Smells a bit, but a heart of gold.
Mr X has excellent handwriting and is always very punctual.
$candidate hardly steals at all.
Mr X has excellent handwriting and is always very punctual.
A few years ago I read a letter that was very nearly no more than this. The high point was something along the lines of "Mr X was an excellent research assistant and his English has improved a great deal." The same year a letter for a different candidate said "Mr Y had a little difficulty adjusting to norms of academic civility in graduate school but has now overcome this issue, mostly".
I don't like being asked to write my own letter of recommendation. I don't mind giving someone a few bullet points, but when I did it, the person signed off on it without changing anything, and I think it didn't come across in her voice.
I forgot to update everyone that after my request the other day, and after I drafted the darn thing, it turns out that the school had a predetermined format.
Sample question: "How long have you known the applicant and describe the circumstances under which you have worked with them." Uh, that's two topics, and only one of them phrased as a question.
Oh well. At least I only say yes to people when I actually know them well enough to write a good one, and that's almost everyone who asks. My scaring-off vibes must be working.
J/ill Le/pore, of New Yorker fame, writes letters of recommendation that are masterpieces: strong narrative arc, long on details, very witty. The disjuncture between the paper and corporeal candidate, then, can be rather jarring.
'I think every institution should have the experience of working with a student of Ms. X's caliber and character.'
Mr X has excellent handwriting and is nearly always punctual.
Other students worked harder than her, but she is a snappy dresser.
I wrote a draft of a recommendation letter for my housemate's advisor -- a recommendation regarding my housemate's work -- for the advisor to review, edit and sign, and the damned guy changed not one word but the sign-off. He changed my "Respectfully yours" to "Respectively yours."
Well, I guess it was realistic, then.
I must say that there is really nothing like the merry snowfall of job-search-related Internet chit chat to make me want to shoot myself in the face.
She is an exceptional student, but tends to shoot herself in the face.
No no, that was exactly Gricean -- I was just suggesting an up/downgrade.
--So, SB, what are some of your strengths?
--Since you ask, I am very bad at a specific task you have not even mentioned in passing.
*faceshoot*
Some friends and I spoke to a Navy SEAL officer on a hiking trip once, and the subject of Richard Marcinko came up. The officer said, without prompting, that Marcinko was "the kind of man who ought to be kept in a cage during peacetime."
I would give at least 0.33% of my soul for a recommendation like that.
That not really very much of your soul, Flippanter. Maybe you just don't want it enough.
I once wrote a draft letter of recommendation for myself. The nominal recommender sent it off without significant changes, and sent me a copy. I got the job.
Some time later, I was screening applications for the same job I'd gotten. I came across one from a person who had worked in the same office, for the same recommender. It was, with minor changes, the same letter.
They may still be using it, for all I know.
22: I'm not going to bid against myself, ari.
I didn't mean to make anyone want to shoot themselves in the face.
25: Look, assuming that portions of your soul aren't previously encumbered, I think the threshold for discussion would have to begin at 50.1% of the total. Otherwise, your soul could be subject to hostile takeover by other, unnamed, parties. And my client can't risk that kind of exposure in uncertain times like these.
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Someone tell me that Labour really is better than the Conservatives. David Willets always seems so decent that I get complacent abouty how bad the Tories might be. Mandelson new university funding policy sounds pretty awful to me. I guess that research places won't be so badly hurt, because this primarily affects teaching places. Still, 3 years of study is too much, and academic courses should be dropped in favor of things that teach the skills desired by employers.
I would be so tempted to vote Conservative.
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Candidate has never, to the recommended's knowledge, killed a man.
I did agonize once trying to write a recommendation for an international student with a very noticeably Muslim name. At first I planned to treat it just like any other student, but it was just after one of those horrible shooting on-campus crimes and I worried that the admissions people would be subconsciously looking for trigger words. I scrubbed the recommendation of words like "fierce" or "sharp" and was at pains to describe the student's (genuinely) easygoing, laid-back personality.
I still don't know if it was the right way to handle it.
23 - I am quite proud of the fact that everyone I've written a personal statement for has gotten into the program s/he applied for. (Five people, including me.)
I didn't mean to make anyone want to shoot themselves in the face.
Aw, don't worry. I did it to myself!
I was less pleased that I wrote the personal statement for my former best friend's application to grad school the week before she started dating my ex. But a few months later when they moved away to go to her grad school, I thought it was worth it to get them out of my town.
