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.
Thanks for this, Jeff. It's also the same person at Cornell, UVA or U Chicago reading along geographical lines, so everyone applying from Westchester gets read by the same admissions officer (making it essential that we write differentiated character sketches of each candidate).
I've also had the opposite happen (to your lovely anecdote) --- where NYU rejected a student of mine that I didn't write a rec for (she was in my senior class) --- and I wrote a substantial follow-up, unsolicited letter on her behalf. I'd really poured my heart into it, and all I got back was a literal "form letter" email stating the following:
Thank you for your letter advocating for ______________. I appreciate educators who are in tune with their students' abilities and take the time to communicate to others what they see in those students that makes them special. _____________ is fortunate to have someone like you in her circle.
I am also sorry for the disappointing news and understand that it can raise questions about our admission decision. While we are unable to speak to specifics of individual applications, and we do not have an appeals process, please know that _____________application was given full consideration by the admission committee.
At NYU, we conduct a holistic application review. This means that we consider a student's academic performance and test scores in conjunction with other, more qualitative factors (recommendation letters, extracurricular activities, and writing, just to name a few). All of these areas impacted our decisions, along with the knowledge that a limited amount of space was available in many of our programs. Our process is an involved and difficult one, and we were forced to make unfavorable decisions for many perfectly qualified candidates.
While this isn't the result you, or more importantly, _________________________, were hoping for, I trust that she will be able to move forward toward other educational opportunities. We wish her all the best in her pursuits.
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.
Thanks for this, Jeff. It's also the same person at Cornell, UVA or U Chicago reading along geographical lines, so everyone applying from Westchester gets read by the same admissions officer (making it essential that we write differentiated character sketches of each candidate).
I've also had the opposite happen (to your lovely anecdote) --- where NYU rejected a student of mine that I didn't write a rec for (she was in my senior class) --- and I wrote a substantial follow-up, unsolicited letter on her behalf. I'd really poured my heart into it, and all I got back was a literal "form letter" email stating the following:
Thank you for your letter advocating for ______________. I appreciate educators who are in tune with their students' abilities and take the time to communicate to others what they see in those students that makes them special. _____________ is fortunate to have someone like you in her circle.
I am also sorry for the disappointing news and understand that it can raise questions about our admission decision. While we are unable to speak to specifics of individual applications, and we do not have an appeals process, please know that _____________application was given full consideration by the admission committee.
At NYU, we conduct a holistic application review. This means that we consider a student's academic performance and test scores in conjunction with other, more qualitative factors (recommendation letters, extracurricular activities, and writing, just to name a few). All of these areas impacted our decisions, along with the knowledge that a limited amount of space was available in many of our programs. Our process is an involved and difficult one, and we were forced to make unfavorable decisions for many perfectly qualified candidates.
While this isn't the result you, or more importantly, _________________________, were hoping for, I trust that she will be able to move forward toward other educational opportunities. We wish her all the best in her pursuits.