what if your supervisor asks you to write your own recletter

Question

any of you guys had to do that? kinda sucks...do the recommenders get contacted by adcom? what do the recommenders say (got them to write it themselves?)

riverripper · Answer

You should find someone else to do it for you. Some schools require you to sign an honor code pledge when applying and writing your own rec clearly violates that. Schools dont allow people to write their own recs and you do provide contact info for your recommenders usually...so it is possible for them to check. Supposedly some schools do spot check recommenders but if he told you to do this he would probably lie. But still its pretty unethical, guiding them along is one thing doing it yourself is another.

pguard · Answer

something to consider: everyone's writing style is unique. Adcoms read hundreds of apps and, after reading 2000 of your words, there is a possibility that they will notice similarities....

kryzak · Answer

don't do it. In the worst case, ask a friend to write it for you and have your recommender edit it. Do not write it yourself.

filmcity · Answer

I know that this problem exists. But it is better to ask him that you are comfortable waiting for longer duration to get the letter written by him whenever he finds time available. But it will slow down your application ( I am still waiting for one of my recommenders to submit his letter for Columbia ED, whereas I have completed my Col application around 10th Sep).

Ntang · Answer

I ran into this problem too. Thing was, it was the same recommender who had offered to write me one. Oy.

Honestly, I don't see a huge ethical problem in writing/outlining a recommendation and then your boss editing it before signing and sending it on. It's not the way I'd prefer to do it, of course. And if you have ready alternatives, it might be better to go with them. But if you don't... eh. I think the ability of adcoms to recognize your "writing style" is overestimated. They do read thousands of essays, of course, and if your writing style is sufficiently sophisticated (i.e. doesn't include obvious errors of grammar, spelling and awkward sentence structure), I doubt they'll notice.

Still, when I'm a big important person who gets recommendation requests eventually, I'll make it a point never to ask a subordinate to write their own. I just think it's tacky.

what if your supervisor asks you to write your own recletter

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