Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!rutgers.rutgers.edu!princeton!notecnirp!mc From: mc@notecnirp.Princeton.EDU (Mara Chibnik) Newsgroups: comp.edu Subject: Re: recommendations from teachers Message-ID: <5650@princeton.Princeton.EDU> Date: Mon, 20-Jul-87 09:53:04 EDT Article-I.D.: princeto.5650 Posted: Mon Jul 20 09:53:04 1987 Date-Received: Tue, 21-Jul-87 04:38:57 EDT References: <6633@mhuxu.UUCP> Sender: news@princeton.Princeton.EDU Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, Princeton University Lines: 63 In article <6633@mhuxu.UUCP> davims@mhuxu.UUCP (SZ-LOCOCO,JOHN) writes: }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. }Has anyone out there ever heard of something like this happening? Why did }these teachers even bother to write their so-called "letters of }recommendation" if they were just planning on saying nasty things? Yes, I've heard of a case like this. The student in question (it isn't me and I don't want to be more specific) is now comfortably ensconced in a graduate program of good reputation and also holds a part-time research position at a highly-respected industrial research facility, so it wasn't fatal. In this case, to the best of my knowledge, it was a single letter that was a problem. Again, the letter mentioned a number of good qualities, but it was clear that the writer felt that some negative characteristics far outweighed these. (The good points were academic and technical. The bad ones were personal.) The student was, of course, much distressed. And, especially, had signed the waiver, so was not entitled to read the recommendation. (How that all happened is something that I never got into.) }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? I taught parttime for several years and have had to write recommendatons. My own approach depends on what happens between the student and me in the requesting process. 1. First, when a student approaches me for a recommendation, if the student is someone I think well of in a general sense, but who really can't cut it in my field, I ask about plans for the future and discuss these in terms of my assessment of potential. I try to end up by saying something that amounts to "Well, if you want a recommendation for [something I think you would be good at] I'll be happy to write one." (Fill in the square brackets with a specific.) This is constructive, and helps to get the message across that I wouldn't be comfortable writing a general recommendation. 2. If the student is someone I don't know well enough to write a letter for, I say so, and ask what other teachers have been approached, to try to suggest someone more suitable. Sometimes we find one. Sometimes there are compelling reasons to worry about the "more suitable" teacher's letter (as in your boyfriend's case). In such cases, it is sometimes possible for me to interview the student sufficiently to write a letter based on what comes through at the interview. (This is something that doesn't happen too often, because I'm not generally so ready to offer that kind of help to a student whose work I don't know well enough so I could have written the letter without that.) Often I've been able to steer the student to an appropriate recommender, maybe in another department. 3. If for any reason I can't do these things, my technique is what is usually referred to as "damning with faint praise." That is, I say nothing bad, but no raves. I mention the name of the course the student took with me, its content, the student's final grade (or say the work was satisfactory or good, depending)-- in other words, I say nothing bad, and go on record as validating that the student's application is bona fide, but really no more. And I do NOT do this without letting the student know I have reservations unless I have no way of communicating with the student. 4. In extreme circumstances, I do nothing. (I got a letter from a former student who needed a recommendation in a hurry. He was out of town. He had done work for me that was barely passable, despite having the obvious ability to do excellent work. I had put it to him while he was my student that I was unfavorably impressed by his performance. I threw his letter away.