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Terrible recommendation letter - how to delete it?

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Terrible recommendation letter - how to delete it?

by pims » Mon Nov 21, 2011 6:54 pm
One of my two recommenders submitted all her letters and then emailed me a copy of one. She has damned me with very faint praise. I think I have two options:

1. Contact the schools and ask them to delete the letter, saying I've decided to use a different recommender, or

2. Abandon this application and start another.

Any thoughts or advice?
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Water the stock.

by MM_Ed » Mon Nov 21, 2011 9:27 pm
I'm no expert, but I understand that recommendation letters are meant to be confidential. If you want to delete the damning one, it will raise red flags and make them suspect you had access to it, which would really sink you. Right now, it's 50:50 in your favour (I'm assuming the other recommender wasn't snarky).

I'm wondering if you might be able to add a third recommendation letter. Say that someone who wasn't sure they could find time to write you a letter did, and you'd like to add it to your application ; ) Then make sure this is someone who actually will write you an excellent letter. 1 out of 2 letters is a moiety; 1 out of 3 is a minority report :þ It should swing things back in your favour.
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by Jon@Admissionado » Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:23 am
Wow MM! Clever idea! I like it. Go with a third recommendation, which if you can't put it in the system, you can get it sent in hard copy. But make sure it's stellar - the recommender should be falling over their feet with praise.

And a single weak recommendation is not cause to abandon an entire application if all the rest is in order.
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by bizschoolprep » Wed Nov 23, 2011 4:31 pm
This is tricky. A bad recommendation is always going to raise some concerns and I am not sure how much deleting a recommender works AFTER the recommendation is submitted (if the recommender didnt have time, why did you not delete it before?) Adcom sees thousand of applications every year and they probably know what happened here.

If the recommendation is just average, you are still pretty good. However, if the recommender has damned you, there is little you can do now. It's just damage control from there on. In both the cases, the best you can do is add another recommendation that is excellent but still looks objective.
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by FutureWorks » Thu Nov 24, 2011 4:17 am
Hi,

This is a very strange situation you are in. As suggested above, we would also say the same. Get a third recommendation and make sure it does the crisis management. Also make sure this recommendation is on the lines you were hoping to portray yourself.
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by Kaneisha Grayson » Tue Dec 06, 2011 1:38 pm
One thing that hasn't been addressed here is that it sounds like this one recommender sent letters in for ALL of your schools. This means that if you go the third recommender route, this person needs to make sure they customize the recommendation letter to each school in addition to falling all over themselves recommending you. And - don't ever ask that person for a letter again. It could have been that s/he wasn't prepared enough to write you a steller rec (i.e. didn't know how enthusiastic s/he should be), but you just want to make sure that for future recommendation letter requests, the writers know that it's not just about answering the questions straightforward. It's about making their letters enhance and validate what you've already included in your application. Let us know if you end up pursuing the third rec!

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