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The Most Dangerous Piece I’ve Ever Written?

Using AI to Draft College Recommendation Letters

David Knuffke
9 min readAug 28, 2023

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Before we get into it

I’m conflicted in writing this piece. On one hand, the idea of using an Large Language Model (LLM- ex. ChatGPT) to draft a college recommendation letter feels a bit weird to me. On the other, the formal nature of the college recommendation letter is one that seems to lend itself to some degree of drafting automation. Letters of Recommendation are exemplary of exactly the kind of thing that I described as a language chore (a type of written task that has well-established conventions with regularly repeated execution) a while back, though definitely one with a bit higher stakes, and more complexity than writing an email, or other such tasks. More than anything else, LLMs are well-fit for language chores.

I can clearly see some of what follows being poorly implemented by prospective letter writers, and as such I worry that outlining the approach that follows will lead to some degree of grief on the part of teachers, counsellors, and students. Still, writing effective recommendation letters is a lengthy process, and anything that allows some time to be saved without sacrificing the quality of the end-product feels like a worthwhile pursuit. To push through this ambivalence, here are few disclaimers that I…

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David Knuffke
David Knuffke

Written by David Knuffke

Writing about whatever I want to, whenever I want to do it. Mostly teaching, schools and culture.

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