Letter of Recommendation evaluations are so FREAKIN unfair!!!!!

[FredAstaire]

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Hey guys,

Today I found out that 3 of my good friends got a chance to write their OWN LORs. Their professors don't even know them that well, a few of those profs had no interactions whatsoever outside of taking a course. So, for themselves, they wrote an amazing LOR that basically sounds like they were nominated for class valedictorians or something. For those 3 friends, 2 of their 3 letters are going to be like this. The professor's reasoning to them was that because they don't know them well, its best if they write the LORs for themselves. What a load of crap...

For myself, I choose one honour thesis prof, one prof who I took 2 courses with and did research for over the summer, and one sociology prof. None of them agreed to let me write my own, even when I asked later on. To my freaking dismay, when one of the science professors CC'ed me my LOR, he even talked about some NEGATIVE aspects saying "how I should be more patient in the lab, how I should share responsbility as a student...etc etc."

This has me FUMING. Basically some students are REWARDED for not maintaining a strong relationship with their professor, because then they get to write their own LOR. Also, LOR evaluations are so unfair, as for one identical person, some professor will write an amazing LOR, some lazy and careless prof will write a mediocre LOR, and best of all, some will let you write their own, in which you can make yourself sound like some noble prize winner....


/rant!

 

[Kanye West]

 

[RadioCure]

This is the part where SDNers flame you for raising legitimate concerns.

 

[298609]

yeah it sucks.


que sera, sera

 

[BigRedder]

Just because they got to write it doesn't mean the professor didn't edit it... The PI I worked for after college asked me to write my own simply because she didn't want to put in the effort, not because she didn't know me well enough. I balked, and she ended up writing a nicer one than I would have had the balls to write about myself. I'm sure that admins get tons of these overly laudatory letters and take them with a grain of salt. Having a couple of minor criticisms in your letter might actually lend it more credibility.

 

[OncoticPressure]

What is stopping you from asking as many profs as possible until one lets you write your own letter?

 

[svftw]

That's just the way the game is played.

 

[ILikeDrugs]

None of them agreed to let me write my own, even when I asked later on.

Wait! What? You actually asked if you could write your own LOR. Oh man, here I was thinking that the guy asking for 3% on his grade to get an A had taken the cake. You, my friend, have stolen it away from livelifexlove. (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=753645)

 

[anfleisch]

Just write your own letter and sign it and pretend you are the professor. There really is no difference other than that you got permission, wrong is wrong anyway. Right?

 

[PremedGunner]

i doubt the deciding factor for your med school acceptance is going to be lors

 

[morning]

Solution: Don't submit the LOR from that professor.

At least you actually got to see it. A lot of people never do, and some people have gotten burnt from sending in an unfavorable LOR.

 

[anfleisch]

That is good advice, if the letter is actually negative. I don't think some constructive criticism will kill you if it is a glowing letter and otherwise important to your educational experience. You don't want a glaring hole in your application, i.e. don't leave out your major research advisor that you discuss the relationship you had on your PS. But if its not like that, do what morning said and be happy you kept it out of your APP.

 

[Asyouwereatrio]

Wait! What? You actually asked if you could write your own LOR. Oh man, here I was thinking that the guy asking for 3% on his grade to get an A had taken the cake. You, my friend, have stolen it away from livelifexlove. (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=753645)

👍👍 I second this post.


I cannot believe you actually ASKED a professor to write your own letter. I'm surprised he/she didn't mention that in the letter itself. The negative aspects stated in your letter don't suprprise me at all, given how you had the balls to actually ask a professor if you could write your own letter of recommendation on his behalf.

You should not have let your friends' experiences make you think that's how the system works. Most of the time, professors' "reputations" are on the line with these letters as they are "vouching" for your candidacy to medical school...so they write what they think about you...hopefully it's positive.

You also should reflect upon what he said in your letter and think about it...is it true or not?

 

[jm192]

i doubt the deciding factor for your med school acceptance is going to be lors

This.

Original Poster, don't worry about what they're doing. You just do you. If your letter is AMAZING, and the other things aren't very good, you're still not getting in.

If your other things are strong, and your letter is so/so, you probably get in.

If you made a good impression on the people that are writing your letters, and selected appropriately, your letters will be just fine.

 

[RedSHIFT]

something tells me that if the situation where reversed. Meaning that YOU wrote your LORs and your "good" friends got shafted with average LORs you wouldn't be sobbing on SDN.

you know...there's a word that describes this type of behaviour. what could that be?

 

[DoctorPenguin]

Wait! What? You actually asked if you could write your own LOR. Oh man, here I was thinking that the guy asking for 3% on his grade to get an A had taken the cake. You, my friend, have stolen it away from livelifexlove. (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=753645)

LOL i was thinking the same thing!! Just didn't want to say it... haha.

 

[drizzt3117]

something tells me that if the situation where reversed. Meaning that YOU wrote your LORs and your "good" friends got shafted with average LORs you wouldn't be sobbing on SDN.

you know...there's a word that describes this type of behaviour. what could that be?

couldn't be douchebaggery...

 

[Astarael]

Why in the world would you want to write your own letter? How many LORs have you written in your life? I'm guessing the answer is zero, and I'm guessing the same is true of your friends. Your professor, on the other hand, probably writes no less than five per year. Experience wins on this one, your professor will always write you a better letter than you can write yourself.

 

[dontforgetxx]

I'm actually surprised your professor even showed you the letter. My friend got 4 LOR's and didn't get to see ANY of them.

Besides, if you have one LOR which goes on about incredible, amazing and perfect you are, and another about how you are an average student who can use a few things to work on, that seems a little bit sketchy, no? If an ad-comm were to, for any reason, contact the professor who you wrote the LOR for, you'd be screwed, my friend.

 

[cfx]

I'm actually surprised your professor even showed you the letter. My friend got 4 LOR's and didn't get to see ANY of them.

Besides, if you have one LOR which goes on about incredible, amazing and perfect you are, and another about how you are an average student who can use a few things to work on, that seems a little bit sketchy, no? If an ad-comm were to, for any reason, contact the professor who you wrote the LOR for, you'd be screwed, my friend.

Well, this isn't entirely true. It's common for profs to have students write their own letter, and I'm sure adcoms know this. So long as the professor signs off on it, there's nothing wrong with the student doing this. So, no, they would not be screwed. Although I'm sure if an adcom knew a certain letter was drafted by the student, they would probably not give it much weight.

OP, it's my understanding that LORs are usually extremely glowing. I doubt the letters written by your friends were THAT extreme compared to the typical LOR (including the ones written for you).

 

[Cypher321]