Asking Dean Of Medicine for Recommendation Letter?

[CuriosityKillsMe]

I'm currently tutoring an 11th grader in Chemistry after a few tutors failed before me. My student's parent constantly sends me emails praising my efforts and thanks me for what I've done for their child. The thing is, the parent is a dean at a medical school (part of the dean's office, its in the parent's official title, deliberately being vague in order to preserve anonymity). I've been asking parents of previous students to write recommendation letters so that my office can compile snippets to send to my university for my application this cycle. Should I ask this parent to write a short recommendation as well? Maybe even separately? I'm applying to the school this parent works at, so I'm not sure whether this would create a conflict of interest, etc... Thoughts?

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[LizzyM]

A letter from the parent of a child you tutor is not an appropriate person to write a letter on your behalf. full stop. that the person has the title of "dean" of something at the medical school makes it even more inappropriate. Don't do it.

 

[Sleepingdoc]

Inappropriate in so many ways that you may get blacklisted from the schools you are applying to except for the school that he is the dean at.

 

[RickyRic]

A letter from the parent of a child you tutor is not an appropriate person to write a letter on your behalf. full stop. that the person has the title of "dean" of something at the medical school makes it even more inappropriate. Don't do it.

Isn't the parent analogous to an employer, why is it inappropriate to get a letter from them?

 

[hellothere69420]

The parent is a client, not an employer. Absolutely not an appropriate ask.

 

[Goro]

Isn't the parent analogous to an employer, why is it inappropriate to get a letter from them?

Go look up the term conflict of interest.

 

[Deltasidearm]

You misunderstand the purpose of letters and what makes a strong letter. You have no close relationship with this parent and they do not actually know you (and certainly not better than others you should be asking letters from). You only want the title of that person because of its prestige. In my opinion, titles are actually worth very little and the content of the letter is infinitely more important than the signature at the bottom.

 

[LizzyM]

You misunderstand the purpose of letters and what makes a strong letter. You have no close relationship with this parent and they do not actually know you (and certainly not better than others you should be asking letters from). You only want the title of that person because of its prestige. In my opinion, titles are actually worth very little and the content of the letter is infinitely more important than the signature at the bottom.

Concur. I recall a letter where a medical school faculty member was the employer but the job was "summer nanny" to a couple of school aged children. We were not impressed.

 

[CuriosityKillsMe]

Thank you to everyone who replied. This was illuminating. I should've been more clearer about what the recommendation would look like. I work for a private tutoring firm and I was going to ask my employer to write a recommendation. What I wanted to ultimately have was snippets from individual parents/children who I've helped in order to create a more empathetic letter that just goes beyond he's a good employee etc... Regardless, I'll refrain from any recommendations of this nature.