Write own LOR for professor, help!

[ana3a]

PhD statistics. Deadline in 10 days and my main recommender (thesis advisor) just asked me to write my own LOR.

I'm at a lost for ideas "this time". Already wrote my LOR for the 2 other recommenders. I did not see their final letter. My text had a neutral tone: described professor's class and my performance.

The problem with my thesis advisor is we just started the thesis 2 months ago. I've not made progress. And the problem is not fully defined. I've been meeting with him every 2-3 weeks, each time he gives me small exercises within the topic to work out. In my SOP I write one paragraph about the thesis area/intention.

How should my advisor discuss the thesis in his LOR?

Do you have ideas for the letter? My difficulty is: not much to write beyond "good student, A's in my exams, does better than the PhD student".

Edited December 5, 2009 by ana3a

[ColorlessGreen]

Is there anything you have done under the supervision of this person that could be interpreted as especially creative, or taking the initiative, or something like that? Is he your MA thesis advisor, or undergraduate Honors thesis advisor? If he's the latter, you could claim you showed dedication by doing a thesis at all.

I think, at least from talking to my LOR writers, that creativity and proof of hard work are probably some of the best things to write about in a letter. You should mention any experience he could attest to where you had to approach a problem in an unconventional way or did work above and beyond what was called for.

I'm no expert, of course, but if I were writing a letter, I'd mention those things. Good luck!

[repatriate]

I think what you have so far is good. You'll want to talk about specific skills, knowledge and characteristics you have such as leadership and initiative. You might the discuss creativity, theoretical understanding, and familiarity with relevant literature you have shown in working on your thesis. If you are in a small, collegial department, you can mention that you have a good reputation and are regarded by the faculty as having great potential as a statistician. It's also a good idea to throw in some comparisons to other students the prof has seen, like the PhD student but other students at your level as well. You can also add in things that would appear on your CV that might impress the professor and would demonstrate relevant skills.

What makes a LOR stand out is the anecdotes and personal examples that illustrate features of your character. These say your advisor knows you and that what you've done has left an impression. Have you asked any particularly brilliant questions? Did you start work on your thesis ahead of the other students in your class? Have you held any leadership positions in the department, or served on any committees?

Did you get to choose your thesis advisor? Was the choice a particularly apt one for your topic? You might use that to show an understanding of the field and literature. Is you advisor excited about your chosen topic? Enthusiasm from an established expert in the area could inspire confidence in others. You mention the exercises your adviser has given you; perhaps you've shown remarkable work on these, completed them quickly, come up with novel solutions?

Generally, just think about what character traits and skills are important to potential advisors (ability to work independently, creativity, work ethic, etc.) and all the things you do to give off the impression that you possess them.

[circumfession]

You've received a lot of good advice, so I'll throw out a different possibility.

Do you have a good friend (in your program/classes) who knows your work well, and can speak to it? When one of my professors asked me to write my own LoR two years ago, I froze up. I can't really talk about myself well. Instead, I went to a friend (my partner, actually, who is currently a graduate student in my field and knows my work very well) and asked him to write an LoR for me. It took him about 3 hours to write it. Prior to that, I had writer's block over the task for 3 weeks. I used his description as a template for my own, qualifying or adding things as I deemed fit.

[ana3a]

Thanks for your detailed ideas. I finally wrote it, I don't have a friend to write me a draft.

I think, in basic coursework in mathematics, creativity would require a trace of genius. I am hard-working but hardly a genius -) so writing daring things in my letter will cause suspicion

Basically, I summarized the advanced nature of the courses, stated the hard work, and explained that otherwise the advisor would not have wanted me to write a thesis with him.

I guess it's not glowing, but I can't get myself to exaggerate. Another recommender of mine -- he is on the department adcom -- explained to me that he ignores LoRs. He explained that given two equally good sets of letters, when the candidates get interviewed, it's not surprising to find out that one is actually very bad while the other is good.

[ts10vsg]

Hi,

I dealing with same problems, my rec have asked me to right my own LOR's.

As some universities ask for atleast 3 LOR's I have prepared the same... can some one edit the LOR's (grammatical as well as suggest are they sounding similar?)

PM me for mail ur email address to recieve my drafted documents.

Any help is appreciated:)

Edited January 13, 2010 by Ved_TheOne