<p>I have received a email of Prof. who is the four Recommender, after I sent a request by online system.</p>
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<p>University of ... has asked me a recommendation letter for your application to a Ph.D.</p>
<p>I made a very short statement saying that:
- you followed my course in ....,
- I do not know you well enough to make any recommendation (neither positive, nor negative).</p>
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<p>My application status is not submitted. And I am big worrying about my application. Thinking, I wish to delete this Recommender on the system, which has a function to delete. How do you think about this? and what happy if I delete it.
Thank you.</p>
<p>Even if you did not submit your app - most colleges download and file other components like transcript / recommendations etc. You will need to understand the system used by the college to make a determination as to if deleting or not filing the app will nullify the response from your teacher.</p>
<p>In retrospect and for others who read this -
Rule # 1 for teacher recommendation - select teachers who you think know you well
Rule # 2 ask teacher and make sure they are willing to recommend you before you submit their name</p>
<p>First off, you’re in the wrong forum. You are applying for a PhD program, this is the forum for undergrad admission. You’ll probably get more useful advice if you post in the correct forum, eg. “Graduate School”.</p>
<p>That said, and with the caveat I don’t have a PhD, I think this rec is even worse than it sounds on the face of it. Perhaps you aren’t aware, but to get a PhD you have to find a faculty advisor who helps steer your research into your thesis topic. So personal contact is critical, and many headed off to grad school do so with the advice and assistance of their undergrad profs, at least a few of which they made a point of getting to know during their 4 year career. </p>
<p>Reading between the lines this rec seems to say “Here’s some guy that wants to get into our club (eg. PhD), yet he doesn’t know how the game is played. I wouldn’t recognize him if he walked into my office tomorrow; maybe you’ll have better luck getting to know him”.</p>