Did ChatGPT draft and important recommendation letter?
Imagine how hard you’ve worked to get good grades, join the right extracurriculars, practice for your SATs, and write an amazing personal statement. Imagine asking your favorite instructor for a recommendation. Are you aware that AI might have written it?
Yes, it’s true. For all the complaints about students using AI to cheat, instructors also use AI, including when writing student recommendations. They say the recommendations don’t differ from those written without AI. But considering the cost of tuition, is it fair to get an AI-generated recommendation letter? Read about what you should do when you receive a recommendation letter from an instructor.
Concrete Steps to Take with an Artificial Intelligence Recommendation Letter
Run the letter through AI Detector Pro: It’s the Artificial intelligence Era. As a result, you should run your recommendation letters through AI Detector Pro. We offer several affordable plans. Remember that we roll over unused reports (as long as you stay subscribed), and the application season is lengthy. Therefore, we recommend that you maintain your monthly subscription and continue to accumulate AI reports. We also send out special offers and content through our email newsletter, so make sure you opt into our marketing!
Extend your instructor some grace: We have always advised instructors to avoid moving forward with accusations about AI use without speaking to students. Similarly, we advise extending the same grace to your instructor. Additionally, don’t start a conversation by mentioning a positive AI detector score or explaining that you ran your recommendation letter through an AI detector. Your goal is an excellent recommendation, not angering your instructor.
Ask for a meeting: when you contact your instructor, immediately thank them for the recommendation and ask if you can meet with them to discuss it in more depth. If they ask why, you should respond honestly by focusing on asking for help rather than bringing up AI. Ask if the instructor would be willing to include additional language in your recommendation letter based on your engagement with the instructor and the classroom. Mention how much you enjoyed the class and that some details stood out and made the class memorable for you. Request if the instructor can add them to your letter.
Reviewing Your Letter
Review your recommendation letter carefully after using AI Detector Pro. You should make concrete requests about how your instructor can improve it, which we list below.
Does the recommendation include the following? Your name, the college you are applying to, a summary of your academics, awards or accomplishments, the instructor’s feedback, educational focus, career goals, and the school environment. These may be listed separately or scattered through the reference letter. You should read the letter carefully and check them off as you find them.
The first paragraph of your recommendation letter must summarize your performance in the instructor’s classroom. Evaluate whether the instructor provided a good summary and specific details of your performance in their classroom.
Beyond academics, did your instructor provide specific details of how well they know you? Did they tell stories about you in the classroom, your personality, or how you engaged with them or the other students? For instance, are there any examples of how you broke the tension during tense moments? Did you help the instructor communicate with the rest of the class based on your experience or knowledge of the subject matter? Did you make the class laugh? Did you frequently challenge groupthink and present controversial ideas, in spite of social pressure?
If the recommendation letter needs to include these details, you can bring a list of bullet points to the meeting. Remember that you don’t want to act accusatory or antagonize the instructor. Always ask for help, and discuss how important this specific recommendation letter is for your application and how much you would appreciate any additions to the document.