Letters of Recommendation

Graduate School
1

<p>Hi all,
So I am applying for grad school and I have 2 LoRs ready - both from 2 PI's that I've worked with. They're both in the same department but the first one I've worked with for 2.5 years, the second for about 8 months. The first will be a very strong letter, the second should be quite good as well.</p>

<p>Now the problem is my 3rd letter...I haven't had an opportunity to really get to know professors who have taught my classes. I attend a UC so the office hours are huge!! I've emailed 1 of my professors who taught 2 of classes but he's just not replying.</p>

<p>Do you think it's bad to ask a postdoc in my lab to write me a letter? Obviously he knows me very well as a scientist and a person...but he's 1) a postdoc and 2) from the same department as my other 2 letters.</p>

<p>what do you think? is it better than asking some professor who taught me a course to write me a letter about how I got an A and blah blah blah?</p>

<p>Thanks a lot.</p>

2

<p>If your professor can’t say anything more than that you got an A in class, then I should think someone who knows your research (ie, the postdoc) would provide a better letter. A letter from a professor that just says “so and so got an A and was a good student” is going to be virtually worthless and probably detrimental to your application. It’s obvious that PI > postdoc, but I think it’s pretty clear that professor-without-outside-the-classroom-knowledge-of-you is < postdoc.</p>

3

<p>Agree with the above post.Research is extremely important.If u have done any internships/research with any companies try to get hold of a letter from them.</p>