<p>Do admissions committees typically give more credibility towards letters written by proffesors or is the occupation of the person writing the letter not that significant?(excluding family,friends,coaches of course) I currently have letters of recommendations from a faculty member who is in charge of student organization affairs and also one from a police officer that I interned under. Although, I have a high GPA, I do not know most of my proffesors well enough for them to write me a well written letter of recommendation. Are the people I have gotten letters from so far going to be over looked because they're not proffesors? and should I go befriend a proffesor for my third letter of recommendation?</p>
<p>I’m not sure if this is uniformly true for all graduate programs, but in the biosciences and in many other disciplines, admissions committees strongly prefer to have LORs from professors, preferably professors who know you well as a student or as an undergrad research assistant. I’m not sure how well the professor in charge of student organization affairs knows you, but personally I’d recommend having at least 2 LORs (and preferably 3) from professors who know you well and can write strong letters to support your application.</p>
<p>I agree with Aceflyer. LORs should be written by people who can testify to your work in a field related to your major. Try to become friends with a professor or two and really show them your potential. When are you applying? (How long do you have to get good with a professor?)</p>
<p>General rule of them: Pretty much must have a PhD because those people know what it takes to be in a PhD program.</p>