Comments on: Playing From a Different Tee: How Not to Write a Recommendation Letter

By: The AstroDyke

The AstroDyke — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:03:59 +0000

How frequently do letters compare a male applicant to successful senior women?

By: TomC

TomC — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:19:25 +0000

Apparently football announcers have exactly as much imagination as physics profs. Anytime a young player comes along whose race is mildly atypical for his position (e.g., Caucasian wide receiver, African American quarterback), announcers are incapable of comparing that player to anyone not of the same racial makeup. Thus you get absurd comparsions such as Byron Leftwich to Donovan McNabb and Wes Welker to Steve Largent.

By: Cartesian

Cartesian — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:03:57 +0000

I know the case of the University of Michigan, where positive discrimination has been judged as unconstitutional.

By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:24:23 +0000

Yes, I have on two occasions written negative letters of recommendation. In one case I was aware of misconduct (akin to plagiarism) by the candidate and called the committee’s attention to it – it could easily be checked (and it was a special fellowship in which failure to get it wouldn’t hurt the candidates career). In another, it was for someone for medical school who explicitly told me that he wanted to do it for the money and that he didn’t really like patients (I actually told him that I’d have to mention that and he said that he didn’t mind!!).

In another case, I refereed a paper, and showed that the author had completely neglected an effect which ruled out his/her model. It was very obvious, but we all make mistakes. They withdrew the paper and submitted it without change to another journal, where it was accepted. No mention of the effect I’d mentioned. They were up for a special fellowship. I really, really wanted to say something, but simply chose not to write the letter.

I’ve written about 1000 letters (30-35/year for 25 years)–many premeds. It’s really hard when all you know about them is their grade in your class. I ask for their resume, transcript, personal statement, and try to say something reasonable. Med school admission committees recognize these and basically ignore them.

The hardest letter was when I wrote a faculty job letter for someone who was basically my graduate student. Alas, I was applying for the same job (I was a very senior postdoc, he was younger)! I wrote a cover letter noting this fact, and then sending an exact copy of the letter I’d sent the previous year for him. Neither of us got the job

By: 21 October 09, PM edition « blueollie

21 October 09, PM edition « blueollie — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:09:41 +0000

[...] if you write letters of recommendation, please avoid this pitfal: In a standard letter of recommendation at the postdoc/faculty level, there is frequently a [...]

By: Julianne

Julianne — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:34:22 +0000

I thought it was hilarious, personally.

By: Ellipsis

Ellipsis — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:20:38 +0000

Thanks Sean. Clearly it was a joke (not a great one, but a joke nonetheless.) May the multiverse help us if we can’t laugh about these things.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:14:53 +0000

And with about the same content as a colon.

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:40:20 +0000

I thought it was funny. I would say that Ellipsis’s comments are at least as funny as those left by other grammatical constructions.

By: jls

jls — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:17:11 +0000

Ellipsis@9:

That was just about as funny as saying “ha ha, yeah, now get back to the kitchen and make me a hamburger.”