How ChatGPT Assists Professors in Writing Recommendation Letters
ChatGPT, a chatbot created by OpenAI, has been used by a professor at the University of Victoria in Canada as a tool in writing a recommendation letter for a student who was applying for a scholarship. According to The Atlantic, the decision paid off as the student was selected for a graduate program and was also offered a prestigious scholarship by the University of Cambridge soon after.
The head of advanced research services at the university's libraries, Matt Huculak, directed ChatGPT to create an "excellent" reference letter for the student. Huculak was pleasantly surprised that the letter generated by ChatGPT was among some of the best he had ever read. It was concise, used concrete examples, and spoke of the candidate's ability to collaborate with others.
Despite the success of the chatbot-created letter, the professor used it as a template of what one should not write in a recommendation letter. This is because AI might create a formulaic and repetitive letter. Huculak believes that a formula isn't bad, but one must fight the expectation of the "form" to show the unique traits of the student.
Professors typically recycle reference letters they've given in the past and format them to match the needs of a particular student. As a result, this can produce dull letters. However, taking the help of ChatGPT to generate recommendation letters can break the cycle and may even provide a space to experiment with writing in a way they were not comfortable with before.
Although some schools and colleges have banned the use of ChatGPT due to plagiarism and cheating concerns, Huculak believes the technology can speed up the writing process and increase the productivity of students. Writing a recommendation letter can be a difficult and anxiety-producing task, but with the help of AI, it can make the job easier for professors to create unique and heartfelt letters for their students.
