I’m writing a letter of recommendation for a friend to a program I don’t know anything about. That friend generously offered to write the letter for me and have me do any edits I saw fit. That seems fair. He writes a glowing review of himself, I do no work. Everyone gets what they want.

One hitch… the letter my friend wrote about himself on my behalf is terrible. I think maybe he used AI.

Earlier I said i didn’t know anything about the program he’s applying for and that’s not true. I do know one thing. It’s a writing program.

Writing a recommendation letter is a weird thing, having one written for you about someone else is maybe weirder. You find yourselves quibbling with things… “I wouldn’t say it like that.” You ask yourself, is it that I wouldn’t say that in that way, or that you wouldn’t say that type of thing… or scarier, you wouldn’t say that thing about the person you’re recommending? You end up in this territory where you’re asking yourself if you’d recommend this person for anything at all. You even start to wonder if you’d recommend ANYONE for ANYTHING

Would I recommend anyone for anything?

I think the answer is no.