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Should I ask this professor to write me a letter?


ccgoal

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Hi,All! Would you please kindly give me some advice on this?

---He is world famous and taught me for one semester and I got an A in his class;

---I'm obviously not the best student of his (I guess so)

---I wrote to ask him to write me a letter and he replied to say yes and also wanted me to provide my background info. I did that, and he advised me to make the draft of the reference letter. That's when I feel confused since I'm not sure whether he doesn't really want to help me write a "decent" letter, afterall, a lukewarm letter could do harm. I replied to tell him that I would send him the draft after I submit my online application, after when can he receive the nofitication mail to submit ref letter. And he kindly replied, saying he is "looking forward to seeing my draft". I got even more confused here...Maybe he wants to write me a "good" letter, but since he is so busy or knows so little about me so that he chooses a safe stretagy? Or he just kindly declines me?:hmm:

IF so, what would such kind of a letter be like?

Anyway, thanks for all your possible inputs:)

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Do you have any relationship with this professor beyond taking one class with him? Have you done RA work with him, has he advised you in any capacity, does he have anything to share with the admissions committee beyond "ccgoal got an A in my class?" The fact that he is asking you to draft your own recommendation hints that he doesn't know you all that well and doesn't know what to say in a LOR. If this is the case, he doesn't sound like an ideal recommender at all. You want the people who write your LORs to know you well and to be able to add new information to the application, not just to reiterate what is on your transcript already.
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Actually I disagree with asquare. Unfortunately, having a well known person for a recommender counts a whole lot ( I say unfortunately because not many people have that even if they are very well qualified). Just the fact that adcoms would know the name of one of your recommenders could make the difference between reviewing the application and putting it in the trash if you didn't go to a top econ school for undergrad for example or your application was lacking in some other respect.

 

So I would say that you kindly ask him to give him a one page essay of your achievements, why you are interested in economics etc but just tell him that you don't feel comfortable evaluating yourself. He can still use your essay as a base for the recommendation but he needs to put the evaluation himself

I think he will understand that...

If not I would still say write a draft yourself and send it to him.

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Actually I disagree with asquare. Unfortunately, having a well known person for a recommender counts a whole lot ( I say unfortunately because not many people have that even if they are very well qualified). Just the fact that adcoms would know the name of one of your recommenders could make the difference between reviewing the application and putting it in the trash if you didn't go to a top econ school for undergrad for example or your application was lacking in some other respect.

 

So I would say that you kindly ask him to give him a one page essay of your achievements, why you are interested in economics etc but just tell him that you don't feel comfortable evaluating yourself. He can still use your essay as a base for the recommendation but he needs to put the evaluation himself

I think he will understand that...

If not I would still say write a draft yourself and send it to him.

 

agreee with u 100% . its very difficult to get a letter from well known professor and that counts lot in admission process.

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Many, many well respected faculty members encourage applicants to get advice from professors who know you well. Take a look at Susan Athey's advice to "Get recommendations from people who know you well" and "Give professors every possible opportunity to say they don't feel comfortable recommending you to the school you're applying to. If they express any hesitation don't have them send it. One bad letter hurts much more than any good letters can help." Or check out advice from the University of Pennsylvania, which says in part "tudents applying to Ph.D. programs should have 3 or 4 letters of recommendation from faculty in economics, or a closely related field (like math), with whom you have taken classes, worked on an honors thesis, or assisted in research.... Nothing can derail your application to graduate school as effectively as a lukewarm, or negative, letter of recommendation."

 

The OP is concerned about getting a lukewarm letter from a famous professor who doesn't know him well and doesn't consider him one of the best students. That runs contrary to the majority of advice from well informed, well connected faculty. That's all I'm saying.

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Thanks a lot! asquare, I see your point, yes, I agree with you that a lukewarm letter would be somewhat harmful, I think I'll try to indirectly mention this to the professor so as to be good for both of us.

BTW, is it possible for you to change the TITLE of this thread? I made an awkward typo by typing "letter" as (the second) "professor".

For bgg, asa__sl and commodore, thanks a lot too, and I'll write to him to discuss further:)

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Many, many well respected faculty members encourage applicants to get advice from professors who know you well. Take a look at Susan Athey's advice to "Get recommendations from people who know you well" and "Give professors every possible opportunity to say they don't feel comfortable recommending you to the school you're applying to. If they express any hesitation don't have them send it. One bad letter hurts much more than any good letters can help."

 

I agree with this, and a mentor at the community college I transfered from always told us, "Give a professor every opportunity to say no to writing you a letter as you don't want them to feel pressured, as you don't want a mediocre LOR."

