<p>I heard lots of the similar stories before, but this time it happens in my son's school--
A science teacher wants every student who asks for rec letter to turn in a draft. </p>
<p>This really hits me as it did happen so close to home. I'm kind of wonder: can't colleges tell the fake rec letters?</p>
<p>P.S. Sorry if there was a tread of this topic already existed. I'll really appreciate if you can find the tread for me if there was one.</p>
<p>Yes.
But it’s also common of teachers to ask for information on the student that they didn’t get from teaching them. For example, it can help a math teacher to know the student has a hobby concerning baseball statistics. That would explain aspects of their math performance.
If the teacher asked for a “draft,” I would make it as rough as possible in order to avoid problems if there is an investigation.</p>
<p>Whenever I’ve written letters of recommendation for a student or professional colleague, I’ve asked the person to tell me why they need that letter (job or college admission), and what they’d like me to be certain to cover. That way I can better focus the letter for the target reader(s). Most recently, the colleague was applying to graduate school programs in two very different professional fields. My colleague was equally well qualified for both of those programs, but the focus of each letter needed to be completely different from the other. Had I not known that, neither letter would have done the job.</p>
<p>^^thanks guys.
I understand the “asking for information” part. My son already has two teachers rec letters done last month. Among them is another science teacher who is notoriously slow, and he also requested students submitting brag sheets.
But the story I just heard (from another parent friend, that’s her kid’s science teacher) is actually a draft of the letter. According to my friend, that teacher said he is overwhelming by all the rec letter requests, so he wants everyone turn in the drafts.
I’m wondering: say if 30 kids turning in 30 drafts, each with different style of writings, unless the letters all go to different colleges, would college snese that the letters not done by same person? Or Adcom just too busy to look at those details?</p>
<p>
Probably pretty easily. The average HS senior doesn’t have the maturity and experience of a seasoned teacher and so is likely to focus on different stories and attributes. Nor are they likely to use phrases like “in my 20 years of teaching”.</p>
<p>I don’t think so. I wrote my own recommendation letter and got accept at multiple top schools.</p>
<p>Best way to fake it is through imitations. Steps:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Get a copy of a scientific paper in Nature or Science, Hemmingway book, and Dickinson book. Find 10 complex sentences from each work and imitate their structure and word choice.</p></li>
<li><p>Get a copy of a recommendation letter for a researcher or graduate student. Get your parents grad school recommendation letters. Imitate the style.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Obviously don’t say : “CCsniper was da coolest bro I knew.” Say: “CCsniper demonstrates the utmost work ethics, surpassing my expectations for his quality of work.” Proceed to make up a detail example.</p>
<p>Complex sentences and semi colons will get you a long way. Hemmingway will keep your sentences compact but powerful. So make it like Long (complex sentence), short (active voice sentence), short and repeat this pattern of Long short short.</p>
<p>I mean if your teacher or outside person allows you to to write your own recommendation letter, they trust you and your judgement. It would be foolish to decline their goodwill and pass the opportunity up.</p>
<p>All of us who have done a fair amount of writing can take someone else’s draft and whip it into shape. It is so much easier to do that than to write to whole thing from scratch.</p>
<p>^^I never thought of that. Good point.</p>