<p>I'm looking to transfer to a few schools next year and was wondering about recommendation letters. </p>
<p>At the moment I work with a lot of PhDs from Ivys, top ranking schools you get the picture. I've done an even amount of work for them all and was just curious, is it worth me getting a rec. letter for 3 of them (three Unis I want to apply to) and then sending the respective one off to UChicago, Yale, Brown etc or get one of them to write one, and use that (I'd hate to leave any bad feelings when I leave).</p>
<p>I'd also be sharing the same professors as they did, so should I get three to be safe, or is one enough?</p>
<p>Well I didn’t even consider transferring until maybe around the end of November last year. And I did alright.</p>
<p>Your question raises several issues. First off, check the number of recs each school requires. Second, make sure you get recs that are outstanding - just having someone with certain qualifications write a generic letter for you isn’t going to help. Ideally, you should be close to the people who will be writing your letters, and they should be able to fully gauge your potential and enthusiasm as a student. A professor with ‘lesser’ qualifications, but is able to write at length on you as a person, is much better than some famous guy who’ll say generic things about you.</p>
<p>Just ask your professors to write duplicates to all of the schools you’ll be applying to. You should be comfortable talking to them about it, and expressing your explicit reasons for transferring. I had professors (admittedly, Ivy League educated, so I’m a little hypocritical with my advice haha) who were very supportive of my decision, and led me to believe in myself. Those are the types of people that should be writing your letters.</p>
<p>Anyways, a variety of perspectives is good - get as many as you need (the general rule is 2 * the number of recs a college requests from you).</p>
<p>Brown and Chicago are not your best bets if money is an issue. I would look at schools that are both need blind to international and meet full need for transfers. Neither one does either.</p>
<p>As for letters from alum at schools of this caliber, don’t expect them to matter unless they are big donors or influential at the college in another way.</p>
<p>Alright, thanks for the posts. I work closely with all of them, I could only really say that out of the 6 i work with on my floor, I work closely with 2, but am friendlier with the others. </p>
<p>My professors understand how important recs are (a colleague is applying for grad school as well) so they know the deal. </p>
<p>There isn’t anything differing the professors a lot, aside from one going to U Illinois, and the others going to Yale, Brown etc </p>
<p>About the money thing - yeah I know, just named some schools off.</p>
<p>One of the biggest mistakes students make: sending in too many recommendations. Two is safe number. Three may be pushing it…Depends of how good they are.</p>