- Joined
- May 22, 2015
- Messages
- 43
- Reaction score
- 11
Thank you.
Last edited:
I like this.They're not *your* mistakes, so they don't reflect on you. If anything, they illustrate the disadvantaged nature of the clinic where you volunteered. Don't worry about them -
Hey everyone,
I have a bit of a dilemma. I recieved an LOR from the health center supervisor where I have been volunteering for over two years in an underserved community. She wrote wonderful things about me and most of my activities occurred at this health center. However, there are some grammar mistakes since English is her second language (Native language is Spanish and most patients here are Hispanic). She's really busy and it took her a while to get me the LOR so I am a bit hesitant to bug her about editing the mistakes. They are mostly plural vs. singular and possessive grammar mistakes. What do you suggest I do? I really want to use it since she speaks very highly of me and talks about everything I did while there.
They're not *your* mistakes, so they don't reflect on you. If anything, they illustrate the disadvantaged nature of the clinic where you volunteered. Don't worry about them -
I believe I've seen both @LizzyM and @gyngyn say that the applicant is not faulted for grammar mistakes in LORs. As long as the overall quality of letter is good/great, it's worth keeping.
Most of my professors don't speak fluent English but I'm sure can still effectively communicate their intended message. I just can't imagine an adcom holding it against a student because of a letter writer's suboptimal English grammar or spelling.
I disagree to a certain extent. Your letter writers were selected by you. They are somewhat a reflection on you, right or wrong, fair or unfair, a poorly written letter (outside of content) is going to hurt the effectiveness of a letter. Yes, you may find a few sympathetic admissions committee members here and there, but this is admissions for professional school. There is an expectation that everything in your application is going to read well or at least be clear. Things that are clearly unedited reflect poorly on the applicant. I think that argument (fair or unfair) that most would make in their minds is, if this writer was really supportive of this applicant, they would have someone check over their grammar/spelling if they know that their English writing is poor. I can not say that I necessarily blame them.
To the OP. You should either edit it for them or ask them to have someone edit it. If they know that their English writing is not very good and they really want to help your cause, then they should not be offended. I am not (and neither are most adcoms) very sympathetic to the, "my letter writer is too busy to do XYZ." Maybe it is a product of most of us having gone through medical school/residency or maybe it is just because everyone is busy, but that is pure excuse for a poor product. We don't particularly care for excuses, especially really bad ones.