I'm currently preparing my applications for graduate economics and statistics programs, and had a bit of a strange interaction with a statistics professor I'm currently doing research under. Since I'm not that familiar with a lot of the social norms of academia, I was wondering if someone could help me figure out what happened.

I've been working for this professor for almost a year at this point (unpaid), and I would say we definitely have a good relationship. The main tasks I've done for him are:

• writing all the documentation files for a software package that implements statistical methods he created
• creating a ~40 min presentation that explains his new statistical methods in detail

Currently, I'm helping him debug the software package and generalize his methods in an upcoming paper. He's said that if we can get a substantive paper out of this, he would put me down as a co-author. He's also said things like "You have research potential", and "I've been speaking to my coauthor, and we're both very impressed. If you want to apply to the statistics PhD for [school redacted], I could definitely help you with that" (these are word-for-word quotes).

Here's where the weird part comes in. I recently had a meeting with him where we discussed upcoming tasks, and at the end, I asked him for advice on writing my statement of purpose. He didn't answer the question, and instead went on a short tangent, saying that my GPA was way too low given the schools I was applying to and that he wouldn't be able to write a substantive letter of recommendation for PhD applications, but maybe able to write one for Masters applications.

While I totally understand that I'm not automatically entitled to a letter of recommendation from anyone, this feels like it came out of left field. I was kind of banking on his letter being my strongest one, and now it seems like I'm not going to get one at all. I have another meeting with him soon, but in the meantime, I'm trying to figure out what just happened.

I'm currently preparing my applications for graduate economics and statistics programs, and had a bit of a strange interaction with a statistics professor I'm currently doing research under. Since I'm not that familiar with a lot of the social norms of academia, I was wondering if someone could help me figure out what happened.

I've been working for this professor for almost a year at this point (unpaid), and I would say we definitely have a good relationship. The main tasks I've done for him are:

• writing all the documentation files for a software package that implements statistical methods he created
• creating a ~40 min presentation that explains his new statistical methods in detail

Currently, I'm helping him debug the software package and generalize his methods in an upcoming paper. He's said that if we can get a substantive paper out of this, he would put me down as a co-author. He's also said things like "You have research potential", and "I've been speaking to my coauthor, and we're both very impressed. If you want to apply to the statistics PhD for [school redacted], I could definitely help you with that". (These are word-for-word quotes.)

Here's where the weird part comes in. I recently had a meeting with him where we discussed upcoming tasks, and at the end, I asked him for advice on writing my statement of purpose. He didn't answer the question, and instead went on a short tangent, saying that my GPA was way too low given the schools I was applying to and that he wouldn't be able to write a substantive letter of recommendation for PhD applications, but maybe able to write one for masters applications.

While I totally understand that I'm not automatically entitled to a letter of recommendation from anyone, this feels like it came out of left field. I was kind of banking on his letter being my strongest one, and now it seems like I'm not going to get one at all. I have another meeting with him soon, but in the meantime, I'm trying to figure out what just happened.

I'm currently preparing my applications for graduate economics and statistics programs, and had a bit of a strange interaction with a statistics professor I'm currently doing research under. Since I'm not that familiar with a lot of the social norms of academia, I was wondering if someone could help me figure out what happened.

I've been working for this professor for almost a year at this point (unpaid), and I would say we definitely have a good relationship. The main tasks I've done for him are:

• writing all the documentation files for a software package that implements statistical methods he created
• creating a ~40 min presentation that explains his new statistical methods in detail

Currently I'm helping him debug the software package and generalize his methods in an upcoming paper. He's said that if we can get a substantive paper out of this, he would put me down as a coauthor. He's also said things like "you have research potential", and "I've been speaking to my coauthor, and we're both very impressed. If you want to apply to the statistics PhD for [school redacted], I could definitely help you with that" (these are word-for-word quotes).

Here's where the weird part comes in. I recently had a meeting with him where we discussed upcoming tasks, and at the end I asked him for advice on writing my statement of purpose. He didn't really answer the question, and instead went on a short tangent, saying that my GPA was way too low given the schools I was applying to, and that he wouldn't be able to write a substantive letter of recommendation for PhD applications, but may be able to write one for Masters applications.

While I totally understand that I'm not automatically entitled to a letter of recommendation from anyone, this feels like it came out of left field. I was kind of banking on his letter being my strongest one, and now it seems like I'm not going to get one at all. I have another meeting with him soon, but in the meantime I'm trying to figure out what just happened.

I'm currently preparing my applications for graduate economics and statistics programs, and had a bit of a strange interaction with a statistics professor I'm currently doing research under. Since I'm not that familiar with a lot of the social norms of academia, I was wondering if someone could help me figure out what happened.

I've been working for this professor for almost a year at this point (unpaid), and I would say we definitely have a good relationship. The main tasks I've done for him are:

• writing all the documentation files for a software package that implements statistical methods he created
• creating a ~40 min presentation that explains his new statistical methods in detail

Currently, I'm helping him debug the software package and generalize his methods in an upcoming paper. He's said that if we can get a substantive paper out of this, he would put me down as a co-author. He's also said things like "You have research potential", and "I've been speaking to my coauthor, and we're both very impressed. If you want to apply to the statistics PhD for [school redacted], I could definitely help you with that" (these are word-for-word quotes).

Here's where the weird part comes in. I recently had a meeting with him where we discussed upcoming tasks, and at the end, I asked him for advice on writing my statement of purpose. He didn't answer the question, and instead went on a short tangent, saying that my GPA was way too low given the schools I was applying to and that he wouldn't be able to write a substantive letter of recommendation for PhD applications, but maybe able to write one for Masters applications.

While I totally understand that I'm not automatically entitled to a letter of recommendation from anyone, this feels like it came out of left field. I was kind of banking on his letter being my strongest one, and now it seems like I'm not going to get one at all. I have another meeting with him soon, but in the meantime, I'm trying to figure out what just happened.