<p>I was just wondering. If one works closely with a post-doc on a research project, can that post-doc write one a letter of recommendation? Do grad schools look down upon recs written by post-docs as opposed to professors?</p>
<p>Yes they can, but it's not preferable. Try to get your letters from academics who are established in their field.</p>
<p>Yes, you can have a postdoc write a letter. Often, though, you can ask the PI of the lab to write the letter, and the PI will ask the postdoc to actually write it. This is the best of both worlds -- the postdoc who knows you writes the letter, and the PI with credibility signs it.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, a letter from a postdoc does not carry as much weight as a letter from a PI. However, it's not a kiss of death -- one of my letters was from a postdoc, and I was admitted to all of the schools to which I applied (biomedical sciences PhD). Still, it's best to get letters from PIs if possible.</p>
<p>As a general rule (there are always exceptions due to peoples fame), letters from professors count the most. Next highest are letters from research scientists. After that come letters from lecturers, systems scientists, employers, or postdocs. Please do not get a letter from a graduate student. If you found yourself doing research where you were supervised by a graduate student or postdoc, you should ask the professor for whom they work if she can co-write the letter. The reason is simple: professors are the ones reading the letter, and they are most likely to know other professors.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/%7Eharchol/gradschooltalk.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~harchol/gradschooltalk.pdf</a> (lots of helpful advice)</p>
<p>Agree with all these responses. </p>
<p>Usually the post-doc knows you much better than the PI, but unless the PI is unable to write a strong recommendation for you, there is no reason to have the post-doc write the letter. You can have the post-doc inform the PI of your positive qualities to help strengthen the letter.</p>
<p>In my case, I’m not sure which PI to choose to write the LOR on behalf of the post-doc I worked with, because I never met any of them. But based on my post-doc’s website, theres 3 other professors in the research group (including one very well known professor). But only one of those profs lists him as a post-doc advisee in his CV, and in the postdoc’s powerpoint presentations and publications, he seems to mention only that one prof most of the time. Can I have that well-known prof write the LOR? Or it has to be that prof that is his advisor?</p>
<p>Pose these questions to your postdocs, they have gone through the process and can talk to the professor if you want them to as well.</p>
<p>Nice thread virtuoso_735. I was thinking about the same questions. However my PI is willing to write good LOR but I want someone who knows me closer (since post-doc are always in lab) and I want someone who can write in detail about my working habits and character.</p>