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I have found a question close to mine Reference for candidate unfit for application but not quite the same, and I have followed some of the advice already.

I'm an academic at a UK institute and a current master's student doing a project with me has asked me for a PhD application reference. I said yes when they first spoke to me about wanting to do a PhD (no specific post at that time) as I had no reason not to and they seemed enthusiastic. However, from working with them for over 4 months I don't believe they would be suitable. They have not demonstrated key skills needed, are requiring micromanaging to accomplish tasks, and generally appear quite lazy (and seem to think it's funny). I would not take them as a PhD student - especially seeing as this is their attitude knowing they have asked me for a reference.

I have had a second frank talk with them about PhDs, and that there is a good degree of autonomy in working and self-driven skill learning required for a successful PhD student. But their attitude has not changed since this chat (over a month ago). I could write a very lukewarm reference (which I have done before regarding students who are not outstanding but okay) or just say I can't write one. Although some posts on here are saying there are legal implications of the latter?

Nik
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JayBee
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    Your promise to write a letter cannot possibly be legally binding: There was no contract regarding this of any type between the two of you. But, if you want to be absolutely sure, talk to a lawyer. – Moishe Kohan Apr 21 '23 at 15:25
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    Given you have provided frank feedback with no change observed it would seem straightforward to have a second chat and say you can no longer provide a positive referral based on their performance. – Jon Custer Apr 21 '23 at 15:51
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    Legally, in the UK: https://www.gov.uk/work-reference I think the person who wrote that "there are legal implication of the latter" is simply mistaken or misinformed. – Moishe Kohan Apr 21 '23 at 15:57
  • It's certainly your prerogative (and possibly a good idea) not wanting to write a negative letter! But I am a bit disturbed by the categorical assumption of the answers that it is not possible to do so. A relevant previous question https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/185601/is-it-possible-for-a-professor-to-write-a-negative-letter-of-recommendation – user2705196 Apr 21 '23 at 22:34
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    @user2705196 Many see it as underhanded to write a negative letter, after all they are "recommendation" letters. – Bryan Krause Apr 22 '23 at 00:12
  • Honesty is always the best policy. – Ian Kemp Apr 22 '23 at 14:37
  • Warn the student your letter may not be flattering and let them decide if they still want it. Do an honest description of the project and the student work. Do not say you recommend their work if you don't really feel like it, but I think you should make an effort to highlight anything positive you do find to be honestly true. – rhermans Apr 23 '23 at 09:50
  • "I have had a second frank talk with them about PhDs, and that there is a good degree of autonomy in working and self-driven skill learning required for a successful PhD student" note to yourself and to the somebody reading this question in the future: next time (yes, there will be many next times of this...) do not compromise yourself on 100% writing a reference letter , plus plan&have that second talk after 2-3 months, not 4-5, give them the time to digest your feedback and to either improve their attitude or draw themselves the consequences (i.e. not receiving the letter). – EarlGrey Apr 24 '23 at 10:15
  • @EarlGrey - in addition to the frank talk about what a phd requires - they are also getting a significant number or emails and remarks from me about getting work done on time/ contributing to group etc. with regards to their actual current work. I can only put the lack of response to this down to arrogance on their part with regard to their own skill set. – JayBee Apr 24 '23 at 10:42
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    I'd suggest the HR approach - confirm dates of employment and rough duties. Nothing else. Let the student know in advance that that is all you can supply, let them make the decision about if they want your reference. – lupe Apr 24 '23 at 13:41

4 Answers4

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I am frequently in that situation, of being asked for a letter of reference by a mediocre student with good intentions (don't they all have good intentions?)

You already know your two options: (1) write a lukewarm letter or (2) renege your offer to write one. I don't like confrontations anymore than the next person, but the best approach is #2. I usually do it over email, and in a long message I explain my reasons. I give detailed feedback with specific examples, making sure it does not sound like I'm judging the person, but instead evaluating their performance. This can take longer than writing a lukewarm letter, but I find it to be the best solution for everyone. For example:

I think that you are a good student who takes your work seriously. You always keep your appointments and you have a genuine interest in the research we do here. However, there are some areas in which you need improvement, e.g. A, B, C. I think that you have a bright future ahead of you, and what I recommend is that you take another research opportunity to improve your skills in A, B, and C, then ask that supervisor/advisor for a letter. You'll then be in much better shape for grad school applications.

The tone should be firm and polite.

