Letters are very positive in over 90% of cases. How then, can tehy be used to tell the difference between candidates?
If EVERYONE is said to be GREAT, then who is truly great?
Most letters are outright useless. They tend to all sound the same. Many letters often re-state the CV and that is useless. Although it is nice that letters say things like ‘Bob is smart” and “jane is hardworking” that is the same in all of them.
I never saw a letter that said “Bob is a Moron” ‘Jane is and incompetent idiot”
QUESTIONS:
1. Status of letter wrtiter VS Content: It is BETTER to have a really distinct letter that says something about you as a person, than to have a superficial letter from a ‘big’ person. It is better to have big CONTENT rather than superficial content from a big PERSON.
In 95% of cases or more, the reader is NOT going to know who the writer is. Hence, saying something about you as an individual is more important.
If the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court wrote a thin letter about me, I think it would be okay, but short of that, content rules
2. IMG’s : Yes, it is OKAY to use letters from your own country. People understand that you can’t all have US letter
3. Family: Try not to have all your letters with the same last name as you.YOu think I am kidding?
“Dr A. Patel is supported with four letters from Drs. B. Patel, C. Patel, D. Patel and E. Patel”
I wish it was a joke
Remember, content is more important than the person.