Unethical to write your own LOR?

[Fakesmile]

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I requested a LOR to a prof but I was surprised that he told me to draft a letter that I would like him to sign. He said he will look at it, make any changes that he thinks are necessary and send it off. I'm confused!? This pretty much defeats the purpose of a LOR, doesn't it? How come a prof can be blatantly unethical like this?

 

[mspeedwagon]

Dude, a lot of professors are lazy or have too many students request letters from them. It's really NOT unethical. He looks at the letter, makes changes and sends it off. You don't know what these changes are, but it's much easier for him and it happens all the time.

I've read many places that suggest that you write a draft letter of recommendation and include it in a packet that you give to all your writers.

There is no ethical issue here. I've heard of countless people doing this.

 

[surftheiop]

I requested a LOR to a prof but I was surprised that he told me to draft a letter that I would like him to sign. He said he will look at it, make any changes that he thinks are necessary and send it off. I'm confused!? This pretty much defeats the purpose of a LOR, doesn't it? How come a prof can be blatantly unethical like this?

Lazy- Yes

Unethical- Probably not as clear.

By signing the letter he is assuming responsibility for the contents contained in the letter, so in theory he wouldn't sign the letter unless he felt it was accurate.

People sign things that they didn't personally write all the time in the "real world". Heck, politicians don't even typically write their own speeches.

 

[flip26]

zero ethical issues for you (unless you lie or misrepresent yourself in the letter). The prof is the one who signs the letter, and at that point takes ownership of the letter and all ethical considerations.

This is not an unheard of practice BTW...

 

[TexasPhysician]

Many people would LOVE to hear this from their prof.....

 

[AuH2OScholar]

I know it's a "common" practice, but it doesn't make it any less trashy.

I give professors my resume, and my personal statement (and any other essays) and let them develop the letter. If they can't find the time to write the letter then I can always find someone who can. (I give about a month at least for letter writers).

 

[TexasPhysician]

I know it's a "common" practice, but it doesn't make it any less trashy.

I give professors my resume, and my personal statement (and any other essays) and let them develop the letter. If they can't find the time to write the letter then I can always find someone who can. (I give about a month at least for letter writers).

It depends a lot on who you ask. At my medical school, there are some profs who are asked to write a LOR by about 30+ students. All will give the prof at least a month, but 30+ letters is a lot. Most will still write every one of those letters personally.

I know a couple who don't however. One has a very prestigious position, travels for talks often, and is asked to write many letters. Because he is SO busy, it is probably a good thing that he asks students to write the letters.

 

[whoknows2012]

Assuming that if given the right resources you and the professor would write the same thing and you write it honestly, what exactly is trashy or unethical about this? In my situation the problem with finding another professor to write a letter as opposed to the one who asked me to draft it myself, was that it was already a couple months (around february) of the year I was going to apply, and didn't have time to run around searching for someone who didn't know me as well to right me a letter. Plus add in a huge course-load and MCAT studying this was the least of my worries. As long as everything you are saying is honest and the Prof signs it, the morality of this common practice is pretty clear cut.

 

[JJMrK]

I requested a LOR to a prof but I was surprised that he told me to draft a letter that I would like him to sign. He said he will look at it, make any changes that he thinks are necessary and send it off. I'm confused!? This pretty much defeats the purpose of a LOR, doesn't it? How come a prof can be blatantly unethical like this?

This is pretty common. It's not unethical because the professor can change things if he/she wishes, and specifically requested you handle it this way. IMO, it doesn't really make for very good letters, though.

 

[AuH2OScholar]

I didn't imply that it was unethical (it would be from the professor if they didn't even read it and signed it) but if a professor is going to agree to write a letter (they don't have to), then they should take the time to read through my application material and write the letter that's just how I think it should work.

I don't care how busy a professor is, if they can't take an hour to read through the material and write a letter in a month's time span then I can find a professor who will.

 

[surftheiop]

I didn't imply that it was unethical (it would be from the professor if they didn't even read it and signed it) but if a professor is going to agree to write a letter (they don't have to), then they should take the time to read through my application material and write the letter that's just how I think it should work.

I don't care how busy a professor is, if they can't take an hour to read through the material and write a letter in a month's time span then I can find a professor who will.

Given the fact you apparently got one of the most prestigious scholarships in the country, I doubt you have much trouble finding a prof willing to say nice things about you

 

[Canned Heat]

Following up on the OP's question, I have noticed that professors that aren't "close" with the LOR recipient or professors that don't think so highly of the student often ask for these "self-recs".

Is this rumor based on truth or is it totally unsubstantiated?

 

[dingyibvs]

I didn't imply that it was unethical (it would be from the professor if they didn't even read it and signed it) but if a professor is going to agree to write a letter (they don't have to), then they should take the time to read through my application material and write the letter that's just how I think it should work.

I don't care how busy a professor is, if they can't take an hour to read through the material and write a letter in a month's time span then I can find a professor who will.

im not sure why ud demand such a thing, just because ur too lazy to write urself a lor? u know what the vast majority of profs who do write their own letters do right? they have a template and just plug n chug a couple things from ur cv into it. takes like 10 mins.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

I requested a LOR to a prof but I was surprised that he told me to draft a letter that I would like him to sign. He said he will look at it, make any changes that he thinks are necessary and send it off. I'm confused!? This pretty much defeats the purpose of a LOR, doesn't it? How come a prof can be blatantly unethical like this?

