<p>Let's say that I want to switch from studying EE undergrad to something different in graduate school, like for example stats or operations research.</p>
<p>If my letters of rec are all from faculty members who specialize in circuit design, and discuss my potential in the same field...would I need to have them rewrite the letters to reflect my potential in the new area of study--something which they may or may not be familiar with?</p>
<p>I'm curious...for those who go out and work several years, then decide that they want to return to school in a different field, what do they do about their letters of rec? Do they go back to their old professors and have them write new letters, or have their employers write letters, or just use the same old letters that may or may not be relevant?</p>
<p>It wouldn’t hurt to discuss your graduate school plans with your LOR writers so they can tailor their letters appropriately. And in fact I’d think doing so would be a good idea. As well, it generally tends to be helpful to provide recommenders with a copy of your SoP/Personal Statement, CV, and transcript.</p>
Ideally, yes. But one of my LOR writers is on leave until the end of the Spring 2010 term, at the earliest, and the other two LOR writers are very, very busy. They wrote their letters for me during their Christmas holidays. :(</p>
<p>My situation: I’m a graduating senior. I only realized last term, upon taking two advanced circuit design courses, that it wasn’t my passion or forte (in fact, I was definitely in the bottom quartile.) I had already applied to graduate schools by then, but I didn’t get into any top 10 programs anyway. I figured that I might as well take this opportunity to switch majors and re-apply for the Fall 2010 term.</p>
<p>You need your letter writers to show that you (1) have talent, potential, and experience as a researcher and student, and that you (2) have a demonstrated passion for the specific subject. Your old LOR’s should hopefully handle #1, I would try to line up someone to handle #2 - maybe take some classes this summer/fall, or try to do a little side research in the area.</p>
<p>Grad schools know that people shift fields going into grad school, the only question you really need to resolve is how well you will stack up against someone who prepped specifically for that field. If they like you, they will not have a problem with you taking a few “remedial” courses your first year to get up to speed. These days almost everybody is behind on something for their subject. Don’t sweat it.</p>
<p>Indeed, the main problem is that when faced with a choice between someone who has established himself through the same field of study as an undergrad (with coursework + research), and someone who’s “new,” grad schools will favour the former. For this reason, it seems that switching majors between undergrad and grad is uncommon among top-tier Ph.D. programs.</p>
<p>As for taking classes in the summer and fall, where exactly would I do it? If I had known earlier, I could have petitioned for an extra semester or two, but now it’s too late. Would grades earned from a community college have any kind of credibility for first- and second-tier grad programs? The other option is to do the EE Masters anyway and take classes in other departments, but grad programs are often very restrictive when it comes to non-major coursework.</p>