Carl T. Bergstrom

I spend several hours a week writing letters of recommendation for students and faculty. It's important.

But...today I learned that for the past 6 years, the NSF has been throwing away up to 40% of my graduate fellowship recommendations, unread.

It's an infuriating disregard of faculty time.

https://www.research.gov/research-web/content/rlsprocess

Research.gov - New GRFP Reference Letter Submission Process

Oct 17, 2023 at 11:40pmWeb
Show thread🚲Oct 17, 2023
@ct_bergstrom Is it common to include 5 letters? It’s reasonable to draw the line somewhere.
Show threadProf. Emily M. Bender(she/her)Oct 17, 2023
@ct_bergstrom That's infuriating indeed!
Show threadFerles  Oct 18, 2023
@ct_bergstrom That makes me so angry!
Show threadFerles  Oct 18, 2023
@ct_bergstrom What is the point of having 5 reference letters if you rank them and they only look at the top 3?
Show threadDavidOct 18, 2023
exclusion and artificial scarcity
Show threadGeoffrey AdamsOct 18, 2023
@ct_bergstrom I just noticed this, too. I'm non-faculty though heavily involved in mentoring a student who's going for a fellowship. I feel pretty good about the rec letter I just wrote for him and think I can speak to things his faculty advisors might not, but now I'm wondering if he'll be better off just prioritizing their letters since they've got the better credentials. I want to give him the best advice I can but it sure feels lousy to suggest that he tell them not to read the glowing letter I just wrote since I'm probably #4 on the list of people by credentials.
Show threadCarl T. BergstromOct 18, 2023
@biogeo That really sucks. It's a crap policy, and I'm sorry.
Show threadJoanna MaselOct 18, 2023
@ct_bergstrom I guess it's because so many faculty don't fulfill their obligation to write the recommendation letter, so that students have to ask for 5 reviews in order to have a good chance of having 3 actually submitted?
Show threadshizOct 18, 2023
@JoannaMasel @ct_bergstrom not to mention the imposter syndrome (that comes with being anything less than excellent at publishing and networking in academia) which makes it all the more exhausting to have to remind your recommenders multiple times
Show threadadam_t_clarkOct 18, 2023

@ct_bergstrom This is a long standing policy meant to help students shield themselves from being disqualified if a mentor forgets to submit a letter.

My solution was to ask 2 people to write one sentence letters saying "I recommend this person", since it wastes no time, and technically fulfills the requirement.

Agreed that smarter would be for NSF to allow only up to 3 letters, and to not penalize students if letters aren't submitted. Or they could just do away with letters in the first place.