falling out with recommender

Graduate School
1

<p>A friend of mine got into a fully-funded PhD program and accepted the school’s offer shortly after his letter came in the mail (about 4 months ago). He has since been given all orientation materials, student ID, etc. He had a very, VERY recent falling out with a professor who wrote one of his reference letters and this man told my friend that he contacted the school to retract the letter he wrote. The situation is a tricky one, but he’s concerned about the actual outcome of this “retraction”. According to the dean of my friend’s undergraduate program, there was no grounds for that professor to retract since the situation was outside of academia and my friend was not at fault.</p>

<p>Can the school kick him out/cancel his status as an incoming student? Again, he’s already accepted the offer and the school has acknowledged it.</p>

2

<p>They could but they probably won’t. The recommender is being completely ridiculous and probably harming his own reputation, but it most likely won’t have any bearing on your friend’s situation.</p>

3

<p>Sometimes professors behave as foolishly and irresponsibly as children. Your program chair and advisor know this. The only thing I can see happening is them just asking your friend what happened, which is a question that should be addressed clearly and firmly, without long stories or he said-she said. It is extremely unlikely that anything will come of it. Worst case scenario, they could ask the dean they spoke with to write one in his stead.</p>