Letters of rec

Graduate School
1

<p>I fail at life. My GPA was a 3.0 in college, so I'm depending heavily on letters of rec and GRE, but unfortunately I don't know professors that well, and obviously my less than stellar performance won't result in great recs either.</p>

<p>I know most schools call for 3 recs, so I'm going to try to get one from work. Many guys there have PhDs in the same field I plan to apply for so hopefully that gets credibility.</p>

<p>Of course profs would be the best but I don't think they'll even give me good recs =[. Should I even look to trying for 2 letters from coworkers?</p>

<p>I'm just depressed at this point where I think I should just try for a state school where none of this is even required and start fresh over.</p>

2

<p>There is always the option of working for a year or two.</p>

3

<p>You didn’t mention your intended field.</p>

<p>In many fields, like my own, letters from co-workers or work supervisors are unacceptable.</p>

<p>If your intended field is professional in nature (like engineering or education), letters from supervisors would likely be appropriate.</p>

4

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<p>This might be a stupid question, but I want to be sure. I’m working part-time as a researcher at a research institute that is not affiliated to my university. Is it still unacceptable to have a letter from the advisor? And as I feel my performance there is better than in school, how would it look like if I had two letters from work, for example one from my advisor and one from the group leader?</p>

5

<p>Getting a letter from a PI is research-related and not “work-related.” You want that kind of letter – unless you did bio research and are applying for a PhD program in English.</p>

6

<p>Thanks Momwaitingfornew! </p>

<p>How about the two letters from the same place issue? It is probably not as good as having letters from three professors not related to each other in any way, but how bad is it? For example, as an another stupid question, is it better to have two good letters from people of one research project and one most likely less good from a teaching professor, or one good letter from research advisor and two less good letters from teaching professors. I know average letters are bad, but I don’t know how important broadness of the recommenders is and I’m trying to find some kind of limiting case here.</p>

7

<p>In general, I would recommend against letters from two people working on the same project, unless the project is huge and you’ve been working on it for a substantial amount of time. It’s not clear to me how separate the “advisor” and the “group leader” are in your case. I will say one thing, however: If you don’t have at least one recommendation from your home institution and one from your research institute, it will raise a red flag.</p>

<p>Together, your LORs should provide a full profile of the type of student/researcher you are – a portrait that shows you in the best possible light, from as many angles as possible.</p>

<p>You’ll have to judge for yourself who will write the best letters. You’re right – you do not want mediocre letters.</p>