For a variety of reasons, I’ve recently been thinking and reading a lot about one of the most recognized hallmarks of academia: the letter of recommendation. What purpose exactly do those sheets of paper (or these days, electronic files) really serve? And what are the implications and ethics surrounding the writing of those letters? For the sake of consistency, let me first go ahead and categorize the personal statement as a very specific subspecies of the letter of recommendation. It just happens to be one written by the subject him/herself (for the sake of readability, I have used the masculine pronoun in the rest of the essay).
To begin, letters of recommendation are a critical component to advancement at many stages of an academic career: for more selective undergraduate institutions and programs, for admission to graduate and professional schools, for fellowship applications, and then even after graduation, for any post-doctoral or faculty positions in academia. However, what do they really say about the candidate? Though stories abound about the letters of recommendation that sank professional school hopefuls, by and large, they tend to be positive, and in the case of applications to fellowships like the Marshall or Rhodes, I’ve read that “superlatives are the coin of the realm”.
So if for the most part, letters of recommendation for candidates do not stand out by means of praise, what do they do? My answer: they paint a portrait of the applicant. And like portraits, different artists—including the applicant himself—may choose to paint from a different angle, capturing only one side of a hopefully three-dimensional subject. Furthermore, a good artist will capture the best of the subject, but not try to re-imagine him as something more than he is. Indeed, many selection committees guard against that very temptation by not only arranging a face-to-face interview, but also asking for quite a few letters from different people—It is not uncommon for Rhodes applicants to have seven letters of recommendation in addition to their personal statements. By doing so, one is effectively asking for a series of portraits, all of which are made from different angles, capturing some unique aspect of the candidate. The best letters have to thus be entirely true, so that the selection committee is able to reconstruct a single three dimensional model from the combination of letters, interview, transcript, and curriculum vitae. While overly zealous praise might seem to be in the best interests of the candidate, if that praise seems at odds with the pictures painted by the other factors, it will hinder, rather than support. This is even more important for the personal statement; we are taught in America to focus on our achievements, but we should never do so at the cost of veracity.
So what are the implications for undergraduate students seeking admission to professional or graduate schools? Well, I think the most important things to take from this are that (1) it is important to find letter writers who know you well in a variety of different settings and (2) do not over-exaggerate your own accomplishments. Letters of recommendation cannot make you seem to be a better person than you are or gloss over the shortcomings you possess, but like a good portrait, they can accentuate the best in you to the selections committee. Just make sure that the letter writers know enough about you to be able to write about those particular wonderful characteristics that make you worthy of your dreams.
In closing, I would just like to exhort everyone to thank their recommenders. Writing a good letter is in my admittedly limited opinion, at least as difficult as writing a good personal statement. And just think how many times you redrafted that silly thing!
In deep gratitude of the multitudinous faculty and staff who’ve made my academic dreams possible…
William
