<p>I didn't want to post in the same thread to avoid discussing too many topics in the same thread. Does a full professor's LOR have more weight than let's say, an assistant professor's?</p>
<p>Not necessarily. The best letter of reference is from a professor who knows you well and can write a personalized letter. it that is an Assistant professor, then that is OK. A full Professor probably has more experience writing these letters and knows the right things to say though.</p>
<p>What is the LOR for? Is it for an undergrad applying to grad school in engineering? If so, having a LOR from someone who is known for having done and published good work in a particular field has advantages over other letter writers. While the title doesn’t specifically matter that much, full professors are probably more likely to be famous for their work than an assistant professor would be.</p>
<p>Nothing yet. I was just wondering. I doubt he would be known in the area I plan on going into.</p>
<p>^^ to reply 3:</p>
<p>unless you go to a top 50 or so school for undergrad engineering, I doubt even the full professors have any fame for their research. I go to an XYZ college (ABET acredited, but that does not equal prestige), and I doubt any of my chem engineering profs (even the full, tenured ones) are known nationally/regionally for their research publications</p>
<p>^ When I say famous, of course I mean only to those who are in the particular field. Some engineering schools that aren’t highly ranked overall might have one or two particularly well-known professors.</p>
<p>For undergrad I attended a state flagship that is probably Top 100-ish but not Top 50 in national rankings, and there was one particular professor who was quite well known in his field. In my particular engineering area, I know of professors from lesser known schools who are still well-known. </p>
<p>I attended an Ivy for grad school. Having a “famous” recommender is probably only important if you are aiming very high for grad school. Engineering grad school admissions is very different from undergrad admissions, from what I have heard from professor friends. Professors are very involved in grad school admissions, while undergrad admissions is left to the admissions office. All they care about is that you can excel at research in a particular narrow engineering field, and get your work published.</p>
<p>Good reply, sacchi. How can I check of profs at my college are well-known in chem engineering/ in their particular field/research area?</p>
<p>Are there journal sites I can go to to search their names and see how many publications/reviews/ other forms of status points they have in their field? :D</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Most colleges have websites for each professor which typically list all of their publications. </p>
<p>I don’t know what the leading publications are for Chemical Engineering. I’m a EE, and IEEE does most of the publications in the area. So, perhaps the AIChE has publications?</p>
<p>Journal publications are much more prestigious than conferences. Generally the more selective a publication it is, e.g. the lower the acceptance rate, the more prestigious it is. International conferences are generally better than location-specific ones. Book chapters are generally better than journals.</p>
<p>The Australia Research Council provides a list where they grade various technical conferences. Hope this link works.
<a href=“Redirect Notice”>Redirect Notice;
<p>Google Scholar is also a good source. One key metric used in assessing publication quality is how often a particular paper is cited by others, which Google Scholar provides. You can search for particular professors names there, and the most cited articles are typically listed first.</p>