How to Decline LOR Request From a Student

[kaysixteen]

Exactly what responsibility do you all feel that undergrad major professors do owe their majors, in terms of making clear to them, esp upon getting a request such as one for an LOR, the realities of grad school in their fields, the specific likelihood of the student in question's likelihood of getting into grad school, and of succeeding there if accepted, and of what the prof in question can and will honestly say in an LOR, should he agree to write on?   Surely the answer to none of these questions is properly, 'nothing'...

[Caracal]

Exactly what responsibility do you all feel that undergrad major professors do owe their majors, in terms of making clear to them, esp upon getting a request such as one for an LOR, the realities of grad school in their fields, the specific likelihood of the student in question's likelihood of getting into grad school, and of succeeding there if accepted, and of what the prof in question can and will honestly say in an LOR, should he agree to write on?   Surely the answer to none of these questions is properly, 'nothing'...

Depends on your relationship with the student, what they are applying for, and who else is advising them. Usually, if I'm being asked to write a letter for anything external/competitive, I tell the student I'd be happy to write the letter, but I can probably write a stronger letter if they come and talk to me about their plans and goals. If the student was planning to apply to grad programs in my field, I'd certainly talk about the realities of the field and the need to understand them before you make any decisions.

That's all assuming we are talking about a strong student. I wouldn't want to drag a student into my office just to tell them I don't think they've been good enough in my class to write a letter for them and tell them I'm not sure they can hack it. I can't see that doing anything besides making the student think I'm a jerk.

[the_geneticist]

I have written a few "did well in class" letters.  Why?  This was a HUGE school with very few lab classes or upper division classes or research opportunities for students.  Students were told that they MUST have a letter from a [Basketweaving] instructor for an internal scholarship/study abroad opportunity/summer research program.  I'm fine writing that sort of letter for internal opportunities.