Recommendation letter

Graduate School
1

<p>Hi. I am applying to PhD programs in biomedical science (i.e., U of Michigan, OSU, and Boston U are few specific ones I'm applying to) and have a bit of a dilemma regarding a possible letter writer. I need three letters, and two of them are no problem, the professors were glad to write letters for me, very positive and all... but the third prof I approached was rather mixed in her description of what she would write. I've completed one class with her, a small class, got an A, and am taking a second one with her right now, and I'm averaging a B, which at any rate hasn't unsettled me much, as I generally do considerably better on term projects than problem sets (this course is a math/bio course in which the first half semester is mostly problem sets, second half is a project); and also because the consensus I've heard is that the course is exceptionally difficult.</p>

<p>At any rate, I've kind of been banking on being able to get a letter from this prof, and when I asked her, she said, basically, she would give an 'honest assessment' of my strengths and weaknesses, and that I have both significant strengths and significant weaknesses. Now one might normally advise that I just find another letter writer, but my options are rather limited in that respect. There aren't very many professors (of reasonably small classes that is) with whom I've had more than one class and know me very well. </p>

<p>I suppose my question is, how concerned should I be about this? Will one 'mixed' letter along with two very positive ones likely effect my chances of being admitted significantly? Especially this late, I don't really have a lot of other options, and so I may have to settle for this one. How worried should I be? Do most applicants typically get three overwhelmingly positive letters, and am I going to look like a low-quality applicant for having one that isn't uniformly positive?</p>

<p>Thanks for any input.</p>

2

<p>You really need to find someone else.</p>

<p>When a professor tells you something like that, they’re doing you a favor, because they’re tactfully, in a roundabout way, telling you that they really can’t honestly write you a useful letter of recommendation.</p>

3

<p>I agree with polarscribe, what she has told you basically means “no, go find someone else”.</p>

<p>That’s why you should ask people “can you write a GOOD LoR for me?”, because then it’s easy to decline politely.
Some faculty person (who cannot remember you from their classes) might be willing to write a LoR based on some discussion about your goals and motivation etc. (basically what you would tell in an interview). It will be very general letter though, but better than your first option.</p>