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Jeff Berger-White's avatar

Amen, Wes! I wholeheartedly agree. It's mind-boggling to me to hear colleagues talk about using "a boiler-plate" and "just switching out a few adjectives" and then "grounding it in one good specific example."

I approach writing my letters of rec as if each was an essay. It's challenging and time-consuming, but in the end, I know that my letters stand out.

About 10 years ago, the director of admissions at MIT emailed me and asked if we could speak by phone. He wanted to know whether a particular student had taken her foot off the gas, if I would still say that she was among the three or four best students I had ever taught. When I said, yes, absolutely, he told me something that shocked me. He said that he had read all my letters that were on file, and he thanked me for giving me such a specific portrait of each student. I wanted to cry (tears of joy and relief, too). After many, many years of wondering if anyone was actually reading the letters that I devoted myself to, he gave me a deeply affirming answer.

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