Recommendations from professors you chat with (rather than do research with)

Graduate School
1

<p>Are these types of recommendations common? Can they be extremely helpful?</p>

<p>Here's the thing: when you do research, you're not really talking about the big picture - you're merely in for the small details. I'm more of a "big picture" person than a "small details" person, and most of my insights come from the "big picture". </p>

<p>But if you simply chat with a professor maybe weekly, you could talk with him about things that are more big picture. Most of the time, those chats won't prove your "genius" or analytical ability (you can rely on other recommendations for that). But they can prove that you have the ability to see the big picture very well. They can also prove that you have a <em>real</em> passion for the field (which is often important, since many grad students come in without having much passion, and then are more susceptible to dropping out). It's also quite possible that professors might see a problem in their grad students not seeing the "big picture" very well.</p>

<p>I don't know, but I actually find it hard to talk to my fellow undergrads in astrophysics precisely because few of them seem to care much about the big picture.</p>

2

<p>Have you had classes with that professor? A letter of recommendation from a professor who hasn’t seen you in a classroom or research setting is pretty worthless. But as long as you’ve been in one or two classes with him/her, it should be fine.</p>

3

<p>There is a professor I’m close with at my school who wrote one of my recs. I took a class with him and I did really well, and we worked on a review together a bit (ultimately it has been put on the far-back burner), and we talk often. I think his rec was probably the most honest picture of me and I hope it helped. I did get an interview at the school he attended (Columbia), so it probably helped.</p>