Drafting One's Own Letter of Recommendation

[Elly]

Beyond the moral issue, which I've dealt with, I have no idea what a well crafted letter should look like. Any resources/ advice about how to write a good letter of recommendation in general, or in the more specific- how to write a good letter of recommendation about yourself, would be appreciated.

[Cassin]

A quick google search yielded this:

 

Law School Letters of Recommendation Advice

 

DRAFTING YOUR OWN LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION

Law schools do not look fondly upon letters of recommendation that have been drafted by applicants. Admissions officers have stated that they can tell if an applicant has drafted his or her own letter of recommendation because it either mimics too closely the applicant’s own writing style or fails to effectively capture the point of view that a recommender inherently possesses. Professors and employers, by virtue of their position, have a perspective and a point of evaluation that is nearly impossible for an applicant to emulate. An applicant cannot completely evaluate himself objectively in terms of his intellectual ability and most definitely cannot discuss himself in a comparative manner, a quality found in the best letters of recommendation. Drafting your own letter of recommendation is, essentially, consciously choosing to submit a weak letter of recommendation.

If a recommender requests that you draft a letter for their editing, respectfully decline and see if the recommender would consider writing one with help from you. If the recommender agrees, provide him or her with a letter detailing your qualifications with examples. This way, your recommender can see what should be included in your recommendation without you actually drafting it. If the recommender strongly presses for a draft, strongly consider if there is an alternative person who could be your recommender.

In some instances, a recommender may ask for a draft because they are unfamiliar with writing a letter of recommendation for law school. If that is the case, many college career services can provide guidelines and instructions on how to write law school letters of recommendation, and there are many excellent books available that explain how to write a recommendation for law school.

I'd imagine you could replace "law school" with "graduate economics department" everywhere. I suggest you check out that link on advice how to select a good recommender, what materials to bring etc.

 

In this case, beware that good ethics and happy outcome are positively correlated :).

[Elly]

In this case, beware that good ethics and happy outcome are positively correlated

 

By this you mean it's better not to draft your own letter? I took the approach that if I force a busy person to write, I am unlikely to get better results then if I write it myself. It is troubling because this is my main recommender. It isn't that he is unwilling to advocate for me, he just always has students draft letters, which he then promises to edit.

 

The letter in question is actually just for the Javits Fellowship, perhaps I should encourage him to write his own for the actual applications, which is still a couple of months away.

[Cassin]

By this you mean it's better not to draft your own letter?

 

Yes, in particular, consider writing one with help from you. If the recommender agrees, provide him or her with a letter detailing your qualifications with examples. You don't want your writing style and comparisons to other students to be in the letter at all but you are free to remind them of your accomplishments.

[Elly]

Thanks for the advice- I hadn't realized the risk of voice. I'm willing to write my own letter if the downside is only my own discomfort- not if there's a real risk in admissions.

[IntEcon80]

I know a few international students who told me that they wrote their own LORs and had them signed by their recommenders. So, it appears that this is not uncommon at all from foreign students; however, i am not sure if the same can be said about US students.

[econphilomath]

Just as people write their own letters, the credibility those letters carry is much smaller. After a while it becomes obvious that more than anything the letters from recommender X are not trustworthy and thus have no value. It can actually be a BAD sign for someone to have their recommender ask them to write it for them.

 

As for foreign recommenders, I think it has more to do with the seriousness of the recommender. All my recomenders are foreign and my best LOR is from someone who publishes and has helped place students before at top universities and he would never even show the letter to me even though I know him really well. The others have shown me the letter as something special because they are really favorable but writing your own is something out of the question.

[asquare]

IMO, a recommender who asks the applicant to draft his own LOR does not know the system well (or is not interested in helping that particular applicant). Either would be cause for concern, and I would look for a different recommender.

[kartelite]

IMO, a recommender who asks the applicant to draft his own LOR does not know the system well (or is not interested in helping that particular applicant). Either would be cause for concern, and I would look for a different recommender.

 

I totally agree.

[asianeconomist]

I am one of those few unfortunate (!) students who has had to write all 3 of the LORs by himself. Yes, I am an International applicant, but the major reason for the professors asking me to write the LORs were:

 

1. They view this as a waste of time (not as a responsibility) & hence wants to minimize dis-utility.

 

2. They often think that the LORs (coming from an unknown recommender & institution) would not be worth anything anyway & hence does not care enough.

 

3. This did not happen with me, but students often request professors to let them write their own letters, so that they can "customize" the LOR to their mind's liking.

 

Only one of professors from my Grad institution has agreed to write the LOR by himself & I am talking about the faculty members from two of the top departments of my country!

[econphilomath]

I am one of those few unfortunate (!) students who has had to write all 3 of the LORs by himself. Yes, I am an International applicant, but the major reason for the professors asking me to write the LORs were:

 

1. They view this as a waste of time (not as a responsibility) & hence wants to minimize dis-utility.

 

2. They often think that the LORs (coming from an unknown recommender & institution) would not be worth anything anyway & hence does not care enough.

 

3. This did not happen with me, but students often request professors to let them write their own letters, so that they can "customize" the LOR to their mind's liking.

 

Only one of professors from my Grad institution has agreed to write the LOR by himself & I am talking about the faculty members from two of the top departments of my country!

 

ouch...:yuck:

[Elly]

For those of us that do have to draft/write our own letters of recommendation, here's a suggestion. One of the concerns is the fact that it's difficult to make the letter have a distinct voice, and bring a unique perspective to your application. What I did was gather all of the information the recommender could reasonably be expected to know about me, and some sample letters, and gave them to a writer friend. He wrote things that I could never have been able to say about myself, and it included anecdotes that the professor never would have remembered to include. He's a great writer, and I honestly believe it's a better letter then I could have expected to get from the recommender if he wrote it himself.

 

The other thing is if you are put in this position, write the strongest letter you can conceive. Don't make stuff up, but if the recommender is outsourcing this to you, make it a letter that will get you in.

[econphilomath]

The other thing is if you are put in this position, write the strongest letter you can conceive. Don't make stuff up, but if the recommender is outsourcing this to you, make it a letter that will get you in.

 

Nobody's perfect and I suspect adcoms know this so writing a letter which is too strong might affect the credibility of the letter. I think if you have to actually write your own letter, you should put the good things into prespective by also recognizing some sort of weakness.

This is also something to be fair to everyone else who can't draft his/her own letter !

[asianeconomist]

One of my LOR writers has a special formula for bringing such "weaknesses" in perspective. First he mentions the weakness (perfectionism), then explains how the weakness affected my performance (slow performer). Consequently, he goes on to explain how I overcame the weakness (rational optimization) & finally how this has affected my performance (got an A).