關於留學申請中推薦信的道德與規則

留學申請中，推薦信的道德與規則

no applications can be successful without great letters of recommendation. they are the professional testimonials for (and sometimes, against!) your academic profiles. great letters of recommendation make your application shine and help smoothen away the imperfections in your record; bad ones will kill your application.沒有好推薦信的申請資料是難以獲得認可的。推薦信以一個專業人士的角度來對你的學業進行資歷證明。高質量的推薦信可以為你的申請資料加分;但是壞的推薦信很有可能會毀了你的申請。

sometimes, a professor or lab instructor that you ask for the letter will be too busy and ask you to write the letter yourself, then he/she will sign it. do not agree! it would be an example of a bad letter. the letter must be written by the recommender alone, and it is often unethical for anyone but the recommender and the review committee to read the letter. there is no exception to this rule. it is simply wrong to do otherwise.有些時候，你委託幫你寫推薦信的教授有可能會因為太忙而讓你自己寫好後交給他簽字。千萬不要這么做!這么做只會適得其反。推薦信必須要由推薦者本人獨立完成，並且讓除了推薦者和招生部以外的的人士閱讀它也是一種不道德的行為。

when deadlines are pressing, it may seem reasonable to accept the situation and write the letter yourself, just to make sure that it’s done. another reason may be that the recommender has great credibility, is a well-known expert in the field, that one may assume that his/her signature alone carries sufficient weight and the letter needs only to be in form. it may also be very difficult to look for a recommender who know you well enough, and most institutions require 3 letters of recommendation. there’s also a flattering notion that the recommender trusts you enough to write the letter yourself and sign it for you. however, none of these reasons can excuse you from violating the rules that the letters must be written by someone other than you.當申請日期就要截止時，你可能會開始覺得為自己寫推薦信是合理的。另一個原因可能是因為推薦者本身在領域內很有權威，因此申請者覺得只要有推薦者的簽名就足夠應付了。確實，能夠找到一個真正了解你的推薦者很難，何況一般申請入學都需要三封推薦信。還有一種觀點認為正是因為推薦者足夠信任你，才會讓你自己寫完後由他來簽字。但是，所有的這些理由都不能成為違反規定的藉口。推薦信必須要由你以外的人來完成。

the review committee will know. they are expert at reading letters and can pick up hidden cues that show that the letter was not honestly written by the person who signed it. sometimes, the review committee may even call the recommender to speak more about the applicant, imagine the reviewer asking the recommender about something in the letter that he/she didn’t not write! worse yet, you are not there when they read it to defend yourself. not only will your character will be deemed untrustworthy, your application will be immediately disqualified!招生部門是可以鑑別出推薦信造假的。他們都是一些具備從推薦信中尋找到造假的蛛絲馬跡的專業人士。招生部的人偶爾會給推薦者打電話來檢測推薦信的可信度。一旦被發現造假，你的申請就會被自動作廢。

so what can you do when you ask for a letter and are told you to write it? if this situation arises, politely explain to the potential recommender that you don’t feel comfortable going against the rule that the letters must be confidential. if he/she cannot be convinced to actually write it, politely thank him/her and decline the offer, then seek for another recommender.所以當推薦者要求你自己寫推薦信時，你該怎么做呢?如果你真的碰到這樣的問題，請禮貌地告訴你的推薦者你不願意違反規定。如果他被說服了，那么請真誠的感謝他。如果他拒絕親自動筆，那么請另找下家。

remember, a letter from a lesser-known recommender who puts honest thoughts into writing will speak volumes compared to a letter that the signing author, however famous, did not write.記住，一封由一個真正懂你，不太牛的教授認真寫出來的推薦信永遠會比一封由你自己寫的並加上了一個大牛教授的推薦信含金量更高。

your essays and cv show how you assess your own credentials. letters of recommendations show how others assess you, leave them in their hands.你的申請文書和個人簡歷展示了你對自己的評價。那么就讓推薦信來展示他人對你的評價吧。

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