To Whom it May Concern:
I am writing to recommend Ms. Sally Smith for your Master of Economics program.
I have barely known Ms. Smith for one semester as her instructor in my 800-student Principles of Economics lecture at my Big State School in Flyover Country. This was in the fall of 2014. After failing out of the business program, Ms. Smith because an economics major to "learn more about women in business."
Ms. Smith probably showed up to class and took notes. At least, that's what she claims. I don't recall, because back then I didn't have tenure then and was mostly concentrating on research. And drinking.
According to my records, Ms. Smith received a B- on the midterm and a C+ on the final exam. She turned in half of her homework, but the email records of my overworked, underachieving TA indicate she "had a really good excuse" for not turning in the rest. I let this slide because Ms. Smith seems like the type to whine about grades in long-winded emails. Because of the grading norms at my institution, her final grade was inflated to an A, just like all the other students'.
In requesting this letter, Ms. Smith told me that my class was her favorite of her undergrad career. If this is true, she certainly has good taste. Alternatively, she may be the kind of sycophantic psychopath that has traditionally been a good fit for your admissions/employment.
In terms of math preparation, Ms. Smith can turn on her calculator. She gets confused by fractions and when there are "letters with the numbers in the equations." Given this, coupled with her Mathematics Minor, I'd say she's one of the most prepared students coming out of our program in years.
Ms. Smith frequently showed up to office hours wearing yoga pants and low-cut blouses. Given her 35 BMI and lazy-eye, this was no temptation. During office hours she talked a lot about her hopes and dreams, while I read over my referee reports and ran more regressions, following the suggestions to cluster on individual, household, neighborhood, village, township, city, county, state, river basin, biome, time-zone, and planet. I think she wants to be a dentist or lawyer. I envision her being a lonely cat lady.
Overall, I'd put Ms. Smith in the top 99.99% of students graduating from this institution. My basis for this assessment is fear of litigation and legal liability.
Sincerely,
XXXX