The Effectiveness of Self-Recommendation Letters in Signaling Transmission

This study sends self-recommendation letters with varying undergraduate institutional tiers, different levels of academic experience and distinct genders (while keeping all other information consistent) to different graduate supervisors.

2026-03-30

2026-04-07

This study sends self-recommendation letters with varying undergraduate institutional tiers, different levels of academic experience and distinct genders (while keeping all other information consistent) to different graduate supervisors, aiming to investigate the following questions: (1) Whether the level of academic experience and gender differences affect supervisors' admission intentions; (2) Whether a high level of academic experience can offset the disadvantages of students in terms of their undergraduate institutional background, and what the coefficient of the impact factor is; (3) Whether the gender more preferred by supervisors can make up for students' shortcomings in other aspects, and what the coefficient of the impact factor is.

This experiment examines the level of supervisors' stated admission intentions in response to different combinations of variables by controlling for various variables related to students' backgrounds in self-recommendation letters. Meanwhile, in the second phase of the experiment, a follow-up questionnaire will be distributed to supervisors who are willing to participate, so as to further explore the coefficient values of different impact factors in this process. This study can break the predicament of information asymmetry between supervisors and students in the postgraduate admission process, provide guidance on writing self-recommendation letters for students who are in the process of submitting such letters, and point out the direction of efforts for students aspiring to pursue a master's degree.

This study adopts a field experiment method with twelve experimental groups for comparison to investigate how students' levels of academic experience and gender differences jointly influence graduate supervisors' admission intentions. It also explores whether a high level of academic experience can offset the disadvantages of graduate applicants from non-elite undergraduate institutions, and whether being of the gender more preferred by supervisors can make up for applicants' shortcomings in other aspects.

Not available

Randomization was performed on three dimensions: applicant gender (male/female), academic background (top‑tier/second‑tier), and academic experience (high/low). A complete 2×2×2 factorial design was used, with random assignment of each faculty member to one of the eight treatment cells.

individual

Yes

3000

3000

3000