150-word letter of reference

[Fakesmile]

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I just read the scholarship reference letter I requested to a prof I've known for 3 years. To my surprise, the letter is only one paragraph, with a total of 156 words. My first reaction upon reading the letter was WTF? The content is just mediocre "I've known Fakesmile for 3 years, he is an excellent student, etc. etc." What's really ridiculous was he also wrote an inaccurate statement, saying that I'm currently in second year while I'm in fourth. I know he is a good guy who's not interested in tripping students, but I can't help questioning his effort and time that went into writing this LOR. I provided him with my transcript and resume but it looks like he has only skimmed it for 5 seconds. I've heard about how mediocre reference letters can be, but can it also be this short? As for great LORs, is it possible for them to be as short as this and still be great?

 

[NotAsking4Much]

Quality isn't determined by quantity but you need a certain quantity to have quality. 156 words is rather sparse to be honest unless he wrote you're the best student he's ever seen.

 

[MiniMoo]

From what you're describing, I don't think your letter would be considered "great". I think a great letter will be pretty obvious when you read it.

 

[whimsical]

This happened to me when I requested a letter from one of my favorite teachers in high school. It was just so lackluster. I was surprised and hurt, and I wish I had known beforehand so I could decide not to use it.

It sucks, but is it possible to find another?

 

[EscapedGoat]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have an example of an LOR that would be considered great? Or an example of an LOR that would stand out in a sea of verbal fellatio that is the typical LOR?

 

[Fakesmile]

This happened to me when I requested a letter from one of my favorite teachers in high school. It was just so lackluster. I was surprised and hurt, and I wish I had known beforehand so I could decide not to use it.

It sucks, but is it possible to find another?

I sure can find another prof, but I sure feel disappointed. I'd be able to understand if the prof had only known me for two months or so, but we've known each other for 3 years. In fact, I've once received a much better LOR from a prof I've known for only a semester.

 

[LossForWords]

Sounds like either this professor didn't want to write you a good letter or they don't know how to write a good letter. In either case I'm afraid there isn't much you can do. If you decide to use it, I suppose you could go to the professor and point out the factual error they put in the letter (assuming they were cool with you reading the letter in the first place) to get it corrected. With a letter that short/generic, you should make sure the facts are right so the adcom knows it's not accidentally about some other student.

 

[Fakesmile]

If you decide to use it, I suppose you could go to the professor and point out the factual error they put in the letter (assuming they were cool with you reading the letter in the first place) to get it corrected. With a letter that short/generic, you should make sure the facts are right so the adcom knows it's not accidentally about some other student.

I want to do that, but the LOR was given to me in a sealed envelope. (I initially requested an extra LOR for a scholarship that I'm not going to apply for just to be able to open the seal and read what it's like.) I don't know if he would be okay with my having read it.

 

[eablackwell]

My supervisor (vice principal) showed me the letter she wrote for me before she sent it. It was a very nice letter, and it made me feel like hugging her. However, seeing as we're professionals I refrained. 😉 I have a copy of it, but I don't think we're supposed to throw those things around on here. One of the adcoms reading might remember reading my letter on here 😱

 

[MiniMoo]

I want to do that, but the LOR was given to me in a sealed envelope. (I initially requested an extra LOR for a scholarship that I'm not going to apply for just to be able to open the seal and read what it's like.) I don't know if he would be okay with my having read it.

Oi. Okay. That was a pretty sneaky/wrong thing to do. I mean, I guess it worked to your advantage since you found out what a crappy letter it was. But yeah, you have no grounds to ask him to fix it in that case.

 

[red10]

get a new prof. He's obviously got problems either with you or in general.

I asked a boss one time for a rec letter for a scholarship. She literally wrote two sentences. One saying the time period I'd been working for her and the other giving her phone number. It took her a week to get it back to me and it was seriously so pathetic.

 

[Fakesmile]

I asked a boss one time for a rec letter for a scholarship. She literally wrote two sentences. One saying the time period I'd been working for her and the other giving her phone number. It took her a week to get it back to me and it was seriously so pathetic.

Seriously?
I think your boss thought the LOR should just be something like a reference check. If she knew what a LOR should be like, I don't think she would've done that.

 

[VooDooo327]

Just be glad that you even got to see the LOR and can decide to use it or not. Many people I know including myself never get to see what is written by the professor. I would ask for another one or just not use it.. Goodluck! 👍

 

[333296]

You definitely don't have grounds to ask him to fix anything since you weren't supposed to see it in the first place. I ran into a similar issue - my PI showed me a rec he wrote for me and it was extremely short and lackluster as well.

What I would recommend, and what I plan on doing, is sitting down with everyone I ask for recommendations from (like formally schedule an appointment with them) and making sure they understand that I'm applying to MED SCHOOL, not some random scholarship / internship / whatever. I also plan on talking through my work with them and aspects of my resume that are relevant. Most recommenders that I've had have point-blank asked me what I wanted them to write about, so I think it's also okay to mention aspects of my work with them that I hope they would cover.

Also, from a psychology point of view, I think it's possible to ask for recommendations too early. If you give them a sense of "oh you have two months to do this" then they are obviously continuously going to put it off and then end up scrapping something ****ty together when you remind them that it's due in two days. I think the perfect heads-up time is between 2 and 3 weeks. What have other peoples' experiences been? Should recs be requested sooner?