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> “He was very, very, very nice guy,” Dr. Fefferman said. “For a while, letters of recommendation from him were discounted, because he was such a nice guy that
by lordnacho 7y ago
> “He was very, very, very nice guy,” Dr. Fefferman said. “For a while, letters of recommendation from him were discounted, because he was such a nice guy that he didn’t want to say anything bad about anybody.”
Does anyone say anything that isn't super positive in recommendations? My impression is they're an anachronism from a time when people were sincere. Nowadays nobody wants get sued for being less than positive.
- throwlaplace 7y agothey simply say non-things such as "this person was in my class, they had rank xyz, they came to office hours, etc." before i knew how to ask for letters of rec (be sure to clarify explicitly whether they're prepared to write you a strong letter of rec) i had a prof fill 90% of the letter with his own biography (yes this was also the first time that the letter writer sent me the letter he'd written).
- nabla9 7y ago"Consider yourself very lucky if you can get this man to work for you." has two different meanings. Nobody is forced to write letters of recommendation. Only thing needed is employment certificate with minimum information. Lack of recommendation tells something.