Letter of Reference

Momwaitingfornew
Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:18:32 +0000

. . . everyone realizes that most letters are significantly exaggerated. However, the true degree of exaggeration is unknown. The degree of exaggeration could be 0 but the extreme likelihood is that it is a fair amount higher than 0. Both this fact and the uncertainty regarding the level of exaggeration should realistically render LORs impractical in the eyes of adcomms, yet they continue using them.



I have to question how you can speak with such authority about “knowing” the above. Letters of recommendation are extremely important; I don’t know how you can maintain otherwise. Where did you hear that they are not? Certainly not from a professor.

Professors will not write undeserved glowing recommendations because they are communicating with their colleagues. You may think that everyone gets overwhelmingly positive LORs, but you’d be wrong. While a professor might not say directly that a student is mediocre or arrogant or lacks creativity, he can communicate it in other ways. Everyone pretty much knows the shorthand for stuff like that.