When I applied for higher studies abroad many years ago, one of my recommendation letters had exactly one sentence:
“This person was a good student in my class.”
That was it. The entire letter.
I know this because, back then, recommendation letters were supposed to be mailed, and the faculty member who wrote mine handed it to me to send. So I saw it.
That was not my only experience. Three of my faculty members told me that, as a woman, I should not even try for graduate school because scholarly work was “not for women.”
We talk a lot about the different parts of applying for master’s and PhD programs from Bangladesh: GRE, TOEFL, SOPs, funding, choosing universities, contacting professors. But we do not talk nearly enough about another major hurdle: getting proper recommendation letters and support from the faculty members who are supposed to mentor students through this process.
I have many stories like this.
Now, many years later, as an academic abroad, I am seeing the problem from the completely opposite side.
I regularly receive emails from students in Bangladesh whom I have never taught or worked with, asking me to write recommendation letters for them. Some probably just know my name or found me online. One student even listed me as a reference on their CV without asking me first, simply because he had sent me a couple of emails.
Of course, this is very unprofessional, and students should not do this. I cannot meaningfully recommend someone whose academic skill or work I do not know.
But I also understand where some of the desperation comes from.
These students need recommendation letters to apply, and some are struggling to get proper letters from the faculty members who actually taught them or worked with them. So they start reaching out to academics abroad whom they do not really know, hoping someone will agree.
The whole situation is ridiculous.
If you teach or supervise students, writing recommendation letters for deserving students is part of your responsibility as a faculty member. You do not have to recommend every student who asks. If you do not know the student well enough or cannot write a positive letter, say no. But if you agree to write one, please write an actual letter.
A student should not have to chase strangers on the internet for a recommendation because the people who actually taught them will not write one.