After admission, should I thank a recommender who I suspect wrote a bad letter?

Question

I have strong suspicion that one of the professors regardless of the professional relationship we had was not very nice in the recommendation letter. This is after knowing him at a personal level and how perfectionist and judgmental he is of other people. But let's not get into why I chose him to write my recommendation letter, you can assume I had my reasons. I got into the master's program I wanted which is one of the top in the US.

But that was the only program I got into while other programs ranked much lower declined me. My grades were good and my record was good the two other recommendation letters were good for a fact, so that only leaves me to assume that this top college did not weigh in so heavily on his recommendation letter to make their decision.

But all this is speculative, my question and concern is, should I let him know that I got into the program I wanted regardless? I want to do this as a courtesy and a thank you message. My fear is that he might go as far as approach the committee and ask for my admission to be re-evaluated. Or bad-mouth me to colleagues in that university if he knows I am attending.

Answer 1

Yes, you should thank and inform your letter writer, and no, you shouldn't worry about some bizarre and unrealistic "re-evaluation" of your admission.

Comments: It is very unlikely that your writer wrote a negative letter. In general, one only agrees to write a letter if one has something constructive or positive to say. Having read lots of letters, I'll note that even judgmental and perfectionist people put their criticisms in context, comparing to their general assessments of other students or researchers. (I.e. this person isn't perfect, but he/she is better than most others for the following reasons). These letters, in fact, are often the most compelling.

As a further comment, you're being very uncharitable in assuming bad intentions of someone who agreed to write a letter for you!

And a final comment: no university is going to care to "re-evaluate" their admission of you, even in the stunningly unlikely event that someone asks them to, except in cases of actual fraud, criminal issues, etc. Everyone involved has better things to be doing with their time.

Answer 2

The fears you describe go way beyond your characterization of this person as perfectionist/judgmental into extreme pettiness. To go to those lengths would be to put a lot of effort into sabotage. If I were the committee/professors at your new institution on the receiving end of comments like those, especially from someone who I knew previously wrote a recommendation letter for the student, I would lose respect for that professor and their opinions, not for the student, and I would wonder why they are spending so much effort to bad-mouth a student at my own institution.

I think you have little to lose by a polite thank you and informing that you will be attending University X, unless you have other reasons beyond this professor's perfectionist/judgmental tendencies. You probably won't need their recommendation in the future, so no need to worry about that.

Answer 3

Yes.

If he wrote you a good or even half-hearted recommendation, a sincere thank-you is common courtesy, and will cement his good opinion of you (it's even possible he wrote you a glowing recommendation -- your biggest boosters sometimes come from surprising places).

If he wrote a neutral or bad recommendation, he's more likely to remember your graceful response and think better of you (and it's still basic courtesy).

If he despises you, wrote you a strongly negative recommendation, and you got the job anyway, a polite and sincere thank-you will be the most galling retort you can send.

Answer 4

I would let him know I got into the program and thank him for the recommendation. You are now officially admitted into the program and there is nothing he can about it.

Assuming he wrote a good recommendation, you thanked him and that is that. If he did write you a bad letter, then the committee decided to admit you regardless of that recommendation and he cannot do anything anymore.

I suggest you thank him and move on. If you have a strong suspicion, then be careful in the future.

Answer 5

There is no objective requirement to inform or thank the professor.

Given that your reasons for perhaps wanting to inform/thank this person are a bit suspect (maybe part of you wants to go "Nya nya, I got in, in spite of you"), it would be wise to limit your contact with this person as much as possible (but without drawing attention to yourself).

Just let all of this wash away with the tide. Not long from now you will be enrolled in a new program and you'll be able to forget all about this person.

Answer 6

You seem to think that because you were not accepted at the lower ranking universities, this professor must have written a bad recomendation letter. You seem to fail to acknowledge the possibility that those other universities did not like your profile that much for whatever reason. It's also relevant to have in mind that admission process is a subjective matter, conducted by human beings with a lot of imperfections.

Answer 7

Yes it is a courtesy to inform recommendation letter writers about your results, more so when you've got a great admit.

However, you never know what criteria were used by the admission committee to select you, and what was your ranking among applicants. Who knows what effect that professor can have on the selectors once he knows of it.

So there is NO need to tell him now. You can do so when you've started studies at the institute.

Answer 8

You should thank your recommenders regardless of whether you got into a program. This is the least that is required by simple manners. You should let your recommenders know where you're going because its a simple courtesy that costs you nothing.

You have no reason to wonder if the recommender wrote you a strong letter. Such issues are best addressed when you request the recommendation, and not after. I can't imagine why anyone would take the time to write you a bad letter instead of just saying no, and if the reviewer wasn't in a position to write you as strong a letter as you wanted, that's on you, not the person who agreed to help you.

Answer 9

You should definitely perform the courtesy of thanking the professor for writing the recommendation. This could be done before (or regardless) of having been accepted to any program. Had you been rejected to every program it would still be good form to thank those that had taken the effort to write a recommendation.

I also submit that you may write a letter thanking each professor for their letter without stating to where you were accepted and to where you will go. You can be more general, for example, and express that you will work diligently to honor their recommendation.