Paul wrote:
> ============
> I got your request for a letter of recommendation for
> graduate school. I have to tell you that I don't feel very
> comfortable writing such a letter, for two reasons. The first
> reason is the significant difficulty that you had with the
> Experimental Psychology independent project, which would
> require me to watch my words very carefully when talking
> about your research skills. The second reason is the
> significant social interaction problems in the operation of
> the Psych Forum group, which would prevent me from saying
> anything sufficiently positive about your skills in that area.
Why not simply shorten that to:
I received your request to write a letter of recommendation on
your behalf. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, I feel I must
decline to do so.
> I want to be clear about what I'm saying and why I'm
> saying it. You did demonstrate some research abilities in my
> courses, particularly in Behavioral Science Research Methods
> and in Probability and Statistics. You also demonstrated some
> ability to work with theory, in the Lifespan Development
> course. Were that my only familiarity with your performance,
> I could write a letter, though that would not be much to go
> on for a graduate school recommendation (which usually
> requires comment on upper-level work as well). However, my
> awareness of the later problems mean that any letter that I
> wrote would be clearly tentative. Graduate admissions
> committees expect letters of recommendation that are without
> reservations, and my reservations would be apparent. Such a
> letter would not be helpful to you in your pursuit.
This part could then be omitted completely. The student knows
her problems there, you don't need to tell her what they were (if you
do, she doesn't belong in grad school anyway).
> My best advice to you is to pursue letters from faculty
> whose upper-level courses you took, and in which you had
> solid performances. If you still need a third letter after
> those, an OCEL supervisor would be an excellent choice.
This would still fit with the revised first paragraph.
> ============
> There are a few other issues besides these (such as
> some inappropriate requests in her request for a letter of
> recommendation), but I don't want to come across as attacking
> the student.
By providing only the fact that you decline to write the letter,
and recommending more appropriate sources for it, as the above does,
you've fulfilled any reasonable expectations of a student and, in
addition, have provided her no "ammunition" whatever to use against you
should she wish to do so.
Hope it helps,
Rick Adams
--
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". . . and the only measure of your worth and your deeds will be the
love you leave behind when you're gone." --Fred Small
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