I am getting swamped by requests for graduate school recommendation letters. I have **over a hundred requests** (about a third of the class) from students in a course I taught last year.
All these students (non math majors taking an easy math course) are viewing the letters as just a check box on the application form.
This is definitely not the case in pure math.
I have always taken recommendation letters rather seriously and have only written them for people I was sure could do well in graduate school. Same when evaluating grad school applications.
If I see an application with generic one paragraph recommendation letters I chuck it immediately.
I wonder how it is in other subjects and if there is a culture difference at play here. #academicmastodon
@herid - wow, that sounds unpleasant. I never had so many requests! Are these students taking an easy math course right before applying for grad school? That seems a bit unusual, since non math majors usually finish up their math courses quite a bit before graduating... at least where I teach.
@johncarlosbaez they took the course last year and they are applying this year. the course is easy by math standards (**very** basic group theory culminating in the First Isomorphism Theorem) but the students may not think so. it's a 3rd year course and most people taking it are math minors with limited exposure to rigorous math.
