Letter of Rec/Admission in General

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the process of applying to graduate school, specifically focusing on obtaining recommendation letters and addressing academic performance in personal statements. Participants share their experiences and seek advice on how to navigate these aspects of the application process.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses confusion about a professor's request for a draft of a recommendation letter, interpreting it as a suggestion to write their own letter, which feels unusual.
  • Another participant suggests that the professor's request is common and indicates a desire for guidance on what to include in the letter, potentially addressing the applicant's GPA concerns.
  • A different viewpoint emphasizes that the professor is trusting the applicant's self-judgment and that the letter will likely require revisions after the initial draft is submitted.
  • Concerns about the impact of a lower GPA from junior college are raised, with suggestions that the applicant's strong performance in upper-level courses may mitigate these concerns.
  • One participant notes that specific grades in foundational courses may not significantly affect graduate school admissions if higher-level performance is demonstrated.
  • A participant shares their experience of drafting a recommendation letter for themselves and acknowledges the challenge of creating distinct letters for multiple professors.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that addressing GPA concerns and the recommendation letter process are important, but there are differing opinions on how to approach these issues. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the best strategies for addressing academic performance in personal statements and the implications of drafting recommendation letters.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty about the appropriateness of explaining past academic struggles in personal statements and the expectations surrounding recommendation letters, indicating a lack of consensus on these topics.

HungryChemist
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Hi, time has come! I am finally applying to graduate school.
It's been a couple weeks since I started preparing applications and so on. I never thought how much work all this is!(I'm glad that I dropped one class earlier). Anyway, I have a couple questions that I would like to get your attention to. I will be brief as possible, and I would like your honest opinion! Truth shouldn't hurt me!

Q1
So I asked a recommendation letter to two of professors whom I've been serving as a research assistant over an year. Here's reply I got

"It will be better if you can prepare a draft and send it to me as a template, I will be glad to go over it once this is done"

I don't know what he means by 'template', to my optimistic interpretation, does he perhaps means that I write my own rec. letter and give it to him? Sounds weird! but that's the only interpretation I can come up with. I'm simply too scared to ask him what he meant. What do you guyz say?

Q2
I received my junior college transcript. It's got D's and F's. Many W. Overal GPA of 3.25. Oh my...

Anyway, I did well in my current University taking only upper level courses and have 3.7 GPA. But here comes the twist, due to 4 years accumulated credit over junior college(yope, I spent 4 years!) when I combined two years of current university credit to come up with total UGPA, I get something like 3.4. There's nothing I can do about it. But I was wondering if I should explain this on my personal statement. Back in junior college, I had to pay out of state tuition with no parent support so I had to work full time while going to school and it was hard. Then by the time I transfer, I became a legal resident of the state and didn't have to work. Should I say this on my personal statement? Or let the transcript say it all?

Thanks for helping me out. I would love to hear your own story. Especially if there's any of you who've over come low GPA to enter graduate school!
 
Last edited:
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HungryChemist said:
Hi, time has come! I am finally applying to graduate school.
It's been a couple weeks since I started preparing applications and so on. I never thought how much work all this is!(I'm glad that I dropped one class earlier). Anyway, I have a couple questions that I would like to get your attention to. I will be brief as possible, and I would like your honest opinion! Truth shouldn't hurt me!

Q1
So I asked a recommendation letter to two of professors whom I've been serving as a research assistant over an year. Here's reply I got

"It will be better if you can prepare a draft and send it to me as a template, I will be glad to go over it once this is done"

From my experience, this is not uncommon. He just wants an idea of what you would like him to say in the letter. Perhaps he could address your GPA issue, and say you are knowledgeable and hard working, and your GPA doesn't reflect this well. (But you GPA isn't bad, either).
 
That professor is trusting your honesty in letting you tell him what you want him to write. It's not bad; he sees no major disadvantage in you personally and none professionally, but still does not know you well enough, so he wants you to help him know what to write about you. HE IS TRUSTING YOUR SELF-JUDGEMENT. You and he will probably need to revise and negotiate exactly what and how is expressed in the letter after you give him your first draft.

The D's, F's, and W's: Maybe not too bad a situation if they were mostly in ONE subject area and if you re-enrolled and successfully gained credit. What you did about those low results may be very important in understanding your personal and professional qualities. (my opinion).
 
I would not be so worried about your GPA. If your transcript shows overall 3.7 in your upper level classes that should be impressive. Why would a grad school mind a C in Calc I but an A in Real Analysis, or a C in intro to Physics but a B+ in Advanced Quantum Mechanic
 
Thanks for the reply. Okay, so I started writing a letter for myself. But I ran into a problem. It's simply not possible to write three letter for myself. They all look the same. So I decided to write the letter in a template form (I now understand what he meant by this!) So it goes something like..."here, please evaluate my research ability" and so on.

I guess, I am just too nervous about everything. Better luck for those who's applying this year.
 

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