him what professors/admission committees are especially looking for so that he could include this information. He already has written some LORs, but standards in Germany probably differ from those in the US. Of course I don’t have any real LORs to look at as a guide, so I’m asking you what is most important in your opinion? Maybe especially for (social) psychology?

Edited October 21, 2015 by fuzzylogician
Title edited

[tallulah]

Maybe I should've named the thread "What should be included in a LOR?" instead, but I don't see how I can change the title..

[fuzzylogician]

Maybe I should've named the thread "What should be included in a LOR?" instead, but I don't see how I can change the title..

Done! 

[TheMonkeyOnMyBack]

I am also interested in this topic. One of my recommenders asked me to write my own letter and I have no idea where to even start. Any advice would be great. 

[Bioenchilada]

I am also interested in this topic. One of my recommenders asked me to write my own letter and I have no idea where to even start. Any advice would be great. 

I thought you always had to waive your right of seeing the letter. o.o 

[TakeruK]

If you "waive your right", what you are actually doing is waiving your FERPA rights to view the letter if the letter would be part of your student record. FERPA grants you the right to request to view your student record. You are not waiving any other rights to that letter (e.g. your letter writer can choose to show you the letter, or the school can even choose to show you or you might find some other way to request access to the letter). All you are you doing is waiving the right to view your letter through the rights granted by FERPA.

[med latte]

This blog might help

http://theprofessorisin.com/2012/09/07/how-to-write-a-recommendation-letter/

 

 

[med latte]

I've found that some schools have sample letters posted online. You can search under "faculty resources" or "career resources."

[MarineBluePsy]

Ugh just experienced this myself for the first time and was completely flabbergasted that a professor would do this.  I get they're busy, but this is still really inappropriate.  I talked with my mentor about this and she said to make absolutely sure that what I put in the draft is not what I said in my SOP.  We all have our own individual writing styles and frequently used phrases so make sure to omit that kind of thing as well because it is unclear how much cleanup the professor will actually do.

[amolang]

On 11/1/2015, 2:56:16, MarineBluePsy said:

  I get they're busy, but this is still really inappropriate. 

Totally. I was asked the same thing so I e-mailed my professor with other samples that I downloaded here and there and bullet-pointed contents to "refresh his memory."

And the result was that he said he was TOO busy to write a letter for me in November. (I first asked him on June and updated my writings for four months, and I spent a year and a half TAing for him.) He was a jerk. I just decided not to ask him further and found another reference. There really are irresponsible, lazy professors out there, I wish I could've realized earlier...

[MarineBluePsy]

Oh no!  Were you able to find someone else to write the letters?  It sounds like he really didn't want to do it and should have just declined way back in June when you asked him.  Waiting until November to bail on you is really rude.  

So I took my mentors advice on how to structure the letter that my professor asked for and then gave it to him.  He responded the next day to tell me the letter I gave him was terrible and that he had to spend a ton of time rewriting it before submitting all of my letters.  Really?  A day later he's completed all of my letters, but yes tons and tons of time was spent rewriting the letter he requested and should have written himself in the first place lol.  The weird thing is I didn't ask him to be one of my letter writers because he is so busy teaching and running multiple labs and figured he'd say no.  He contacted me at the start of the Fall semester and offered to write a letter for me because he wanted to support my endeavors after all the work I'd done for him in his labs.  I was very clear about the high number of applications I was doing and that I would understand if he was too busy, but he insisted.  Hopefully I don't have to go through another application season, but regardless I won't trouble him for another letter.

[amolang]

I so relate to you! I was clear about the high number of applications I was preparing, either, but he seemed to not remember anything from our conversation. Plus, my professor said that he was so "excited" about my decision in June. This makes it even difficult to understand what is going on inside his head!

He was the only tenured professor in my professional M.A. program, which is so small and liberalized enough to fill all their course offerings with adjunct teachers (not in the U.S.).
How could I possibly find another tenured reference when I have twelve contracted teachers and the only one tenured professor who is a jerk?
It's been a while since I graduated and I am currently working in industry, which makes it more difficult to find a reference in academia.

So after feeling devastated for one day, I sent out mails to a chief of NGO that I was involved before and a lecturer from college. This lecturer is not a tenure-track professor but knows me well about my academic and personal life. Most schools clearly state that they want recommendations from academic sources, so my decision was that a well though-through, kind letter from a lecturer would outweigh a formulaic one from my boss.

I did not have many options but I did everything in my power anyway. If I have to go for another round next year (hopefully not...), I will contact more than three people to avoid the situation I had this year...

But other two professors, one of whom is a department head and the other is a tenured professor, were actually fascinating.

Even though I contacted them after several years, they submitted their letters way earlier than I thought and one of them carved her time out to give me comments on my Statement of Purpose. I did not really have anyone who was able to give comments on writings for anthropology, and her feedback was a lifesaver. You know, during this whole application things, I learned about who are reliable and who are not. That is another lesson I can use...

I hope your application goes well!!

Edited November 27, 2015 by amolang