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今年申请季，好像还没写过“推荐信”的题材。
不是忘记了，而是感觉去年写的挺全面了（掏心掏肺的那种），而且我最近又读了一遍，没有过时的部分。
所以，对“推荐人、推荐信”有问题的同学……还是建议大家看下这三个教程。
时间有限不想看那么多的同学，建议直接看这个案例分析，可以负责任地说，关于“如何起草推荐信”看这篇就够。
道理都懂，但依旧“写起来”无手感的同学，可以继续看下去。
MIT官网给出了一些Samples（不过大多都是申请本科的），我觉得其中的反例，可以更大家一些更直观的启发。
反例一
Jen was a student in one of my predominately senior physics classes. She took physics her junior year in high school and was a good student. Through hard work, she was able to develop a good understanding of the subject material.
Jen also had personal qualities that are commendable. In the two years that I have known her I have never known her to be dishonest or untrustworthy. Once on an exam paper I had made a grading error in her favor. She brought this to my attention even though it resulted in a lower test grade.
In conclusion, I feel that Jen has both the academic and personal qualities to be a credit to the college of her choice, and I give her my recommendation without reservation.
个人觉得这篇最大的问题是选材，核心的第二段有些可有可无！
既然有2年的科目学习接触，而且老师说“hard work，good understanding of the subject”那么肯定还有一些更值得写进推荐信的内容。
无论是推荐信还是Sop，有时候我们会“执念于”一些自己觉得重要的点，例如这篇提到的“honesty”，虽然国外高校的确很看重，但这个点是否真的时候挖掘自己，真的需要客观一些的评估。
反例二
I do not really know Mike very well. He has come to me for routine matters but generally has not had any problems that he has discussed with me. In this large school, I do not always have the time to personally get to know each of my advisees.
From the comments I get from Mike’s teachers, I have the impression that he is one of the strongest students this school has seen.
这篇内容大概率不会出现在大部分中国申请者的推荐信里。
因为……很多推荐信内容都是咱们自己起草的。当然不会写I do not really know Mike very well。
但我要说的是：我们可能看到第一句就觉得惨了，学校肯定会负分评价吧。其实不见得！
MIT在评价里只是写到：虽然没能从这份材料里获得太多有效信息，但是我们也能理解，所以我们会继续阅读这位申请者的其他材料。
换个角度就是，有的推荐信是“凑数”的，学校理解。虽然“凑数”是要尽量避免，但是也肯定比“不好的评价”、“不可信”……要更好。
反例三
Brian was in the top five in my class consistently. He is certainly motivated to study. His character and personality are admirable. Brian is an excellent student, hard worker and has above average reasoning ability.
这篇的内容更常见，也更加的“反例”！！！
MIT对这篇有更大的意见，核心的原文有这么几句：The comments provided certainly do not give much substantive information. We are left wondering whether there is just not much to say about this student or whether the teacher just didn’t bother to put much effort into the recommendation.
如果很幸运的你的其他材料（成绩单，Sop，简历，其他推荐信……）说明你的确超出平均水平的优秀，那么，学校只会认为这只是你推荐人偷懒了。
但如果反之，你的其他材料并没有显示你配得上Top5，那么……
重点，其实还是MIT给出的两个词：specific and storied.
不过要能够specific and storied，基础是咱们要早规划，在专业相关的学习和实践过程中，好好表现，多多沟通。
加油！🍀
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