This gives an out to the student, because if they are smart, they should not want a letter from you anyway. But some students insist, and I then write the lukewarm letter. The letter pretty much says "this student worked at my lab from this date to that date, and they were on time", or whatever truthful positive thing I can say. Anybody who writes and reads letters should be able to read through.

usr1234567
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Cheery
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    Thank you. It seems there is a consensus of answers and I will contact them about not writing the reference. It's not so much about avoiding conflict, but avoiding having a complaint made about me for not supporting a student (which I know objectively isn't the case, but it's not unheard of and still needs to be dealt with). – JayBee Apr 22 '23 at 09:04
  • @JayBee You shouldn't be ruling out to write a letter for other (non PhD) activities/jobs. There's plenty of situations, where turning up on time is a major job requirement – Marianne013 Apr 22 '23 at 17:30
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    @Marianne013 Turning up on time is generally considered self-evident. Writing this in a recommendation letter is often considered a polite way of saying 'this is an idiot and I don't have anything else positive to say'. – quarague Apr 23 '23 at 08:33
  • The problem with this is that you are denying the student the evidence that they did participate on that work. It's your responsibility to acknowledge they worked, and to help as much as possible without compromise on your scientific integrity. Warn the student your letter will not be flattering, but write it anyhow. Give an honest and helpful description. – rhermans Apr 23 '23 at 09:58
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    @rhermans First sentence is "this student worked at my lab...". It's expected from people who have worked with you that they have worked with you, and I think this should not be emphasized in a letter. The letter should describe the quality of the work, and given that nothing is specifically said about it, the experienced reader will get the message. – QuantumBrick Apr 24 '23 at 00:31
  • @Marianne013 They haven't always turned up or mailed to say they aren't and are letting other group members do more work. It's not merely an "academic" issue. If fact I'd be more likely to recommend a candidate with good work ethic for a phd, even if some academic marks weren't great - undergraduate assessment doesn't always tap the same skills required for phd. – JayBee Apr 24 '23 at 10:45
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...They have not demonstrated key skills needed, are requiring micromanaging to accomplish tasks and generally appear quite lazy (and seem to think it's funny). I would not take them as a PhD student - especially seeing as this is their attitude knowing they have asked me for a reference...

If this is half-true, you simply cannot provide the student with an LoR.

Whatever about legalities, the reality of the situation is that your initial willingness to write an LoR for a then unproven student was predicated upon that student showing the requisite qualities in the intervening period.

The student plainly has not done this by your own careful assessment.

You cannot give even a lukewarm LoR to a student you adjudge unworthy for a number of reasons:

  • The PhD supervisor at the other institution will be enraged and will make no secret of their displeasure about you to friendly academics in other universities.

  • The PhD offering department will never again take your recommendations seriously after being disappointed in the calibre of this single candidate.

  • The PhD offering institution may also never again rate any graduate from your Department. (This can occur if the postgraduate admissions dean keeps mental or physical records of good and bad PhD students and their almae matres. I had a personal experience of this effect.)

  • The postgraduate under current supervision by you seems to regard research - and perhaps academia in general - as something that they can laugh their way through. Getting an LoR towards a PhD program will only serve to demotivate them even more!

  • The behaviour of this student will impact on the morale of the others in that research group, possibly even on other postgrads in the department. Maintaining the professional respect of your group members is vital to your career. You really can't let this sloppiness and jokery persist. Pretty soon this student will be making a joke of other students' efforts - if they haven't started to already.

It's time for a very frank conversation in your office.

I hope you haven't given this student the impression, e.g. by allowing him/her to firstname you, exchanging gossip, non-work related conversations, etc, that they enjoy a good personal relationship with you and that this will allow them to "take it past you". It's always easier to say no to someone who is just a work colleague and no more.

But either way it has to be a no.

