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From: mason@Pescadero.ARPA (Tony Mason)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: recommendations from teachers
Message-ID: <788@Pescadero.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 21-Jul-87 19:31:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: Pescader.788
Posted: Tue Jul 21 19:31:06 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 23-Jul-87 05:33:50 EDT
References: <6633@mhuxu.UUCP> <3934@spool.WISC.EDU>
Reply-To: mason@Pescadero.UUCP (Tony Mason)
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 37

>> My boyfriend is a May 1987 graduate in CS.  He asked some of his former
>> teachers for recommendations, and they said they'd be happy to oblige.
>> When my boyfriend received his letters of recommendations from the teachers,
>> they turned out not to be "recommendations" at all.  They said some pretty
>> nasty things about him that outweighed any good points.  
>> 
>> To the professors out there: Personally, what do you do if a student you
>> don't have a high opinion of asks you for a letter of recommendation?
>
> It sounds like these professors
>just assumed that such was the case and didn't bother to ask.

Sometimes, maybe they do it out of spite.  

When I was applying to college, out of high school, I asked about seven
teachers to write letters for me.  Of those, I had one who decided to "get
even" and write bad letters.  Maybe this can occur as a fluke, but the guy
who wrote those letters I had had for seven classes over a span of two and a
half years.  The letter he wrote was caustic.  It didn't mention ANY good
points, and he tore me down as much as he could.  However, he didn't mention
anything to me when he said he would write them (he wrote *three*.)  Why?
I've been asking myself that question ever since.  

He couldn't even say I was a bad student - I had a 4.0 from his classes, and
a 3.9 overall.  But he found something bad to say.  Worst of all, I had
trusted him.  

The guy was my debate coach for two and a half years.  Just goes to show you
cannot trust anybody.


Tony Mason
DSG
Stanford Univ.
mason@pescadero

(But, I still went to college, got a degree, and now am out in the real world.)