Has anyone seen their rec letters?

[Premed315U]

Has anyone actually seen their med school or other rec letters? Do most letters give a standard overview of the applicant? How many are extrelemely glowing? It seems like most professors would try to write about you in the best light, so how do admissions committees go based on the letters? My school has fully confidential letters so I haven't seen any, but I'm just curious what the rec letters are like.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[SarahL]

I have seen six of my eight letters. I wrote two of the six. In the ones I wrote, which were very thorough, I described traits like compassion, ability to work with diverse groups of people, leadership skills, analytical skills and creativity, maturity, etc. Most of my other letters were similar but they only highlighted a few of these qualities instead of trying to include everything you'd want to see in a pre-med.

 

[Scooby Doo]

Damn...writing your own letters? I hate that...
It's like, let me write 2 pages on why I am the coolest person alive. A few of my friends were able to do that as well... I am assuming you then had a professor sign the letters?

I know it's common practice, I just never thought it was very fair. Seeing your letters (as in havnig a prof. show you what he/she wrote about you) and actually writing them yourself is very different.

 

[brandonite]

Haha. My school guards them like a hawk... I'm not allowed anywhere near them. It's too bad, because there've been a couple times when I've needed to FedEx them to a school to meet a deadline, and I've been kinda SOL.

 

[Premed315U]

Wow, how can med schools give weight to recs when some are legitimate and amazing because they're written by profs and others are written by the students themselves? Isn't that totally ridiculous?

Do med schools know which undergrad schools guard the letters like a hawk and which have the students write their own letters?

 

[johnM]

although i 'waived' my right to see my letters, all of my writeres showed me a copy. one of them wrote the letter with me in her office, asking me to help. not quite the same as writing it myself, i was answering more of her questions I guess. i really would not want to write my own letter, i'd feel really wierd about it.

 

[johnM]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Premed315U:
•Wow, how can med schools give weight to recs when some are legitimate and amazing because they're written by profs and others are written by the students themselves? Isn't that totally ridiculous?

Do med schools know which undergrad schools guard the letters like a hawk and which have the students write their own letters?•••••I don't think any school has a policy of having students write their own LOR's, just some profs are lazy. It can really happen anywhere.

 

[lola]

a couple of professors have asked me to write a letter of rec for myself, but it is not like they just sign it and turn it in. both made edits (which i never saw) to the letters before sending them in.

 

[jasjaz]

My school also guards them, though I have seen 2 of the 8 letters.

 

[oldman]

when i asked for letters of rec, i gave them a letter containing my goals and motivations. that way, they can base their letter on mine!

 

[SarahL]

Yes, I had them sign it. Some of them made changes and others made changes with my "permission." Like I was going to tell them they couldn't or something.

Some professors are just extremely busy and prefer that you draft something for them. It happens all the time. I found it very difficult but then got the hang of it. It makes it easier to know what to highlight in secondary essays, interviews, etc., when you have an idea what your entire application looks like. You can confirm others' impressions of you while supplementing your application with new information.

 

[THE instiGATOR]

<img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> Writing your own letters!!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />

I felt guilty for having edited two of mine!!! Sheesh!

I did waive my right to view the letters. Before two recommenders finalized their work, though, they asked that I review it for content accuracy. I don't know if my advice was taken and I don't know what the final drafts looked like.

The other 5...I have no idea what they looked like. At the time that one of these 5 was written, my VR score was a weakness (I had a 7). My english prof said she'd do her best to convince the adcoms that this is something they shouldn't worry about. I have no idea what she did to achieve this goal of hers.