Writing your own reference letter?

[Taranis]

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Does anyone have any experience with this? The prof I did research with for a year asked me to write a draft for my own reference (He says he gets asked a lot for them, so he gets people to write their own draft first). In particular, does anyone have any good examples of reference letters for medical school? I am having a lot of trouble finding any.

 

[rockjb]

Does anyone have any experience with this? The prof I did research with for a year asked me to write my own reference (He says he gets asked a lot for them, so he gets people to write their own). In particular, does anyone have any good examples of reference letters for medical school? I am having a lot of trouble finding any.

The answer to this question is, don't do it. S/He shouldn't be asking you to do this because it is a compromise of the ethics of the letter of recommendation which can get you in serious trouble. AMCAS Website, "The release of confidential information in an evaluation letter to an applicant, no matter how inadvertent, can negatively impact the applicant’s relationship with both the letter writer and the medical school to which he/she is applying and undermine the candor with which letter writers are likely to convey information in the future." Further, from the mouth of Jeff Koetje, AMSA Education and Research Director, whom I used to work with: writing your own letter of recommendation is not only a violation of the ethical contract with AMCAS/Medical Schools but is also painfully easy to spot by trained admissions officers. It will ALWAYS sound different when writing your own letter, and as you can see from the AMCAS page this could jeopardize your chances of getting into medical school period! You should respectfully inform the professor that you cannot write your own letter of recommendation per the rules and regulations of the AMCAS application and you would very much appreciate it if s/he could take the time to write it. However, and this is my personal opinion, if someone won't take the time to write you a letter, regardless of the extent of your relationship, it probably wouldn't be a very good letter if you pressured them into writing it.

 

[BABSstudent]

Just tell him you do not believe it is ethical to write your own letter, even if other students do it.

 

[Taranis]

Sorry, I think I was a bit unclear in my first post: He just asked me to write a draft, I have no idea what he will change, or if he will even use it at all. Because my draft is probably only being used as a template, I don't think there is any ethical dilemma.

 

[GOMERE]

It's very ethical to write him a letter explaining what you felt you did right in the time he knew u, and what you struggled with and overcame, and all that neat stuff. Like you said, it's just a draft. In this case I would not even make it a draft, I would make it a reminder of things he may not have thought of

 

[bruno10]

Never heard of a prof asking his students to even draft the LOR. It's odd.. I wouldn't do it

 

[DAPI]

This question pops up on this forum a few times a year and you will always hear both sides and only you can decide if you think it's ethical or not to write.

That being said, I have never seen any examples show up, but there have been links to "how to guides" so if you hit google I'm sure you will find some.

My biggest concern with this, besides the ethics, is that adcom members may recognize your writing style and then just discount the letter entirely or throw out your application depending in their thoughts on this.

Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile.

 

[BigBlueBear]

I think people are overreacting here. He's writing a draft, not the real thing. The recommender can change and throw out anything he doesn't like or add things that they missed. It's not like OP plans on writing it and forging a signature.

 

[candav]

Take it from someone who has gone through the admissions process and knows many others that have as well -- it is perfectly fine and commonplace to draft your own letter. Sorry, I don't really see the ethical conflict here.

 

[Frazier]

Is this real life?
Do a search OP. Your exact question has been asked countless times.

 

[NickNaylor]

Is this real life?
Do a search OP. Your exact question has been asked countless times.

No joke. This probably comes up on SDN once a month at least.

By the way, this isn't unethical. The person writing the letter will almost certainly review it and make changes before signing and submitting it. Previous posters have no experience with this. It's pretty common and not something you should worry about.

(sent from my phone)