Generic letter of recommendation -- what now?

December 19, 2015 8:08 PM

I'm applying for a fellowship, and my recommender showed me the letter he sent out on my behalf. Turns out it's rather generic and, while very positive, does not give examples of my supposed awesomeness.

The letter isn't negative, and uses some really superlative language, but simply doesn't give any examples. My recommender worked with me for a brief time, and plus he is an older faculty member. Based on how he offered (without my asking-- which made me think his letter would be fantastic!) to write me a recommendation and recommend me for programs in the future, it almost sounded like he was mostly used to recommending his students and having programs "trust" his word ("let me know if you are interested in Insitutions X, Y, or Z; I am familiar with those")-- this would be fine in every other case, except the fellowship I'm applying to is small and wouldn't be familiar with his standing in the field.

The application is due in a few days, so I don't think I would realistically have time to change recommenders, unless I ask somebody else who has written letters for me in the past to just submit an old letter they've written for me in the past. (Would this be considered very rude? Eek.) This wouldn't change the fact that the program has already confirmed receipt of the first letter. I am not completely sure what the fellowship's policy is on sending additional letters. The fellowship requires two letters, so I do have one more letter to be sent that will probably be less generic.

I really, really want to land this fellowship, so... Should I switch recommenders at the last minute? Would this look bad to... everyone involved? What else could I do to mitigate the effect? Surely I can't tell him to revise the letter. Does it matter less than I think it does (I.e., most applicants have a generic letter and so on)? I don't even know if this will ultimately make a difference, since the fellowship is very competitive and it is possible that the letter isn't going to be the make-or-break. Still, I would appreciate your help here!

posted by fernweh to Education (7 answers total)

Could it be that this person is respected enough that it's doesn't matter what they write specifically but rather the fact that they write in your behalf at all outweighs their lack of effort? Just a thought. Maybe they are respected enough that their stamp of approval is what matters more than their actual letter?
posted by ian1977 at 8:22 PM on December 19, 2015 [5 favorites]

There's a lot of variation in the quality (and specificity) of recommendation letters, because to many faculty members writing them is a chore (some even have the recommendee do a first draft). Thus a positive but not ebullient letter is not an unusual thing, and the people reading the letters generally know this.

I think you're freaking out about this a little, because your proposed solutions are worse than the problem. Don't ask someone else to resubmit an old letter (terrible idea) and don't try to finagle a switch in recommendations (it will certainly look very bad to the people receiving the letters, and at best the faculty member recommending you won't know it happened, at worst they'll find out and hate you). Take a breath and realize that a good-but-not-stellar recommendation is not some special unusual thing that only happens to you. It probably won't be the lynchpin determining whether you receive the fellowship.
posted by axiom at 9:08 PM on December 19, 2015 [3 favorites]

I think it depends on the field. In my field (medicine), it is a big deal who the letters of rec come from, program directors give a lot more weight to a very positive letter from someone they know and trust than one that says you're a candidate for sainthood but it's from an unknown individual. People with a lot of experience have more basis on which to rank a student than those who are new to that task - I find that interns and residents often are quicker to heap praise on a medical student as "one of the best I've ever worked with!" because they just haven't worked with that many people.

Even if the fellowship doesn't know this guy personally, the fact that he had (presumably) extensive contact with you, is a senior faculty member and probably has letters after his name or a position to reflect that, and wrote you a very positive letter means a lot. There doesn't seem to be any reason here to try to 'replace' his letter/switch recommenders. In most cases I'm familiar with, the letter writer is not expected nor even intended to show the letter they wrote to the person they are recommending - you're not supposed to have the opportunity to try to sway his opinion of you.

I think at the very most, if you know the contents of the second letter and you think it's not very impressive, you could contact the fellowship and ask if it would be welcomed if you submitted one additional letter. They probably wouldn't object to it - more data is more data. You would then ask someone who had written you a letter before and had something on file. That isn't considered rude, in fact, it's routine - I've done it tons of times. I'd much rather tweak an old letter for a new purpose than write something de novo, it takes a small fraction of the time. Also, in the future if you think it's important that a person include very specific things in your letter, because you know what sorts of things are being looked for, please give that information to the person writing the letter up front. Many of the better students I've recommended have provided me with a list of bullet points they think would be helpful to include, or even written something up that I could practically copy and paste (I don't do that, but I'm sure others do). I bet if you had said to this guy "could you be sure to tell them about my award winning project and its impact on [whatever]?" He would have been happy to do so if he liked you enough to make the kind offer to write a letter without you asking.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 9:10 PM on December 19, 2015 [4 favorites]

If it's any reassurance, from the selection committees I've sat on in the past, letters are interpreted in the following ways:
- Amazing letter: could be a boost especially if from an important/known person, but isn't going to change your standing unless you're already a top contender and it's providing an edge over a competitive, similar applicant.
- Very good letter: no impact on application, applicant is evaluated on their other merits same as they would have been because everyone is expected to have at least very good letters of rec. (It sounds like this would be the category your current letter would fall into)
- Lukewarm letter: seen as a red flag, but doesn't sink an applicant unless there are other red flags, and may prompt a call from someone on the committee to the letter writer or someone else at the institution that they know for more information. If people on the committee are experienced then they tend to know the folks who write letters and will say something like "Dr X is usually much more effusive about great candidates, this letter is relatively weak. Let's find out more."
- Something negative in the letter: could sink you completely but is extremely rare.

Just remember that they are trying to evaluate YOU, not your letter writers and their writing abilities. The letters are just one tool, they are not the ultimate word on your abilities or potential.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 9:25 PM on December 19, 2015 [5 favorites]

Nthing don't do anything about this; all possible solutions are awkward. In my academic field, in the humanities, it is really unusual for a faculty member to show the letter to the graduate student. You wouldn't ever have known that it was generic and that would probably have been for the best.
The details and specifics of your project and your work are in your personal statement. The main purpose of the letter is vouching for you, not explaining specifically what you do. This is always the case to some extent. I don't know about the conventions in the sciences but if this is a humanities fellowship I agree you should let it go.
posted by flourpot at 4:12 AM on December 20, 2015 [2 favorites]

For any future letters, provide your reference with specific examples, so they don't have to think of them. They'll add it in if it seems worth it, and you get the letter you want.
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:38 AM on December 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

My recommender worked with me for a brief time

I agree with everyone else that you're overthinking this and it's less of a big deal than you think, but in the future, if you want people to really discuss your specific accomplishments in references, use people that you've worked closely with for extended periods of time.
posted by Candleman at 1:24 PM on December 20, 2015