They have to write you a letter of reference!!?

[wisdom_tooth]

I've heard, just pure hear say btw, that profs have to write you a reference letter if you approach them, it's apart of their job/duty. Of course you can't force anybody to do anything and of course the quality of the letter may not be good. If this is the case, I got jipped FOUR TIMES lol, once by my physics prof, 2 bio profs, and one chem prof.

 

Although one of the profs was honest and said basically I won't write you one because I don't know you well enough, in other words, he would've probably done it, but it probably would not have been beneficial to me. But the rest were such a-holes, they straight up said NO lol. If what I've heard is true, I'm pretty pissed, seeing that to apply to american dental schools, they require very specific reference letters i.e. one reference letter from a bio prof, one from a chem prof etc. Although this matter can apply to anyone who needs a ref letter from an academic, whether you're appling to med, school, dental school, grad school etc.

 

If anyone can confirm this for me, that would be greatly appreciated

 

-wisdom_tooth

[wisdom_tooth]

ps. I'm going to be honest, I didn't do a search on this topic, I'm just too anger and I need to vent

 

sorry

[Jochi1543]

Yes, they are not obliged to do this, they just have to be reasonable. And I would suggest NOT pressuring them or trying to claim that they HAVE to, because otherwise they'll write you a really bad one. When I worked in an academic department, this happened to one student who was a huge PITA. She kept bugging everyone to write her LORs, but everyone hated her and refused, but she woudn't leave the department chair alone until he said "yes." So he wrote her an honest LOR saying everything he hated about her. Not surprisingly, she didn't get into any of the grad schools she applied to!

[lostintime]

Depends who you're asking...if it's a supervisor, I would say they're pretty mean not to write one for you UNLESS you've been a poor student and screwed up their lab (then asking them is really asking for trouble). But a lukewarm letter is worse than no letter at all sometimes.

 

And no one has the obligation to do anything for another person really. They do it out of their own time and I'm usually grateful becaue they are such busy people.

[wisdom_tooth]

I agree with everyone, nobody can be forced into writing you a ref letter, plus it's going to be a horrible one anyways. But the problem is that I've taken only first year and 2nd year level science courses, which are all massive in size 200+ students. I have no problem in getting ref letters from my research supervisor, from my boss, and from other profs (like my physio profs, and my psych profs), I already got 4 when I applied to grad school this year. Seeing that dent schools in the states are so specific, these science ref letters are the only thing stopping me from applying to the states, this is why I'm bitter.

 

how hard is it for them to write you a one page, letter? I mean it doesn't even have to be amazing, just enough to make you sound like a good student that's well rounded. I'm even willing to write one for them, give it to them and they can make whatever changes they want to it, if time is what's stopping them from writing me one. I mean don't these profs realize that students can't become buddy buddy with ALL the their profs??

I don't know, I just think it really sucks, or maybe I'm not trying hard enough

[wisdom_tooth]

Depends who you're asking...if it's a supervisor, I would say they're pretty mean not to write one for you UNLESS you've been a poor student and screwed up their lab (then asking them is really asking for trouble). But a lukewarm letter is worse than no letter at all sometimes.

 

And no one has the obligation to do anything for another person really. They do it out of their own time and I'm usually grateful becaue they are such busy people.

 

"And no one has the obligation to do anything for another person really. They do it out of their own time and I'm usually grateful becaue they are such busy people" I understand the busy part of it but it's not like they're doing it for free, or doing me a favour, I mean, they do get paid, although some may argue they're only getting paid to teach. But still, if that's the case then they shouldn't have out of class office hours etc.

I just think some profs need to be more sympathetic and not so cold hearted. When they blatantly say no, as if they're doing me a favour, that's what really burns me.

[avenir001]

aww wisdom tooth i'm sorry u had to go thru that 4 times...i donno why some ppl are so mean...it's hard enuf asking ppl for ref letters/worrying about refusals...

altho they don't have to do it, they should realize that it's just one of those things that comes with the job and be willing to help those starting out...if they don't know u well enuf, they could always ask to see ur CV and invite u to their office for a 30-min chitchat..afterall, this strategy seems to be enuf for med schools to "get to know" u...

anyway, definitely don't try to make them write one if they don't want to...find someone else and perhaps approach them differently this time...say that u realize they don't know u well, but u'd be willing to meet with them to talk about u/provide CV/answer questions/etc...to show them how great u are.

good luck.

[Blackkeys]

I've heard directly from profs that they *are* obliged to write reference letters... however, they aren't obliged to say 1) anything good, or 2) write them within unreasonable time limits. I think their *obligations* don't go beyond "This person was in my class and achieved X grade." They can send the letterhead with a big ol' "I don't know him/her from the other 600 students." When they write something meaningful, then they are taking time out of their busy schedules and yes, doing you a favour. That's why we send thank-you cards. I dunno, maybe it varies between universities, but certainly in certain/some schools it's part of the job description.