Trunk
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    People who read reference letters should know that many writers are reluctant to write something negative, so I'd be surprised if anyone would be so deluded to take on a PhD candidate based on a lukewarm reference; if they do so, they only have themselves to blame. The responsibility for admissions lies with the admissions tutor/committee, not with the reference writer. – Christian Hennig Apr 21 '23 at 23:16
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    A letter of recommendation is not required to be positive (frequently, the language is of "evaluation" or "reference" letters). – Moishe Kohan Apr 21 '23 at 23:39
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    Your first point is certainly true, in my experience. I had several former colleagues who were mightily annoyed, to put it mildly, that they had gotten stuck with students having much better recommendations than were deserved. Once burned, twice shy: they did not trust any future recommendations from the letter writers who played fast and loose with the obligation to write an accurate LoR. – Ed V Apr 22 '23 at 00:02
  • @Moishe Kohan This isn't a recent graduate's reference letter. It's one from a Master's supervisor to a putative PhD supervisor. The field is challenging and competitive. An evaluational letter here would serve no purpose due to the candidate's laziness and excess humor. More to the point, giving it in any form would simply play along with the candidate's illusion of themselves as a serious researcher. – Trunk Apr 22 '23 at 02:09
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    Thank you @Trunk and (Ed V) - I have actually been on the opposite side of this scenario in the past and received a PhD student with glowing references who was not good (interviewed via a central university funding scholarship, else I would have spotted it at interview). They did not pass their transfer in the end but it was very time consuming in the meantime and I was pretty annoyed at the referee (not someone I work with at all). – JayBee Apr 22 '23 at 09:17
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    @JayBee I learned early on to tell students, including students in classes I taught, this: “Never ask a professor to write you a letter of recommendation. Always ask if they could write you a strong letter of recommendation.” If the prof says no or equivocates, then it is best for all concerned to find someone else who may be able to write a strong LoR. Every once in awhile, I had to tell a student no and suggest they find someone else. I never had to write the proverbial “you would be lucky if this student worked for you” LoR. – Ed V Apr 22 '23 at 12:02
  • @Ed V Or one like: "You would travel a long distance without meeting a man of this chap's calibre" ! – Trunk Apr 22 '23 at 15:01
  • The worst LoR I ever heard of, from a colleague who said he read it, described the student as “sharp as a beachball”! Personally, I only read 2, if memory serves, out of hundreds over the years. I have no idea why someone would write a bad LoR unless they really just didn’t have the guts and integrity to simply decline. – Ed V Apr 22 '23 at 15:24
  • Unless the author is anxious to rid him/herself of someone who is likely to want to do graduate studies in the same department and in the author's field. Kinda like getting rid of an academic by strongly referencing his application to another university. Totally wrong from both moral and amoral standpoints. But at times people do it. – Trunk Apr 22 '23 at 16:08
  • @Trunk - certainly not trying to get rid of the student. I said on day one I don't have the funds or capacity for another student atm. – JayBee Apr 24 '23 at 10:30
  • @JayBee Yet this student still sees enough in your modus operandi to ignore that and ask if you'd write an LoR for them . . . Do you see what you may be dealing with here ? – Trunk Apr 24 '23 at 13:40
  • @Trunk - not sure what you're saying here. Tasking on a three year PhD student and getting/ helping get funds for them is very different to writing a reference. I've happily written references for students I didn't have phd opportunities for myself in the past. – JayBee Apr 25 '23 at 06:12
  • @JayBee I was positing the possibility that this student - somehow - may see a lack of will or communicative clarity in you. And that he/she might see this as something that could be played on. I've observed that academics who adopt a certain relational "style" with students and colleagues can be poor at dealing with the more daring students - who then go on to wreak havok on colleagues, postgraduates and their departmental budgets during their own academic careers . . . – Trunk Apr 25 '23 at 12:10
  • @Ed V For the opposite reason as writing a good reference in order to get a student out of their alma mater university despite them having a good degree and having been formally (obligatorily in many cases if the student is a I or II.1) offered postgraduate place there - because they want to keep that student for themselves via denying them opportunities elsewhere at better funded universities. The high-speed art of opposite lock . . . – Trunk Aug 29 '23 at 22:52
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This is going to get downvoted to hell, but I'm going to say it anyway...

Your first duty in this is to your student. It's not your job to gatekeep admissions to a PhD programme at an institution you don't work for. Therefore, write the most favourable reference you can without actually lying.

Daniel Hatton
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  • Comments have been moved to chat; please do not continue the discussion here. Before posting a comment below this one, please review the purposes of comments. Comments that do not request clarification or suggest improvements usually belong as an answer, on [meta], or in [chat]. Comments continuing discussion may be removed. – Massimo Ortolano Apr 25 '23 at 13:59
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Your university will have a policy on references, including what can and can't be included. It will certainly handle with references for students that don't do well. You should follow that guidance and ask a more experienced colleague if in doubt. Often this includes clarification of what you will be able to do to the student.

Paul de Vrieze
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    Can you show us a link to your most recent university's policy on references? Mine doesn't have one. – Nik Apr 22 '23 at 22:40
  • Mine neither. Have asked more experienced collages - they have said write a very non-descript letter stating bare facts and it's self evident. – JayBee Apr 24 '23 at 10:32
  • You can find the policy here: https://intranetsp.bournemouth.ac.uk/pandptest/student-reference-policy.pdf – Paul de Vrieze May 20 '23 at 15:58