It took me nearly ten years to stop thinking that all students should have great rec letters even if they're not great students. Now, I just write them. They're all nice. Letters for great students whom I know well have lots of detail and evidence for my claims. Letters for slackers, just deliver whatever I can think of that might help the student suceed. My "just write it" philosophy saves me HOURS per (bad) letter because it doesn't take very long to write a nice letter for a weak or inattentive student, and it can take a very long time to negotiate with a student who shouldn't have asked for a letter in the first place. These folks are likely to make several visits to your office with bad news about the other people who won't write letters for them (too busy, cough!). Also, asking for supporting materials from a weak student is like shooting yourself in the foot--it generates three or four visits, you give them comments, get no results, or the product deteriorates, you remember why the student is weak, the letter gets harder to write. Yikes!
All I do is explain the difference between a strong letter and a weak letter to everyone who asks me for one. I do that in abstract terms, so it's less horrible for the student, and if they really need to look elsewhere, I spend some time helping them brainstorm about people who know them better.
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Posted by kodachrome to academicsecret at 8/29/2006 07:12:29 PM
