Comments on Computational Complexity: Recommendation Letters

So on a 1-4 scale, it looks like your translation ...

2005-01-20T03:19:30.733-06:00

So on a 1-4 scale, it looks like your translation from expressed quality to actual quality is roughly:

1-3
2-1
3-4
4-2

With that kind of evaluation voodoo, why bother reading the letters at all?

-Bram

Regarding "grade inflation" in recommendation lett...

2005-01-19T19:06:33.246-06:00

Regarding "grade inflation" in recommendation letters, I recall reading a letter where the writer started out with a couple of sentences explaining his policy of not inflating things and being frank. That letter was taken as positive, even though the comments included praise and some real criticism. She was hired and her career since then has been rather stellar.

Regarding the "waive/do not waive" check box on re...

2005-01-19T17:00:12.590-06:00

Regarding the "waive/do not waive" check box on recommendation forms, it is my experience that Ph.D. admissions committees tend to heavily discount the value of a letter with "do not waive" checked. This is partially due to suspicion that the writer felt restricted, but more importantly, it is due to the suspicion that the student simply "went fishing" for letters and sent the best three he could find.

When I was in high school the guidance counselor "...

2005-01-19T15:09:47.430-06:00

When I was in high school the guidance counselor "counseled" us students to keep our rights and not sign the waiver, and assured us it would make no difference in perception.

Also in high school I had a teacher who handed me a copy of the recommendation letter he wrote for me, saying "I would never write a letter I wouldn't want the student to see". That struck me as eminently reasonable and honorable. (Though I admit I don't do the same now when I write letters.)

I also wonder what people think about "grade inflation" as applied to recommendation letters, or overly enthusiastic letters across the board. For example writing that a student is in the top 5%, and doing so for more than 5% of one's students.

For me, I use the same basic letter for everywhere...

2005-01-18T09:19:10.000-06:00

For me, I use the same basic letter for everywhere a student applies. I usually don't even check if the waiver is signed. Nevertheless I suggest signing the waiver as a sign of trust.

On the student side (at least for getting into PhD...

2005-01-18T01:49:16.386-06:00

On the student side (at least for getting into PhD programs) there's an "optional" waiver that we can sign that says "I know it's my right to read the letters when I enroll in the school, but I waive that right." I've always feared that by not providing such a waiver that I would send a message to my letter writer that I didn't trust them enough not to read the letter.

Obviously, sending such a message would be worse for me than the pleasure of reading a letter, so I always sign the waiver; but I want to ask someone on the other side: Do you usually expect the waiver? How often are you given them? Would it change the letter you wrote if you didn't get it?

My guess is that most students would sign them, if only because it looks formal and is just yet another part of all of the other paper work. Thanks...

I know somebody IN A DIFFERENT FIELD who managed t...

2005-01-17T18:12:24.210-06:00

I know somebody IN A DIFFERENT FIELD who managed to see one of her letters... it was not really worth it. On the whole it was positive, but there was a nugget of criticism which this person found unfair.

She had to work with the letter writer for a few more months, and she really wanted to challenge this statement in the letter, but she could not do so because the letter writer believed that his letter had been secret. So she just kept it bottled up and tried to act like there was nothing bothering her. It probably served her right for breaking the guy's trust.