Writing your own LOR...

Started by Joelseph
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Joelseph

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Hey Everyone, long time lurker, I had to ask this question.

So I'm applying a bit late this year, slightly non-traditional, finishing up some of my post-bac coursework.

For the last 2 years I have put in 250+ hours of volunteering at a hospital and I asked the volunteer coordinator for a LOR. She said she didn't have too much time and asked me to write it for myself. She looked it over, made a few changes, printed it on letterhead, signed it, and sealed it in an envelope. I gave the letter to my adviser and they are using as part of the committee eval.

Should I be worried about this? Is what I did bad? She looked it over 2 or 3 times, and it went through a couple of revisions. It's a good letter and I'm happy about it, but should I worry about it in my application? Is there any kind of repercussions? What is the likelyhood of anyone actually noticing?
 
Joelseph said:
Hey Everyone, long time lurker, I had to ask this question.

So I'm applying a bit late this year, slightly non-traditional, finishing up some of my post-bac coursework.

For the last 2 years I have put in 250+ hours of volunteering at a hospital and I asked the volunteer coordinator for a LOR. She said she didn't have too much time and asked me to write it for myself. She looked it over, made a few changes, printed it on letterhead, signed it, and sealed it in an envelope. I gave the letter to my adviser and they are using as part of the committee eval.

Should I be worried about this? Is what I did bad? She looked it over 2 or 3 times, and it went through a couple of revisions. It's a good letter and I'm happy about it, but should I worry about it in my application? Is there any kind of repercussions? What is the likelyhood of anyone actually noticing?
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Not too long ago I was surprised to find that this practice is pretty common. In fact one of the researchers that I worked with (MD) said he had to write a few of his LORs for med school.
 
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hiyaman said:
Not too long ago I was surprised to find that this practice is pretty common. In fact one of the researchers that I worked with (MD) said he had to write a few of his LORs for med school.
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I cant bring myself to believe this is common anywhere but SDN. I had a committee, 2-MD, 1-DO and a faculty member at a allo school write ones and nobody even suggested such a thing. The only one I've even seen was the faculty member, who wanted to make aure i was ok with some personal info she included about my family.

Do these writers just not know them? Or worse yet are they not really sure about the candidate and thus leave the writing to the candidate?
 
LifeTake2 said:
I cant bring myself to believe this is common anywhere but SDN. I had a committee, 2-MD, 1-DO and a faculty member at a allo school write ones and nobody even suggested such a thing. The only one I've even seen was the faculty member, who wanted to make aure i was ok with some personal info she included about my family.

Do these writers just not know them? Or worse yet are they not really sure about the candidate and thus leave the writing to the candidate?
Click to expand...

She knows me pretty well. She often jokingly called me Dr. (Last name here). We have a really good relationship, my impression (based on how things work there and what she told me) was that she was really swamped because of the demands on her position. I was surprised, but I obliged. She did however make sure all information was completely accurate and that her opinion of me was represented properly, she made a decent number of changes.
 
LifeTake2 said:
I cant bring myself to believe this is common anywhere but SDN. I had a committee, 2-MD, 1-DO and a faculty member at a allo school write ones and nobody even suggested such a thing. The only one I've even seen was the faculty member, who wanted to make aure i was ok with some personal info she included about my family.

Do these writers just not know them? Or worse yet are they not really sure about the candidate and thus leave the writing to the candidate?
Click to expand...

They might be busy to write a letter so they have the candidate make a draft and revise and edit as they see fit.
 
My friend who applied to PA school had the same thing happen to him. I guess it really isn't that uncommon, I hear about it more and more. I guess if the writer is endorsing what is written all is well.
 
The opinion on this seems to vary. I have heard everything from "it's normal to write your own LORs and as long as the person endorsed it, you're good" to "I can tell when someone has written their own letter because of the content and writing style; when I see that an applicant has done this, I consider it dishonest and/or a sign that the writer didn't care enough to actually write the letter him/herself and it reflects negatively on the applicant." It's really up to the person on the other end....
 
music2doc said:
The opinion on this seems to vary. I have heard everything from "it's normal to write your own LORs and as long as the person endorsed it, you're good" to "I can tell when someone has written their own letter because of the content and writing style; when I see that an applicant has done this, I consider it dishonest and/or a sign that the writer didn't care enough to actually write the letter him/herself and it reflects negatively on the applicant." It's really up to the person on the other end....
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:scared:. I hope that's not the case with mine. My committee is simply using it to write the committee letter, which is what I assume most adcoms take the time to read, instead of the individual letters. (Because many schools specifically request the committee letters). Also the person who chairs my committee said that they really just read the committee letters, as they have so many applications to read through. The individual letters are sent with the committee letter though. Either way I just responded to her request.
 
This practice isn't uncommon. I had an undergrad prof last year (one of the worst I've ever had, but that's beside the point) who never took the time to learn our names, let alone anything about us. The last class of the semester she says, "If any of you need a LOR, I don't have time to learn enough about you, and then write one for you, so write your own and I'll make small changes so it sounds like me. You can lie all you want, and say anything you need to, just make sure it's something you can't get caught on it."

She was a horrible teacher, and an equally awful person. But I have plenty of friends who have had similar propositions from respectable people -- my roommate got this offer from the new VP of our UG university.

Just goes to show that even the most 'unbiased' parts of applications have to be taken with a grain of salt.
 
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Well the thing about LORs is that they have to be over the top, otherwise it makes the person that the letter is for look bad compared to all the other outstanding applicants. It would be nice if LORs were completely honest and gave a relatively complete portrayal of the person but you don't want to show any weakness, especially when you are against the odds. I don't know why they even bother with these.
 
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