tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post1900585071889292515..comments2024-03-14T04:53:49.513-05:00Comments on FemaleScienceProfessor: LoR WeekFemale Science Professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288567883197987690noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-84466460678270069882009-12-31T12:52:18.672-06:002009-12-31T12:52:18.672-06:00I've read tons of admissions files. I always ...I've read tons of admissions files. I always ignore the forced-choice rankings, and just read the letter.<br /><br />I've written tons of recommendation letters. I hate the schools that impose their own forced-choice rankings, instead of just accepting a PDF with my letter. I tell my assistant to make up random answers to the forced-choice rankings, or to assign the very best possible score in every category to every applicant. They're total nonsense and I feel like I'm doing the world a service by randomizing my values on those forms.AnonEngineeringProfnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-71425025072360445702009-12-29T00:58:20.678-06:002009-12-29T00:58:20.678-06:00Having just read 20 admissions files, I can say th...Having just read 20 admissions files, I can say that I totally ignore the forced-choice ratings. I have no idea what the calibration is of the person clicking the radio buttons, and they are not in anyway correlated with what I want to know about the applicants.<br /><br />I rely mostly on substantive letters---ones that talk about the research that the applicant has done with the letter writer.Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14528751349030084532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-52548680329312736102009-12-28T23:31:26.292-06:002009-12-28T23:31:26.292-06:00I have friends in another lab whose advisor is a N...I have friends in another lab whose advisor is a Nobel laureate, so their letters of recommendation should count for more? (I could probably finagle a LoR from said Nobel laureate too via my friends, if I bought him a bottle of wine or something!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-41320252604149385962009-12-28T10:17:06.806-06:002009-12-28T10:17:06.806-06:00I am so excited! Can't wait to see the results...I am so excited! Can't wait to see the results of the LOR competition!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-17585353010130637522009-12-28T09:25:44.061-06:002009-12-28T09:25:44.061-06:00I'm in the midst of doing recommendations now,...I'm in the midst of doing recommendations now, and particularly liked the school which asked me to divvy up the Exceptional category (top 5%) into subcategories of top 1%, top 2-3% and top 4-5%. There are only a few circumstances where I can even imagine this is possible. To those who review recommendations, does anyone even pay attention to these? I think my rankings may say more about me (inability to rank anyone exceptional) than about the student. Is the applicant punished when I don't just go through and consistently rank them exceptional.scientistnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-54012572634398055672009-12-28T09:20:09.850-06:002009-12-28T09:20:09.850-06:00Yay! Best time of the year!
Love the percentag...Yay! Best time of the year! <br /><br />Love the percentage rankings. I can hardly wait to see the reference letters.Unbalanced Reactionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13407339711183651108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-87425086972824209802009-12-28T07:48:17.164-06:002009-12-28T07:48:17.164-06:00Hilarious. As an aside, world geography seems like...Hilarious. As an aside, world geography seems like an underappreciated difficult subject. Contestants on several reality shows/game shows that I've seen recently seem unaware that a) Europe is a continent, not a country; b) Prague is a city, not a country; c) Africa is a continent, not a country, etc. etc. It makes for very entertaining TV, but doesn't speak well of our educational system...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-21695195074411531202009-12-28T06:52:57.037-06:002009-12-28T06:52:57.037-06:00Unfortunately, my workplace is moving in this dire...Unfortunately, my workplace is moving in this direction with employee performance evals in order to “standardize” them across the lab. If I didn’t think that it would really piss off one of my bosses, I would suggest that they add the following question to our evals:<br /><br />This employee possesses a certain <i>je ne sais quoi</i>: (a) strongly agree, (b) agree, (c) somewhat agree, (d) disagree, (e) I don’t speak French.<br /><br />Seriously though, I have always wondered how admissions committees interpret these forms. Are one’s percentile scores similar to a GPA, as in, it would be nice to have a 4.0 but anything above a 3.7 (top 20%?) should be fine? If the recommender writes a substantive letter, does this increase/decrease the weight placed on their percentile scores? What if the letter is very good but the percentile scores for some reason are not? Are scores averaged across multiple recommenders?<br /><br />Finally, I think the ability of a recommender to judge an applicant’s “motivation” is about as accurate as a student’s ability to judge a prof’s interest in being a good teacher.Hopenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-68729014084073438372009-12-28T06:46:11.938-06:002009-12-28T06:46:11.938-06:00I'm slightly autistic and if that's anythi...I'm slightly autistic and if that's anything to go by I wouldn't fit into academia at all, or any part of this world for that matter....but I'm still here, I must be doing something right...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-74703874785164181402009-12-28T06:32:06.913-06:002009-12-28T06:32:06.913-06:00Does the candidate drink beer and own a car?Does the candidate drink beer and own a car?Klaashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10583584672278790426noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-37393747976399610292009-12-28T06:30:33.911-06:002009-12-28T06:30:33.911-06:00I have a pile of these to do. When I agree to writ...I have a pile of these to do. When I agree to write references I want the students to get what they are applying for. It's becoming an art form -- what to say to give the student an edge -- inflated letters to go along with inflated grades.Meadowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00922827724363185027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-37769650382475844382009-12-28T02:33:37.237-06:002009-12-28T02:33:37.237-06:00I teach undergrads in a college in India. I though...I teach undergrads in a college in India. I thought the problems I had in filling these forms accompanying letters of reference was because I was not used to your academic system. I am glad to see it's not just I who am intimidated by these...I am never sure...perhaps so and so was better than this student ... perhaps this student will turn out to be bad at research-after all an Indian undergrad does next to no research....so on... keeps going around in my mind days after I send it off.Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03186014514110985045noreply@blogger.com