Recommendation letter and western culture (schools, universities, teacher)

[Bettafish]

In America and many western countries, you need letters of recommendation to apply for colleges/graduate schools, new jobs and so on. Such a custom does not exist in China (although the teacher may need to write something in your documents).

Is it very common in all western countries? Is it fair for non-social people?

[Chava61]

Originally Posted by Bettafish

In America and many western countries, you need letters of recommendation to apply for colleges/graduate schools, new jobs and so on. Such a custom does not exist in China (although the teacher may need to write something in your documents).

Is it very common in all western countries? Is it fair for non-social people?

Non-social people should be able to get letters of recommendations from their former supervisors at work and college professors whom they would not be expected to have socialized with.

[Bettafish]

Originally Posted by Chava61

Non-social people should be able to get letters of recommendations from their former supervisors at work and college professors whom they would not be expected to have socialized with.

Yes, but I suspect they tend to be not "impressive", or not very likable, which will affect the recommendations,

[Chava61]

Originally Posted by Bettafish

Yes, but I suspect they tend to be not "impressive", or not very likable, which will affect the recommendations,

That is not correct. A former supervisor or professor can still give a glowing recommendation based on the person's work skills and ethics.

[Brave New World]

Originally Posted by Bettafish

In America and many western countries, you need letters of recommendation to apply for colleges/graduate schools, new jobs and so on. Such a custom does not exist in China (although the teacher may need to write something in your documents).

Is it very common in all western countries? Is it fair for non-social people?

The School or Sixth Form College you attend in the UK usually writes you a letter of reccomendation in the UK.

[BigCityDreamer]

Originally Posted by Bettafish

In America and many western countries, you need letters of recommendation to apply for colleges/graduate schools, new jobs and so on. Such a custom does not exist in China (although the teacher may need to write something in your documents).

Is it very common in all western countries? Is it fair for non-social people?

Letters of recommendation are essentially a formality (otherwise known as BS) in American schools.

All they really care about are your grades and standardized test scores.

[Bettafish]

Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer

Letters of recommendation are essentially a formality (otherwise known as BS) in American schools.

All they really care about are your grades and standardized test scores.

I think a positive letter will not matter much (unless a famous person wrote it), but a negative one certainly does.

I know a Japanese student asked a professor to write a letter for him for graduate school application, and he chose the option to see the letter afterwards. Surprisingly, that professor wrote a lot of negative things, which he realized after he got rejected.

[Chava61]

Originally Posted by Bettafish

I think a positive letter will not matter much (unless a famous person wrote it), but a negative one certainly does.

I know a Japanese student asked a professor to write a letter for him for graduate school application, and he chose the option to see the letter afterwards. Surprisingly, that professor wrote a lot of negative things, which he realized after he got rejected.

I never heard of any negative recommendation letter. Usually a person would just refuse to write a letter of recommendation if they had nothing positive to say and they would bow out gracefully while refusing.

[jgtheone]

Never had to do any of this lol, for one uni application I had to do a 400 word statement but that's it.

[Ariete]

Universities don't require or even react to recommendation letters here, but when applying for a job they can ask if it's ok to contact your previous employer. Rarely happens though.