Just lost my 3rd letter of recommendation

[deleted427955]

Hi all,

I will be applying to clinical phd progams this fall but I have a problem. I will have two strong letters from a full professor and an assistant professor. My third was going to come from a graduate student I interned for last year however she dropped out of the program and said she will be unable to provide a letter for me. I emailed the head of the lab to inquire about getting one from him but he would not be able to do so. Apparently, (my interpretation) there were some questions about her integrity and he just wants to wash his hands of the situation!

So, here I am with only a few months to go and I am out of luck.. There is really no one else I can ask, I was never close to any professors and have been out of school for a year. Should I just join another lab for the next 4-5 months and get some experience that way? Or am I screwed?

I was thinking of just emailing a bunch of professors and plainly stating my intention: to get involved in research related to my field and obtain a letter of recommendation. Is this too forward?

Thank you!

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[echo379]

Honestly this might be a blessing in disguise. You want to stay away from letters from grad students and if there were integrity problems you definitely didnt want one from her.

Are you apply this round coming round? If so you may just have to look at your transcript and get one from a prof who's class you got an A in. Yeah I know this is weak but if its your only option so be it. Otherwise you can work and apply next round like you said. I don't think you need to mention its for a LOR. If you do good work they will 99% of the time not have a problem writing you one.

 

[cara susanna]

I know that anecdotal evidence isn't great, but I got interviews and an acceptance with one letter from a prof who'd only had me in their classes (the other two were from profs with whom I'd conducted research).

 

[deleted427955]

Honestly this might be a blessing in disguise. You want to stay away from letters from grad students and if there were integrity problems you definitely didnt want one from her.

Are you apply this round coming round? If so you may just have to look at your transcript and get one from a prof who's class you got an A in. Yeah I know this is weak but if its your only option so be it. Otherwise you can work and apply next round like you said. I don't think you need to mention its for a LOR. If you do good work they will 99% of the time not have a problem writing you one.

This round. My application looks good other than this one letter. I can't see asking a professor being viable, only real option would be 2.5 years ago and I never talked to them during office hours.
I feel like my only option is to join a lab within the next week or two and jump right in. I'm sure I can earn a strong letter from them with the caveat of only knowing me a few months. Not sure how appropriate it is to ask for doctoral applicant letters after such a short time frame though..

I know that anecdotal evidence isn't great, but I got interviews and an acceptance with one letter from a prof who'd only had me in their classes (the other two were from profs with whom I'd conducted research).

Thanks, this makes me feel a little better that the strength of my first 2 letters may be enough (hopefully)!

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

This round. My application looks good other than this one letter. I can't see asking a professor being viable, only real option would be 2.5 years ago and I never talked to them during office hours.
I feel like my only option is to join a lab within the next week or two and jump right in. I'm sure I can earn a strong letter from them with the caveat of only knowing me a few months. Not sure how appropriate it is to ask for doctoral applicant letters after such a short time frame though..



Thanks, this makes me feel a little better that the strength of my first 2 letters may be enough (hopefully)!

Why not ask from another department? My last letter is from a philosophy professor.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Why not ask from another department? My last letter is from a philosophy professor.

Just to add on to this, my third letter (during both rounds that I applied) was also from a different department (English).

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

Just to add on to this, my third letter (during both rounds that I applied) was also from a different department (English).

From what I gather, most schools prefer two to be from the psych department and the last one can be pretty much anything.

 

[Balmoral]

I would say the preference (at least from my school) is to have letters from psychology faculty, research advisors, or clinical supervisors. There are some wiggle room though. It has already been mentioned about professors from other departments. I also wrote a letter for one of my students while I was adjuncting prior to my Ph.D. and she was accepted.

It's a tough call with a luke-warm psychology letter vs. a strong non-psychology letter... Personally would go with the latter if I didn't have an option but I would encourage the writer to mention key points such as writing ability, critical thinking, etc.

 

[deleted427955]

The problem is my only options would be a large lecture class that was only multiple choice exams, one with short answers (biopsychology) or a calculus class. None of those can comment on anything related to critical thinking/writing ability.

The way I'm seeing it my only real option is joining a new lab OR possibly getting a letter from both the PI & project manager of the NIH study I work on. Would a luke-warm/strong letter from someone who only knew me a few months be the best option? Or will the short time period be a huge weakness?
Sorry for the barrage of questions, I am panicking a bit as I was feeling confident until this disaster which came out of no where!!

 

[bpsydme]

The problem is my only options would be a large lecture class that was only multiple choice exams, one with short answers (biopsychology) or a calculus class. None of those can comment on anything related to critical thinking/writing ability.

The way I'm seeing it my only real option is joining a new lab OR possibly getting a letter from both the PI & project manager of the NIH study I work on. Would a luke-warm/strong letter from someone who only knew me a few months be the best option? Or will the short time period be a huge weakness?
Sorry for the barrage of questions, I am panicking a bit as I was feeling confident until this disaster which came out of no where!!

I haven't posted much on this forum lately, but felt the need to reply to this post.

First, take a deep breath. You still have until November at the earliest until your applications go in. Things will get a lot more hectic from here on out, so you have to learn to deal with unexpected situations calmly.

Second, you're not screwed in any sense, and this was definitely not a disaster. The #1 rule to recommendation letters is to never get one from a grad student. Even if this "disaster" didn't happen, that one letter would either 1) be ignored or worse 2) interpreted to mean you didn't know the PI of the lab (which from your post, sounds like it's true). It's not uncommon for the PI of a lab to sign letters written by grad students, or to get grad students' (and other staff) opinion on an intern and then write the letter. However, a letter that only comes from the student and the PI doesn't sign it can be seen a a bad thing. It doesn't matter if that grad student was the star of the lab, or published in science/nature...they are still a student, and thus cannot speak to your potential as a researcher. So as echo had said, this is a blessing in disguise.

Third, you CAN email a professor and get a letter from there. As others have said, the third letter doesn't matter that much. It really isn't worth your time/effort/money to go volunteer at a lab for only 4-5 months just so you can hack up a lackluster letter...even IF you get the letter in the first place. Most labs will be very wary of students coming in only for a few months and is applying the same cycle. They know that it's simply for the rec letter and the person won't stick around after they get in. No one wants to put the time and effort into training a new intern and then have them not use that knowledge to the benefit of the lab. Assuming you DO get into a lab and work 40 hrs/week to make up for the shortened period of time, your letter will STILL not be that great because 1) you probably haven't gotten any "real" jobs other than basic data entry or helping with experiments and 2) they probably will not know you very well.

Back to emailing random professors: I was out of school for THREE years by the time I applied. I never went to office hours, never chatted with my professors, and was just the quiet independent student that shows up, take notes, and leave. I only had one professor who I've spoken to once or twice out of class. So I emailed the professor of my favorite class, laid it out plainly that I'm applying to grad school, need a letter, she was part of my inspiration for following this path (which happens to be true, not just buttering her up) and asked if she'd be willing to write me a letter. Once she said yes, I made sure to meet with her face to face, sent her my CV, 2 essays she asked for and drove several hours just to sit down with her. The bottom line is, I tried my best to show sincerity and I picked professors (or just one professor, in this case) that I truly enjoyed, had at least 2 classes with, and was genuinely an inspiration to me. In the end, she wrote the letter and I got into my top choice. I have no idea how good her letter was. Oh, she didn't send her letter to some schools, so I asked another researcher at my lab to write a backup, and I got the interview anyways at a very highly regarded funded research heavy school.

So...I just wanted to help change your mind about volunteering for a couple months, because imho, that's a terrible waste of time. Good luck!