I write letters all the time and I would really like a clue as to whether my intended message is clear. I want all my students to get accepted to programs which are a good fit and for the people on the other end not to have any rude surprises.
Like, currently I have a student who is an incredibly hard worker, who will work her tail and whiskers off and close the gap between herself and people with more innate firepower. Will she have the creativity needed to spark in new directions in grad school? I personally believe that creativity is the product of hard, tedious, work. So I think she will be successful, but I think people might raise eyebrows at the type of questions she asks, until they see exactly how persistent she is.
I don't know how academic letters of recommendation work, but I would think that phrases like "those with more innate firepower" would be a kiss of death -- not that you were suggesting actually writing that, necessarily.
I think you convey the sentiment you're talking about with relative degrees of superlatives: "Ms. X is intelligent and creative, but what really sets her apart from her class is her extraordinary dedication and thoroughness"; "she undertook an grueling research project far more in which she did Y and Z, far outstripping her peers in the amount of time she devoted and her attention to detail"; "I have never seen her give up on or become discouraged about anything she starts"; and so forth.
"Mr. X is a highly respected commenter on several internet blogs"
"The candidate is both jowly and physically attractive. You don't see that often in someone under thirty."
Anyway, it got me an interview just so they could see.
Candidate has an uncanny ability to locate free food.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
In ten years I would like to be a successful entrepreneur, a managing partner at an investment bank, or a legal aid lawyer working on behalf of indigent clients. Even though I have no use for material things, I would like to have the option of retiring by the time I'm 45. I believe that law school is a tool to help me realize my goals, as well as an acceptable way to wait out the recession without having to work in retail.
Full essay on the url below.
41 applies to all grad students, though.
It wouldn't be uncanny then, would it?
I've never had to write a letter of recommendation, but I'm kind of terrified by the thought of being asked to do so some day. Apparently it's common to make comparisons like "X is as creative as Y was at a similar stage of their career, and nearly as hard-working as Z". So most of the entertaining letter-writing options that come to mind involve making comparisons to people whose reputation is a little suspect. Wouldn't translate well to an audience that doesn't know the people. (You know, something like "With the profound moral clarity of Ayn Rand and writing in a clear, easy-to-follow fashion in the manner of Heidegger," adjusted appropriately.)
"As tastefully understated as Lady Gaga and with the consummate professionalism of Mary Kay Letourneau."
Candidate has an uncanny ability to locate free food.
Apparently it's common to make comparisons
X is able to keep the mouse alive for longer than Lennie could do so.
Anybody who wants to practice by writing me a letter of rec. is encouraged to e-mail.
Actually, this thread, particularly 38, depresses me.
You idiots know me much better than any particular college instructor who might be asked to write a letter for any future opportunity.
And you idiots don't know me!
I should really get better at building tables from wood.
Pro Tip: Don't refer to your potential future recommenders as "idiots". At least, not to their faces.
Several times I've been asked to write my own letters, by the person I asked for a reference. I've no idea how much they changed them [not much, I think, based on their own draft which they cc'd to me] but I'm obviously not effusive enough in my own praise because I didn't get shortlisted for any of the jobs ...
Mr Y had a little difficulty adjusting to norms of academic civility in graduate school but has now overcome this issue, mostly".
I wonder if that was the same student whose intellectual maturity was described as exceeding the student's social maturity as an undergrad.
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Someone tell me that Labour really is better than the Conservatives.
Labour have not yet formally associated themselves in the European Parliament with a motley bunch of openly racist and homophobic nutjobs who have been known to celebrate the achievements of the SS. The Tories have. AFAICS that is how far you can trust Cameron's cuddly image - always remember he was in marketing before he was in politics.
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A friend once sent a reference (not academic) saying, inter alia, "since giving up herion, X's personal hygeine has improved a good deal". But the person receiving the reference knew the candidate well and was just going through the motions before offering her the job.
"Candidate will be best remembered for his exemplary work putting together the annual Faculty vs. Alumni Donkey Basketball Game."
56: Well huh. I got a Zeugnis from the school I taught at during my time in Germany. I will have to see if I can find it so you can tell me what it *really* says.
