Well I’m not applying to Harvard, I’m not silly. I’m applying to a decent “third tier” law school which happens to be associated with the univiersity that I just graduated from. This guy is just a huge jerk, he always was when I was an undergraduate. He would schedule meetings with me full well knowing I had class at the meeting time. His classes majorly sucked but they were required because he was some political science bigwig in the department. I’m just really, really pissed right now.
I’m not quite sure why you’re peevish, tramp. Your professor clearly doesn’t think you’re worth writing a letter of recommendation for…but on the other hand, you think he’s an asshole and a jerk, and always has been, so it looks to me like everything’s about even.
Besides, here’s the way it works: As DPWhite says, actual negative letters of recommendation are scarce as hen’s teeth. Therefore, there’s only two kinds of letters: enthusiastic and wishy-washy. Since this professor clearly doesn’t respect you, he’d have written a weak letter, like “I think tramp will do OK in law school. Tramp’s performance in my classes has been adequate, and he/she has certainly earned his/her B average.” As mikan says, a weak letter does you no good, since the people in the admissions office know that “tepid endorsement” = “I don’t think very well of this student, so I’m only going through the motions here.”
Granted, it would be nicer if everyone thought highly of you, but this guy doesn’t, and you know he doesn’t, and you think he’s a jerk, so he’s declining to write a letter for you, rather than sabotage your law school admission with a ho-hum recommendation.
FTR, my undergraduate advisor was a complete idiot, ranked by the local “Grading the Profs” reporting service as “among the very worst at MSU,” a distinction granted to only two or three other faculty members. I had enough sense not to rely on him for anything.
It’s a tough call.
My marks were split when I applied for grad stuffs. They are either A+, or dismal, depending on whether or not I was interested in the course.
My advisor (for the 4th year major paper) and my other professors were happy to write me letters of recommendation, because they believed that my grades did not reflect my ability/potential. One even gave me a copy of the letter - he made it clear that so long as I was challenged, I produced PhD level work when I was still an undergrad, but that the lack of challenge in some parts of the program played a part in the not-so-hot marks here and there.
When a student asks me for a reference, my approach is simple: Can they do graduate work? Who cares about the marks. Can they complete their projects and papers? Do they do so in a way that is above and beyond the call of duty? Do they show the true academic spark that will allow them to innovate? Some of my brightest students do poorly on standard evaluations, but are beyond brilliant. Some of my A+ students are dull and not well rounded at all but sure can spew back the material on exams.
E.