<p>One of my recommenders ( a pretty big name in her field) told me it is her standard procedure to have students write what they want the letter to say and then she uses that as her jumping off point. She sees it as a good exercise for students to be able to point out their strong points, which is a pretty good skill to have int he grad school process.
But she does rewrite it and uses other information, she doesn’t just skim and sign.</p>