{"id":1621,"date":"2016-03-03T16:17:50","date_gmt":"2016-03-03T21:17:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/phdplus\/?p=1621"},"modified":"2016-03-03T16:17:50","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T21:17:50","slug":"writing-better-recommendations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/phdplus\/2016\/03\/03\/writing-better-recommendations\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing Better Recommendations"},"content":{"rendered":"

So much of our daily to-do lists seem to be tasks for which we have little-to-no training, few direct guidelines, and practically no oversight (at least until mid-tenure review). I’ve just sent off several letters of recommendation for students hoping for REUs or transfers, and even though I’ve written a few of these over the years, I still feel like I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with that feeling in my day-to-day life, but usually it’s only my<\/em> career I’m potentially damaging with a mistake. The thought that I could screw up the future of one of my bright young students with a careless letter is worrying, to say the least.<\/p>\n

So I started researching. I still haven’t implemented some of the suggestions in the links below, but I will in the future. I hope this will be helpful for those of you who are in the same boat. For everyone else who already knows the drill, I hope you will chime in with your advice in the comments.<\/p>\n

First, PhD+’s creator Adriana Salerno has some great tips<\/a>. She says to be specific, and give examples of your interactions with the student. She also talks about the difficulties of addressing a student’s weaknesses when asked to do so, which mercifully I haven’t had to do yet. The comments are also extremely helpful, one giving a nice breakdown of how to structure a letter.<\/p>\n

Another problem with letter-writing is how to get the right kind of information from the student in the most efficient way. Michael Orrison at Harvey Mudd wrote a nice piece<\/a> for the MAA where he lays out his process. He has a separate page<\/a> on his site directing students to send him not just the relevant practical details (due dates, envelopes\/links, etc), but also more specialized information to help him write a great letter. The students answer questions like “For what classes have I had you, what final grades did I assign you, and how did you distinguish yourself in my classes?” and “What are your long-term goals and will this position\/honor\/award help? If so, how?” No matter how well you think you know a student, their answers to these questions can’t help but improve your letter. He also specifically requests that students send email reminders when deadlines approach. I think some students are nervous about appearing to nag, but I would welcome a quick heads-up to make sure I don’t forget due dates.<\/p>\n

One more subtle concern is the effect of biases hidden in my letters. This handy reference<\/a> from The University of Arizona Commission on the Status of Women is directed specifically at gender bias in recommendations, but it can also help us examine other lurking biases with a more critical eye. There are general suggestions (“Keep It Professional: Letters of reference for women are 7x more likely to mention personal life – something that is almost always irrelevant for the application”) as well as a list of words to use and others to consider avoiding. We all have biases – I’m growing more and more aware of mine – and the best we can do is to recognize them and confront them whenever we can.<\/p>\n

The hardest thing for me to learn was how to diplomatically decline to write a letter. If the student seemed to lack both aptitude and drive in my courses, I won’t waste my time (or those of the eventual recipient) trying to find a positive spin, no matter how much I might like them. In one memorable case, my attempts to gently turn such a student away were too subtle for them to catch. Rather than deal with that again, I now say that I just didn’t get a good enough sense of their abilities in class, and because of that I probably wouldn’t be able to write an effective letter. So far, so good.<\/p>\n

One last requirement, adopted from a colleague, is to mandate that the student update me when they hear the results of their application, good or bad. It’s harder for people to disappear at a school as small as Hood, but at previous institutions I would occasionally write a bang-up recommendation for a student, only to never see or hear from them again. I don’t think students intentionally neglect to tell us the results, but they seem to respond to making this expectation clear.<\/p>\n

What are your recommendation tips? Especially those of you on the other side – what works? What doesn’t?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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So much of our daily to-do lists seem to be tasks for which we have little-to-no training, few direct guidelines, and practically no oversight (at least until mid-tenure review). I’ve just sent off several letters of recommendation for students hoping … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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