bad letter of rec

[keiki]

hi all

i was chatting recently with my boss about pharmacy schools, and he ended up emailing me a copy of one of his letters of rec that he wrote for me. i told him not to send it, because i felt i shouldn't really be reading it. however, it was sent to me so i read it.

when i opened it, i nearly laughed. the letter was probably a max of 5 sentences (that might be generous) saying that i worked under him for such and such years and that he recommends me. can we say WTF!?!? i wanted to cry.

i know that he should be writing one of my letters since i have been out of school for a few years now, however, i won't get in (and haven't!!!) with letters like that...

any suggestions? how should/can i tell him tactfully that IT SUCKED A$$!!!??? how should i approach the situation so that next time i ask him to write my letters, he will do an awesome job?

also, one quick question.. for those of you that have been out of school for more than a few years, whom did you get to write your letters of rec for you?

thanks!

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[jason UCSD2000]

Yeah, that kinda sucks. I've been out of school for over a year, so I had to have my boss write me one of my letters of recommendations. I work for the Health Department here in Louisiana. My boss has awful grammar and spelling skills, and I knew that my letter of rec would be hideous. When I approached him, I said:
" Hey #####, (insert pharmacy school stuff here ). I know that you're real busy, so I really don't mind writing it for you and having you look over it before you sign it."
I think that if he/she is happy to do it for you, they wouldn't mind having you write it for them. I wrote his, and I also wrote one for myself from one of the labs that I worked for as an undergraduate. I think most really don't want to write letters of rec - especially if they've never done it before. It made it tough on me to have to write two letters of rec and my own essays.
As for how to tell your boss about the lame letters - I dunno, good luck with that.

 

[keiki]

hmm.. that's a good idea.. i bet he would have LOVED that.. he's so busy.. and always last minute, too. i always have to remind him, and even when i do, he still forgets.. haha. i'll bring that up with him next time.. which means i'll have to research how to write one myself.. ugh. i'm sure what i write will be better ANYDAY than what he wrote for me.. hehe.

 

[jdpharmd?]

That can be a tough one, but like Jason said offer to "take the burden off" by essentially writing it yourself and having him sign it. You can just say "I can write a DRAFT for you, if that would make things easier" and then just write and appropriate one and give it to him. The other option would be to claim that the school has specific criteria for their letters, for instance you could tell him that it must show the time that you've worked there, your main responsibilities, your attitude and attendance, your commitment to the task or leadership, a specific example of when you solved a problem or whatever else you can dream up. If you can think of enough things, then he HAS to write more than a few lines. I had a PharmD write one for me, and it was the same thing as you got. I just found someone else to do it, but if you don't have that option it certainly doesn't hurt to try to write it yourself or impose some "rules".

I don't know when you're planning on applying or what your schedule looks like, but if it had to be from a professor, I would recomend enrolling in a class that you think you would like (and is relevant) with a decent professor and approach him before class even begins and tell him that you are applying to blah blah and would like to know if he could write an accurate letter of rec for you based on the class. Visit his office hours and try to act very interested in whatever subject it is and whoalla. I took a class at a community college a few summers ago and there were only 14 students in the class. It cost about $200 total and was over in 7 weeks. By the end of the course the professor knew me very well and a letter of rec from him would have done me very well. He was a dual PhD in organic and toxicology. I ended up choosing somone else, but if the school needs a letter from a professor and you don't have one, what else can you do?

Good Luck!

Jd

 

[jdpharmd?]

well, looks like we were both replying at the same time.. anyway, one more idea (a little more direct) is to supply him with a generic template. I did this for a recent pharmacy grad so that he would have something to work off of. Many people have never written a letter of rec and really don't know what you're looking for.

If you're concerned about writing it yourself, just look online and you will find plenty of good samples to work from, just personalize it to work with your skills, etc.

Jd

 

[ucdbiochem]

yeah, i would recommend to write the LOR yourself unless you're 100% sure the recommender can write you a great one.

sometimes recommender is really busy at work and tells you s/he can write you a good one, it's probably gonna be a template.
there is nothing wrong with using template, but it's usually generic and tells nothing specific about a student.

True story from my friend. He asked for a letter of rec from his dentist after he interned at a dental office. He later found out that the dentist wrote him a template LOR because there were more 15 students who also got the SAME thing!!!

so think about it. Do you want to ruin your chance of getting in just because someone writes you a sorry LOR? or you want to take it in your own hands?

 

[BMBiology]

This is what I said when I asked my professors/pharmacist to write me a letter of recommendation: "I am applying for pharmacy schools; I was wondering if you have the TIME to write a GOOD recommendation letter for me".

[If the professor/pharmacist is not willing to write a good recommendation letter then he is going to say "Sorry, I dont have the time"---It is an easy way for him to say no. If he is not willing to take the time to write you a good recommendation letter then it is better that he doesn't write one.]

I also gave them about a month to write the recommendation letter.

 

[Triangulation]

Yeah, I always ask "I need a very strong LOR. Are you comfortable writing me one, honestly?" If they say, 'no' bag it. Your LORs need to be oustanding.

I also agree that you need to tell them what you want hightlighted about you, and if they can include it, if not don't waste your time. I included one letter from someone who told me she couldn't write a really strong letter, but said she could write a 'good one'. She was a real heavy-hitter in the field so I took a chance on it.

I also have a lot of experience writing letters for my recommenders as a template, actually Keiki I wrote one "by Steve" for me. It does take the burden off them, and allows you to underscore your attributes. They always get the final say, so their autonomy is still maintained.

Vicious business, huh?

 

[Triangulation]

Oh yeah. The other technique is to give your letter writer a CV with other LOR that you have with you and attach them to it. I always do that. Oft times, they'll land up being lazy and echoing the positive sentiments from the other letter writers.

 

[phar]

Originally posted by Triangulation
Yeah, I always ask "I need a very strong LOR. Are you comfortable writing me one, honestly?"

Yes, i totally agree..

And if the professor has any "if"s question.....bad sign!....run from the Cat NOW

 

[jdpharmd?]

Ok, I think that we've all beaten this thread to death. Obviously if the person doesn't have the time or desire to write a decent letter, then don't pick them. It's kind of common sense..

Jd

 

[keiki]

thanks everyone for your input. and yes, while it IS common sense, i kind of just assumed he'd be able to write me a good one because that's exactly what i asked him when i first asked him to write it. and then look what happened... i get a little 3 sent. LOR. so i was more interested in what to do since it's after the fact... it never occurred to me to give them a template, or a 'draft' to work from. but i will be doing that now... thanks again!

 

[tryinghard]

hmm..you could ask him to write another letter to your schools. i don't think this will be that bad. the only thing, is its getting kinda late. what do you think? it doesn't hurt to try. but at any case, when you do get this letter resolved, please find a better boss to work under. this guy is just not a good person to work for.

 

[jdpharmd?]

Originally posted by tryinghard
hmm..you could ask him to write another letter to your schools. i don't think this will be that bad. the only thing, is its getting kinda late. what do you think? it doesn't hurt to try. but at any case, when you do get this letter resolved, please find a better boss to work under. this guy is just not a good person to work for.

Your missing the point entirely and it has absolutely nothing to do with their business relationship. He might be a good person to work for and there is no way that you can make that judgement about someone based on one thread regarding letters of rec. On top of that, it's none of your business who she works for and it makes you sound ignorant to even comment on it...

Jd