This is very common. Very, very common. Write the LOR.

 

[missbones]

Very common. I personally would feel weird about it (not knowing how much to talk myself up without sounding pompous) but I definitely would prefer having the option! If you're uncomfortable with it tell the prof or find someone else to write the letter.

 

[flip26]

Following up on the OP's question, I have noticed that professors that aren't "close" with the LOR recipient or professors that don't think so highly of the student often ask for these "self-recs".

Is this rumor based on truth or is it totally unsubstantiated?

Not necessarily. Profs who get bombarded with requests seem to be the ones who use this tactic.

 

[Canned Heat]

Not necessarily. Profs who get bombarded with requests seem to be the ones who use this tactic.

This makes sense. I hope I don't have to do it this way though. That makes it difficult.

 

[Swagster]

I go to a big school where my classes have well over 300 people and there's no way to get to know the professor. I hear about this happening all the time. When I have to start asking for letters next year, I have no doubt it will happen to me.

As someone put it, with all the things you give them (personal statement, resume, and such), it's like you're writing the content for them anyway. This just avoids the pretense.

I can't believe a professor would sign off without reading the letter first, so while it's lazy and questionable, it doesn't seem to violate their ethics.

 

[Canned Heat]

I go to a big school where my classes have well over 300 people and there's no way to get to know the professor. I hear about this happening all the time. When I have to start asking for letters next year, I have no doubt it will happen to me.

As someone put it, with all the things you give them (personal statement, resume, and such), it's like you're writing the content for them anyway. This just avoids the pretense.

I can't believe a professor would sign off without reading the letter first, so while it's lazy and questionable, it doesn't seem to violate their ethics.

I don't have 300 people in my class, but I'm curious. Is the professor that unapproachable or doesn't make himself/herself available? I'm interested to see what it's like at bigger schools and the LOR process. I heard sitting in the front and participating helps in these kinds of situations.

 

[Cyradis]

An alternative spin on it perhaps:

One of my references asked me to write a draft LoR for myself and submit it to her.... which she took pieces of from and added her own stuff to.

She knows me really well so that wasn't the problem - in fact, she made it clear that she does that for every single student who asks her for a reference because she thinks it's a valuable exercise in self-reflection. Besides that, what you write about yourself may tell your reference something about you they didn't know, or put some of your interactions with them in context. Long story short, it's an exercise in self-reflection that also makes her job easier.

I'm sure there's an element of laziness to it - but if I were a reference I'd be interested to see what the student thinks of themselves first too.

 

[Swagster]

I don't have 300 people in my class, but I'm curious. Is the professor that unapproachable or doesn't make himself/herself available? I'm interested to see what it's like at bigger schools and the LOR process. I heard sitting in the front and participating helps in these kinds of situations.

I've only had to ask for one letter so far, and I asked my general chemistry teacher. He had no idea who I was even though I'd been to office hours about five times. He asked if the TA could write it and then he'd sign it. It was for an internship, so I don't think it mattered, but I'm worried that this will happen with my medical school letters. I hear people complain all the time about how long it takes to get a letter and not knowing who to ask.

 

[premed1432]

I really don't think you should do it. I've spoken to several medical school admissions people about this subject, and they said that they can definitely tell when a student has written their own reference letter. If I were you, I would try to find a teacher who knows you well, who could write you a good recommendation.

 

[Helen Wheels]

This is a really common practice. There isn't anything unethical about it because the prof is reviewing your draft and has the opportunity to change or amend the content before he signs it. One of the physicians I work for asked me to do this. I looked at it as an opportunity to draw attention to positive things not mentioned elsewhere in my application.

 

[flip26]

I really don't think you should do it. I've spoken to several medical school admissions people about this subject, and they said that they can definitely tell when a student has written their own reference letter. If I were you, I would try to find a teacher who knows you well, who could write you a good recommendation.

Sez Goofus...

This is a really common practice. There isn't anything unethical about it because the prof is reviewing your draft and has the opportunity to change or amend the content before he signs it. One of the physicians I work for asked me to do this. I looked at it as an opportunity to draw attention to positive things not mentioned elsewhere in my application.

Sez Gallant...

 

[Narmerguy]

This is very common. Very, very common. Write the LOR.

Yep. Write it and thank your lucky stars that you get to make yourself sound like the next coming of Jesus. I'd recommend looking at some websites/books on writing a strong letter of recommendation as well...it'll help you sound less like a college student and more like a professional.

 

[PanicAttack]

This is very common - I wrote 2 of my own (not professors, but "character/professional" references). I didn't see it as laziness but that my writers realized that I had a better idea of what needed to go into the letter than they did, and they just wanted me to be successful. Cool your jets and sell yourself big-time. The writer is only going to take out the overkill, he won't add any more positives for you.

 

[calimdhopeful]

i think it also depends on your school/pre-health advisors. at my school, in order for our pre-health committee to write our committee letter and assemble letter packets for us, you must sign a waiver stating you won't view any of your letters. so, when i ended up in a similar situation to the OP (but with my current employer instead of a prof), i tried to explain my situation to her. she didn't want to write the letter herself, so i asked someone else for a LOR.