I'm curious...what do letter writers actually have to write about in the LoR? I've heard that character references are considered useless, but if that's the case, what more do they have to write about than on our grade/rank in class and maybe how diligent we were? They often ask for transcripts, resumes, and the primary essay, but what would they take from this to write about us that the admissions committees wouldn't already see from the primary application itself?
Letter of Rec topic
- Thread starter fizzle
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2006
- Messages
- 1,052
- Reaction score
- 57
I think the point is, you should have other letters from people more familiar with you. But yes, it is kinda funny how the letter writers ask for things that schools will already be well aware of. It just helps them get a sense of how serious you are. For example, if you walk into your professors office and hand them a manilla envelope with a nice CV, good sounding personal statement, etc....they're going to see that you are serious and thus will write you a good letter. If you give them shoddy stuff, they will probably just write you a generic letter or worse, a negative letter.