I always ask students to write a draft of their own letter of recommendation, esp. those applying to PHD programs
--gives me information to use write I write my letter, to personalize it beyond the usual generics
--asks the student to invest some of her/his own time: if they aren't willing to do that then why should I, and what in any case does it say about their prospects for graduate work
--most of all, gives me a clue where the student's self-evaluation lies on the continuum ranging from too modest through well-founded or within shouting distance of reality and ending with from another universe. I tend to put much more effort into recommendations on the left side of that scale
I frequently worry that there is a very well defined code for academic letters of recommendation of the sort Ruprecht talks about in 56 and that I'm going to torpedo someone's chances by forgetting to include both the words "always" and "fullest."
In general, I despise this whole game. I hate writing them, I hate reading them, and I hate worrying about the contents of the letters that were written about me.
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Look ma, it's my Christmas mix again: mediafire download.
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57.last: Candidate is eager, but not in a "Photocopy his penis and send it to the intern" kind of way.
62: Oh yay! I was going to ask you for that!
My understanding is that the Navy evals are an exercise where damning with faint praise prevails such that saying someone "frequently" does exemplary thing is a black mark (this got some airtime when folks were parsing Kerry's record with a fine-toothed comb in 2004). Not sure how true it was, but I did find some entertainment on this Navy EVAL page. On the positive side you have:
"truly a combat multiplier" (how about "integral to the differentiation of this unit's performance, a welcome addition!")
"articulate in ability to..." (Racist!)
"inexhaustible source of... "
On the negative liked:
"...when reminded, can be a very motivated individual "
"...demonstrated a lack of skill or knowledge in most of his duties. He does not comply with instructions and is a threat to the safety of this ship. Recommend discharge at earliest opportunity. "
Also, I had a totally awesome teaching dream last night, in which I designed brilliant assignments that led students through the perfect trajectory, where first they all did the exercises and found them pointless, and then through discussion came to realize that they were in fact incredibly useful, and lo, they were enlightened. (Oddly, it was a CS class, which I certainly could not teach in reality at all, but the rough outlines of the assignments and their usefulness were at least vaguely plausible in this role.) I woke up in a fantastic mood.
I woke up in a fantastic mood and my pillow was missing.
I woke up this morning with an extra pillow.
"truly a combat multiplier"
This reminds me of a Colin Powell quotation from some cow-orker's e-mail signature: "Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier."
My in-head response was always, "What does that even mean?"
Shit. I was saving that marshmallow for … things.
I ate all of the marshmallows in the house last night in a failed attempt to get the energy to address Christmas cards. They go very poorly with beer.
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No more masturbating to Robin Wood
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I am surprised that no one has been inspired by the several write-your-own-recommendation anecdotes to cross this thread with some of our past discussions of online dating profiles.
E.g.: "Candidate is looking for a partner in crime who edits a mean Festschrift. In Candidate's bedroom you will find Carlyle on the French Revolution, a cat named 'M. Hulot' and a 1977-vintage Easy-Bake Oven. Les Mandarins is sexy; Le Samourai is sexier."
69: I think it means you get to invade Iraq and go all the way to Baghdad with only 100,000 troops.
"I don't really take issue with the substance of what you wrote under 'areas for improvement', but I'm wondering if you could try to spin it as a strength."
"candidate is creative and energetic in pursuing interpersonal synergies."
"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier."
As in, it leads you to believe you can occupy hostile countries with a fraction of the necessary forces.
Just "Frau Kotimy"? doesn't she get to use her titles as Lawyer and Blog Commenter?
81: If I understand correctly, nowadays I would get to use "Frau Doktor Kotimy" or perhaps "Frau Doktor Jura Kotimy." But my source on that is UNG, who might also suggest still other titles at this point...
When I stop and think about it, it is still hilarious that you call him UNG, speaking of titles.
82: What's the point of getting German titles if they don't do the "Von" anymore?
I personally believe that creativity is the product of hard, tedious, work.
81: If I understand correctly, nowadays I would get to use "Frau Doktor Kotimy" or perhaps "Frau Doktor Jura Kotimy."
I thought people obtaining doctorates outside of Germany who tried to use the title "Doktor" in Germany could be fined or jailed?
Wait, what's the substantive difference between "ihre Aufgaben" and "die ihr übertragenen Aufgaben"? Isn't it just "her duties" and "the duties given to her"? That seems extremely arbitrary.
Additionally, anyone with a cat named M. Hulot would ipso facto be endeared to me.
92: So, could calling your kid "Pilot Inspecktor" get you in trouble in Germany?
Additionally, anyone with a cat named M. Hulot would ipso facto be endeared to me.
It was a satirical choice. That or "Talleyrand."
89: So you're saying UNG was trying to get me thrown in jail? Figures!