Is getting an oral recommendation from a professor who has known me since childhood a conflict of interest during graduate admissions?

Question

My parents know a Professor A who knows another Professor B. Professor A has known me since I was a child. I applied for a Ph.D. position in Professor B's group and got admitted. Before admission, Professor A recommended me to Professor B orally but without writing a formal recommendation letter. I used the recommendation letters from other professors I really worked with.

Now, a Ph.D. student in our group learnt about this (my bad, I exposed this myself) and says I was cheating. And he just told everybody because of jealousy. I think I was fairly exploiting my personal network and also I don't know how much the oral recommendation was taken into account during admission. I also don't know what Professor A said to B. Whether he even really said something about me is a mystery to me. But I am totally qualified to get this position on my own.

Now many different versions of this rumor have come out. This is not the expected start of my Ph.D. life. I thought that everybody in my group might be friendly. But really, was I cheating during the admission? I might think about transferring to another group after all this.

Answer 1

First, I don't think you did anything wrong. If there was improper action anywhere it was on the part of others. (See the final statements about "favors" in the answer of tbrookside for example.) But I suspect that the oral recommendation given had little weight other than at the margin. The professor wouldn't have taken you on if there was any doubt about your abilities. It would have been foolish to take someone unqualified as a "favor" to another.

The other student also has no reason to be jealous as they also got accepted.

But the social thing is something you will have to work through. Demonstrate your competence in the usual way and it should tone down over time.

Answer 2

I suspect @Buffy is right, that you did not do anything wrong. However, you did receive an advantage you did not earn because of who your parents are and who do they know. I suspect that that advantage is much more subtle and much more substantive than the oral recommendations (compare your experience with this answer Does politics and perception play a role in higher education? )

In short, you were lucky, and it is not moraly wrong to be lucky. However, it is understandable (not right, but understandable) that people who had to earn their position the hard way require extra evidence before they are willing to accept you as an equal. It is your challenge to deal with this situation gracefully. Demonstrate your competence, as Buffy suggested, but also learn how priviledged you are, and how challenging university can be for those who do not come from a middle class or higher background. A nice place to start is here: https://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/attach/journals/feb15asrfeature_0.pdf

Answer 3

The purpose of a letter of recommendation is to supply information about the abilities of an applicant to decision makers. The letters are only necessary because those decision makers don't possess direct knowledge about the applicant. When making a hiring or admission decision, I would have no need to receive a letter of recommendation about an applicant I already knew very well; the letter would add no information to the process that I didn't already possess.

If you already had supplied letters of recommendation from other professors, an additional oral recommendation only makes more information available to the decision makers and therefore cannot be harmful or "unfair".

This assumes, of course, that Professor A supplied an actual recommendation. It's one thing if Professor A said, "I have known this person for 20 years and they are incredibly bright and diligent," and quite another thing if Professor A said, "This applicant's father is an old friend of mine and I will owe you a favor if you admit them."

Answer 4

Using a personal network, and more specifically your parents' network, to get ahead in academic admission / selection process is often grumbled upon. Academic admission is supposed to be done predominantly on the basis of academic achievement and potential. Some special consideration or preference may be given to under-represented categories or students from less privileged backgrounds, but it does not seem to be the case for you. On the contrary, having a personal and family relations with established professors may be seen as a privilege. In extreme situations (Prof. is a family member of a student they recommend) it is nepotism and a clear-cut conflict of interests for the Professor.

Legally, you did nothing wrong benefiting from networks and recommendations your family has. You have not done any cheating in a strict sense. But your fellow student is trying to make you recognise your privilege and consider whether using it was something you feel conflicted about. The way how you respond to this call may further distance you from your colleagues or help you gain their full respect.

Answer 5

The other answers so far seem a bit confused about what a conflict of interest is. A conflict of interest occurs when you have two goals which have the potential to cause you to act in two different ways.

You do not have a conflict of interest. Your only goal is to get admission. You have done nothing wrong.

It's not clear if Prof. B has done anything at all, but let's assume he decided to admit you. He has a goal of admitting the best possible student. He might have a goal of helping his friend Prof. A. He might have a conflict of interest, but he probably does not. It is reasonable to assume that professors are capable of managing this type of conflict ethically.

Prof. A has a goal of helping you and a goal of helping his colleague. This is a conflict of interest. However, if Prof. A has no power over the person who makes the admissions decision, then Prof. A's conflict of interest is not an ethical problem. Almost all recommenders are in this situation.

Conflict of interest would be problematic if the person making the admissions decision was offered a reward for admitting a certain student. This would be serious misconduct, but your situation is nothing like that.

Answer 6

It may be that the admission process in your case is extremely regulated and only letters of recommendation are to be taken into account. Plus probably some local/country regulation about lack of discrimination or obligation of positive discrimination.

In that case - yes, you have a problem. Similar to the ones inside traders have when they are caught getting benefits in an unfair way (the "fairness" is regulated by law)

Otherwise the reality of life is that you hire/accept someone you like and that you find appropriate. This is a mix of objective facts and subjective feelings. This includes recommendations of parents, friends and their dog - which you may or not take into account.

The fact that Prof A recommended you to Prof B may have many reasons. One of them could be that he trusts you and knows you are good enough.

The other student is jealous, frustrated, whatever. This has nothing to do with academia, just human nature, including gossips about favoritism, sleeping with someone to get a promotion, using diversity programs to get in, ... You will not change that.

Answer 7

What the others are accusing you of is nepotism.

nepotism - the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs: Oxford Dictionaries

If it were me, I would say to these people something like, "You know, now that you have mentioned it I'm wondering if I did get an unfair boost. Do you think I should join another group?" If they say yes, then say, "I'll think about it but first I'll speak to Professor B."

Then I would speak to Professor B and put the whole situation to them. Ask their advice on how much influence Prof A had and how you should deal with the whole situation.

From then on, you should make it a matter of your own conscience rather than the opinions of others.

I know this is a tough message but IMO it always pays to come clean about these things.

DISCLAIMER - I have only said what I would do. I take no responsibility for what actually happens if you follow my advice. However as you say, the cat is already out of the bag so nothing much worse is likely to happen than has already.

Finally, as someone has said, this is a life lesson. Learn from it and act upon what you have learned in the future. We all make mistakes.

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In response to comments

@Anonymous Physicist - I disagree. The OP explicitly says "my bad, I exposed this myself". I would classify that as a mistake.

@Maarten Buis - I didn't suggest that you accused anyone of anything - I'm not sure why you make that comment. With regard to nepotism, I merely gave a dictionary definition, not my own conception of the term. I also said that this is what the other students were claiming (going by that definition). I did not ascribe guilt, I suggested the OP examine their own conscience before making a final decision.