I was going to steer clear of this post (I feel a little inexperienced in this realm), but I think that kodachrome brings up a good point. When my partner was on the search committee at our old school he introduced me to the concept that what the letter conveys is not so much the positive or negative tone (not that it's unimportant), but the length and detail, which say much more about the student.
I used to detail strengths and weaknesses when I wrote letters for students (usually undergrads looking for jobs, grad school, etc.). Now I let myself focus on their strengths without worrying so much about detailing their faults, knowing that my endorsement will come through in other subtle ways. Brainstorming better candidates is a good idea too.
But, like I said, I don't have much experience with this yet.
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Posted by fraud, in denim to academicsecret at 8/29/2006 07:51:24 PM
