I want to make a couple clarifications, then I want to give excerpts of
a letter I wrote that might have caused the student concern, but in the
end it was my letter that got the student into medical school.
Clarification 1: Several people have responded both publicly and
privately that they think it is okay to give copies of letters to
students. Phrases like "what do you have to hide" were stated.
I've got two points to make here. First, I hope the people who give
copies to students are also annotating this on the letter to the
recipient. If not, I would ask, why are you misleading the recipient?
Do you feel a stronger obligation to the student than to the
recipient? Do you think this is ethical?
The second point is one I already mentioned in my first posting...
filtering. By giving a copy of the letter to the student, you run the
risk that the student might feel you were less positive than some other
referee. This means your hard work composing that letter could be for
naught. I don't have time for that. HERE COMES A MAJOR POINT. I
don't think college-age students have the maturity and experience to
judge this. I think I am able to be honest with a recipient about the
student's weaknesses in a way that can actually enhance the student's
chances. A student might not like something I wrote without realizing
it might explain something crucial to the recipient that makes the
recipient more comfortable extending an offer to the student. My
example (at the end of this e-mail) will make this clear.
Clarification 2: Several people have commented that they do not write
"bad" letters. They inform students to seek other referees when they
feel they cannot write a good letter. I feel it is my duty to write
honest letters for every student who asks. This is especially true for
our graduates, but I have also written letters for students who are
transferring, and I have written letters for students who have "flunked
out," and I have written letters for students who have been "thrown
out" (for violations of campus standards).
We certainly have graduates who graduate with GPA's near 2.0 (our
minimum for graduation). Doesn't someone have to write letters for
these people? Of course they do. I write letters all the time for
students who earned grades of C or even grades of D in my courses. If
I am honest, these cannot be totally positive letters. If the student
earned C's in all their science courses, there won't be any science
professor who can write a totally positive letter. If I tell the
student to seek a professor who can write a more positive letter than
I, where will he go?
Example: We had a very bright, industrious, kind, etc. pre-med student
who simply could not write. Here is a verbatim excerpt from the letter
I wrote for him:
<begin quote>
There is no doubt that good writing skills and good performance in
chemistry usually go hand-in-hand. I have often said the good
scientists are also the good writers. But Steve is truly an anomaly.
He is an outstanding scientist and a poor writer. I worked with him
to try to understand how this could be, and I never really succeeded.
When he sits down to write a paragraph about something he understands
very well, things come out mixed up. Today he is much better than he
was when I first started working with him. I have to admit that I have
never understood this particular case. Although this is still a
problem, I do not believe it would affect his performance as a
physician. If he were to do medical research he would need help
writing papers for publication. But that could be accommodated. In
day-to-day writing as a physician there would be no problem in
communication; it would be clear to readers what is being communicated;
but the sentence and paragraph structure would be awkward.
<end quote>
Steve is currently in residency. I have a nice letter from the
admissions committee of the medical school where this student completed
his M.D. The letter states (partly paraphrased)... "We would have
never admitted this student because of his low writing score on the
MCAT. All of his letters of recommendation, except yours, were
extremely positive and made no mention of his writing problem. When we
see strong letters, high GPA, but low writing scores on the MCAT we
almost automatically reject the student. We accepted Steve on the
basis of your honest and candid letter. He has now completed his first
year, and is doing very well. We are pleased he is in our program.
Thank you for taking the time to describe Steve's weaknesses as well
as his strengths."
Now here is the interesting question. If all of Steve's other letters
were positive and made no mention of his writing problems, and if he
had them (and mine) sitting in front of him, and he was trying to
decide whether or not to send mine, (also remember he is 21 years
old)... would he have sent mine? In this case my letter went in by my
own posting, Steve signed the waiver, he did not see the letter, so he
did not have to make the choice.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817