 

However, it's rarely that simple. I go to a large public school, and I also transfered there from a community college so I haven't been there as long to meet as many profs as other students, besides at large public schools many classes are taught by grad students. I am applying in a year and I can only think of one prof that knows me well enough to write me a LOR (I had two classes with him and he knows I am interested in a Econ PhD as I've got advice from him). I think I'll be able to find 2 more (I am working on an honors project and will have to find a mentor, and I hope I can find one more from either econ classes or math classes). That's going to leave me with exactly 3 LORs, if one of the people will write a lukewarm LOR, what choice do I have? I can't just ask someone else as I don't really have anyone else to ask. I am under the impression that you need 3 LORs to apply to PhD programs, so someone be sure to tell me if I am mistaken.

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I think I agree with asquare in principle and especially for great applicants but given the large randomness involved in the application process, any risk is probably better than none. While at some schools it might be bad, at others the letter might end up being what you need for someone to look at your file (and then read your other letters which have more details about you.)

 

If is very likely that no one will look at your file if its not amazing, so having or not a famsous so-so letter won't really be binding. If the letter gets your stuff looked at, its well worth the risk.

 

So in conclusion if you application is really strong, I would not ruin/risk it but if your borderline like most people you need any variability you can get.

 

Another thing you could do is ask the professor what programs he thinks you might be competitive at. He will be using the info he will put in the letter along with all the rest of you profile when he answers so if he says something like "top ten definitly", your home free!

 

Thats my 2 cents

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Another thing you could do is ask the professor what programs he thinks you might be competitive at.

 

 

This is a good piece of advice. While he gives you his list, if possible, you might try to persuade the recommender to somehow contact his colleagues at those places and ask them to take a look at your profile. Its a long shot though.............

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My two cents - the prof will contact his/her friends about you if (s)he wants to; you suggesting it won't likely help things much but may be presumptuous. (I think asianeconomist suggested this)

 

I think most of what is valuable about having a well-known recommender is that faculty on admissions committees will respect that they know successful economists, and can compare you to others who have succeeded in good graduate programs and become successful economists. If you draft the LOR yourself, you won't be in a position to put in such comparisons with their past students who have succeeded at good grad programs. If the prof has taught a number of successful students in the past, you don't need to stick out as the best - just as comparable to people who have succeeded in programs like the ones you're applying to. Perhaps they'll add it and just want a couple of paragraphs about what makes you unique to make it seem like they know you better, but I'm guessing if they knew you well enough they would just write their own letter from memory and the information you gave them.

 

Incidentally on LORs (its been said before, but I think is worth repeating): I would highly recommend giving profs you're asking for an LOR a stack of paper including full unofficial transcripts, a draft statement of purpose and/or a research proposal for a scholarship application (NSF, SSHRC, etc), and possibly a paper if you've written a research paper in a field related to what you want to do your PhD in. (Your profs will likely appreciate you doing this)

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  • 4 years later...

Hello, hello.

 

Long-ish time reader, first time poster here.

 

This thread has been dead a long time now, i know, but this seemed the most appropriate place to post this rather odd question.So,let's get to the point.

 

Do you ask an ex Minister of Finance (given that he's your professor,of course) to write you a LOR, if your country is a member of the "PIGS"?

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Hello, hello.

 

Long-ish time reader, first time poster here.

 

This thread has been dead a long time now, i know, but this seemed the most appropriate place to post this rather odd question.So,let's get to the point.

 

Do you ask an ex Minister of Finance (given that he's your professor,of course) to write you a LOR, if your country is a member of the "PIGS"?

 

Do you happen to be Portuguese or Greek?

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Hello, hello.

 

Long-ish time reader, first time poster here.

 

This thread has been dead a long time now, i know, but this seemed the most appropriate place to post this rather odd question.So,let's get to the point.

 

Do you ask an ex Minister of Finance (given that he's your professor,of course) to write you a LOR, if your country is a member of the "PIGS"?

 

As long as he doesn't write something like "Youngecon is an exemplary scholar who has assisted me with my research on fiscal policy. He/She is an enlighten student who shares many of my views, in fact I would go as far as to say I see a bit of me in him/her." I think you should be good (assuming he was in office while the whole sovereign debt debacle was taking place)

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I think I'll try to indirectly mention this to the professor so as to be good for both of us.

This is an occasion to be direct. Be polite about it, but any reasonable professor will understand that you want to make sure you're getting the best application you can.

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As long as he doesn't write something like "Youngecon is an exemplary scholar who has assisted me with my research on fiscal policy. He/She is an enlighten student who shares many of my views, in fact I would go as far as to say I see a bit of me in him/her." I think you should be good (assuming he was in office while the whole sovereign debt debacle was taking place)

 

The sovereign debt problem was not generated by the cabinets who were in charge throughout the 2009-present period, but rather by those which preceded them.

 

I'm Greek.

 

I wanted to avoid naming'n'shaming, so i just went with "PIGS".

 

I just asked that because Portugal and Greece have had (in recent years) a high percentage of finance ministers holding PhD's in Economics.

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