Rejected.

[aebhel]

Well, I got turned down by one of the people that I asked for a recommendation. She said:

Natassia,
I'm not sure what to say, to be honest. You were a great student in the children's lit class and wrote beautifully, but in the poetry class-- not so much. I want to write a good recommendation, but I also can't lie.
I graduated with almost a 4.0; you

Comments

[botia]

Ouch, that's harsh:(

[aebhel]

Yeah, and she's an award-winning (and fairly well-known) author, which just makes it sting that much more. And she was one of the people I was pretty sure would be willing to recommend me. So, yeah, ouch.

[gabrielladusult]

How old is this woman? Never mind, it doesn't matter -- if that post is verbatim of what she wrote in her letter: but in poetry class -- not so much...that's hardly the kind of articulation I expect from a professor, let alone a well known author.

If you are really in need of a rec from her, you might try asking her for what her specific misgivings are in recommending you (for a graduate program, I presume) -- if poetry is not your area, and not what you intend to focus on, I don't see the problem...unless you were disrespectful, inattentive, or uncaring about your work. If you tried your best but just aren't a poetry person, she should be a good enough teacher to appreciate the effort.

I'm really sorry that you had to get something like that. It was very unprofessional on her part... (the 'not so much') really aggravates me. It is a very juvenile thing to write in a professional capacity.

[aebhel]

One of the other professors I talked to said she'd write one for me, so I think I'm going to let this one go.

The problem was that I did really well in the first class I took with her, but I'm a much better prose writer than I am a poet. I think she was expecting me to do better than I did, and just sort of assumed that I wasn't trying. But, yeah--I'm applying to graduate programs in Library and Information Sciences, so I'm not sure my lousy poetry is really relevant.