A letter of unrecommendation

As classes start today, I've been getting a lot of emails about overrides, prerequisites, GPAs, and lovely little notices from IT telling me that "Banner (the system we use for everything related to registration) will be down for emergency maintenance until 3pm/7pm/midnight today". I've had to crank up my caffeine intake, and relearn to not respond in the maternal fashion I'd re-adopted over Christmas break and solve every little issue for my students, but so far, I'm not doing too bad. Translation: I haven't gotten annoyed at anyone yet.

Unfortunately, among the usual student requests, faculty reminders, and announcements from the chair/dean/provost, there has also been an increasing amount of requests for letter of recommendations. Well, I shouldn't call them requests really, as most emails are worded, and laid out, something like this:

"Dear Dr. DixieChick, how are you? I have decided to apply to two schools for grad school. I need a letter of recommendation for both. I am applying to Whatever College to get my Master's in BS and to the University of Who Cares for a MBS. I need the letters mailed to me. My address is below. Thanks!!!!!!"

Don't you just love the overenthusiastic use of exclamation marks? The total lack of paragraphing? I know I do. And what I like most is the fact that most of these students not only assume that I think they are graduate school material, but also that I will sit down and spend a good hour crafting them a worthy letter of recommendation pretty much on demand.

Letters of recommendation are, as far as I know, pretty much an American invention. I've seen them in the UK on occasion, and then mainly in lieu of prestigious graduate school applications, but I don't really remember running across them much in continental Europe. An employer might ask you to supply references, and schools and internships might ask you to write a personal letter of intent, but that's about it. Here in the US, however, all graduate schools, internships, and many, many job openings require at least three letters of recommendation. And popular sources for such letters are, you guessed right, college professors.

Now I can write a letter of recommendation like nobody's business. If I think you're recommendable, that is. And that's where the moral wrangling comes in that inspired this blog post.

You see, most of my students are nice. And most of them do try really hard. Unfortunately, nice and trying hard doesn't always equal graduate school material. I firmly believe that only those students whose GPA is at least a 3.5, and who have displayed superior thinking and writing skills should move on to graduate school. So whenever a students needs a letter of recommendation, those are the only two things I take into consideration when deciding whether or not to comply with their request.

And that's where it gets tough. Because I want the best for all of my students. And graduate school could be a great opportunity. Not only that, but in this less-than-perfect economy, graduate school is a great way to delay the need to find a job. And I know that most of my students are crushed when they don't get into graduate school, a feat which could hinge on the lack of a letter of recommendation from one of their professors. But at the same time, a less than perfect GPA and only hesitant writing skills pretty much spell disaster for any graduate school career. In addition, when I put my name and signature on a piece of paper, I feel like I'm giving someone my stamp of approval. And that every graduate school will not only judge the student on his or her performance, but me as well. And do I really want to send every bright-eyed student who gets the idea that graduate school is the solution to their every problem on to something I know they can't handle?

Honestly, people, I know the answer. It's no. No, I shouldn't write letters of recommendation for people I don't think are ready for graduate school. I may not know how to sew on a button, but I'm not an idiot. But how do you break that to someone who believes that everything is within their reach as long as they try hard enough? Someone whose self esteem hinges on their acceptance into graduate school? That's a lot of pressure.

So I've come up with a few friendly turns of phrase that I've been using. My favorite at the moment is, "I don't think I can write the letter of recommendation you need to get into graduate school right now", although I've also used, "I really think you need more practical experience before you're ready for such an endeavor", and the incredibly passive aggressive, "I'm sorry, but I really don't have time to write such a letter for you at this moment, have you tried Dr. Next Door?". Interestingly, every time I write such a response, I feel really bad, but at the same time I despise myself for not being honest and simply writing something like, "You're a great person, and you were fun to have in class, but I don't think you're graduate school material". Brutal honesty just would not go over well. I don't think. Or would it? (And hello new moral dilemma!)