Stanford Reference Letter

elisabethlam

How individualized/tailored should the reference letters be? I already feel bad enough that my references took the time and effort out of their busy schedules to write one general reference letter for me...

SiliconJedi

I didn't catch this before, but the Stanford website notes: "Please be aware of the high value Stanford places on school-specific letters of recommendation." Is this true across all of the top schools -- they expect/prefer tailored letters?

elisabethlam

@SiliconJedi - no, only Stanford wants a tailored letter. The rest of the T-14 are fine with general LORs.

Mitchell-1

Hmm, I really hate this. I'm fine jumping through hoops myself, but making me feel like I should ask my recommenders to as well is...not cool.

Rigid Designator

@"Mitchell-1" said:
Hmm, I really hate this. I'm fine jumping through hoops myself, but making me feel like I should ask my recommenders to as well is...not cool.

Sorry to OP for not answering their question, but I'm also a little irked by the Stanford request. I'm struggling to imagine how anyone would actually tailor a letter to Stanford. "Oh yes, Rigid Designator copes very well with hot weather! I'm sure he'd do great at Stanford"

If this isn't the stuff they're expecting then I dislike the seeming assumption that you need to be especially qualified to attend Stanford, versus somewhere like Yale (who would accept a normal LOR), and that this needs reflecting in your LORs.