My master's supervisor and paper co-author is not willing to give a letter of recommendation for PhD admissions?

Question

She is saying that since she has left the University and moved to another country and working in a full time job there, she won't be able to write the letter. She maintains she is very busy and is also not under any obligation since she is not a part of the university anymore. At the most, she says she would write only for a single college application whereas I on the other hand am planning to apply to at least 4 colleges! What should I do? Would this affect my admission in a very negative manner? I am highly worried.

Answer 1

@EthanBolker offers a clever potential solution. Also consider, though, whether there might be someone else who can write you a stronger recommendation. Is there another academic with whom you have worked, and who you might have impressed? There are two potential issues with a recommendation from your Masters advisor, if you insist upon getting it. 1) “I’m too busy” is sometimes a polite way to avoid saying, “I don’t think you are a good candidate for a PhD and I can’t write you a strong recommendation.” 2) Even if she does genuinely think highly of you, if she is unhappy about taking the time to write a recommendation, her recommendation letter may end up being too brief or non-specific to be helpful: a recommendation letter that does not say much is usually taken as meaning that there is not much good that can be said.

Answer 2

On the face of it that is strange. Most academics I know would be willing to write the necessary letters under those circumstances. Submitting one letter to multiple places would not be much more work than writing the letter in the first place, and she has agreed to write one.

Perhaps your current department chair (or some other professor at your school) would be willing to get her letter of recommendation and do the work of submitting it to several institutions, perhaps with a cover letter explaining why it comes from them rather than directly from her.

Answer 3

You don’t want a letter from someone less than willing to write one. Could be that she doesn’t think she can write a good one for you, or it’s possible she is totally checked out. Doesn’t matter - if she is unwilling it’s not going to be a stellar letter. You should move on.

Answer 4

See if you can find another reference. Speak to someone else in the department and see what they say. Even if you don't know them too well they can write a letter and it can remedy the situation. Getting more than one is a good idea anyway.

Also, you can in many applications only send the letter once you have got an offer, they will "request references" at some point during the process and this can regularly be after interview (check the box on application that says "ask me for prior permission to contact" the referee). So, at that point, contact your referees who agreed to in principle to write a letter, and tell them to expect something, reducing their workload to only the most necessary times.

This way the original reference who has left the department might agree to write something given its only this one time, and it means getting the job, rather than just a speculative application.

Answer 5

I agree with those who say that writing a recommendation letter a norm. Even if the supervisor and the co-author do not think that you are a good candidate, they can still write an letter honestly outlining your strengths and weaknesses - the academic world is big, and in some places they may still decide that you are good enough, or that you have sufficient background to learn.

One way of countering "I am too busy" claim is suggesting to write a draft yourself, and letting them simply to edit it as they wish. In fact, it is often the case that the referee would ask for a draft... although it has the obvious pitfall that students (particularly international students) have little idea of what and how things should be said to make them look as attractive candidates.

On the practical side, there is little that you can do: they are not under any formal obligation to write a recommendation, and even if they were forced to do so in some way, you may easily end up with a recommendation letter that does more damage than benefit to your applications.

On the other hand, for bachelor or master students the record in taking courses relevant to the application and being a good student often carry more weight than the actual research record. Thus, recommendation letters from your former professors, who were not involve din your research project may well be enough.

Finally, depending on the specific case, the recommendation letters may be a decisive factor or a simple formality. E.g., in many cases the candidates are are proposed informally by supervisors to their colleagues, while the requirement for a certain number of recommendation letters is imposed formally by the university. In this sense the Q.'s author seem to be already facing an uphill task.

Answer 6

1. Ask her again, friendly, but with a special emphasis on the importance of her letter to your career and how helpful it would be.

2. If she does not agree, take her offer to write one letter only, but insist that she will write it in a general form, say starting with "To whom it may concern", etc., such that you can use it for more than one opportunity or even later in life.

(You might write a draft of it yourself, and just ask her, if she can agree to the draft or might want to add/change a part of it and finally sign it. This I did myself one time, because my advisor was notoriously known for not being able to come up with such things himself, but very good and fast at reviewing/commenting.)

3. If she does not do this either, skip any further contact with her, and go back one level up, to some formal body of the university you did your masters with, in order to let them write you some kind of recommendation. Alternatively, there might be other professor(s) who know(s) you from the time being there, then ask one of them. If your advisor is problematic, this is usually well known among the faculty peers already, and they are possible eager to help, because essentially it also draws a bad picture about them, and the whole institution, if they don't.

(Maybe there is even the possibility of filing an official complaint, although this does not really change anything about the recommendation letter itself. Things like this should nevertheless get some attention, since in the end they are an example of misconduct on behalf of your former advisor. If they take them as their students, they just have the obligation to do such minor things to help you afterwards.)

Answer 7

What this exercise tests, is "1) Can you cast a wide net? And 2 ) if you cast that net, will you land anyone who is in a position to help you, actually take an hour or two out or their time. If you reach out to lots of people, you would be surprised, those who would be willing to assist. Perhaps think about every academic you have interacted with in your field. Now is the time to be creative.