Adjunct Faculty v Professors

[Neuronette]

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I go to a large public university and funding has been lacking in recent years.. hence, there has been an increasingly large number of adjuncts teaching courses. I have grown to like adjunct professors more than tenured prof bc they seem to be more passionate/enthusiastic and are more approachable. My fav classes have been ones taught by them and I have a strong relationship with some of them. Is it better to take classes with a regular professor... in terms of getting rec letters etc? Your thoughts?

 

[NuttyEngDude]

It's too variable. For example, I like a lot of structure and clear rules. Some of the newer guys are extremely disorganized and this makes life miserable for me. On the other hand I recognize what you're saying about approachability and some of the newer profs have seemingly boundless energy. But some of the older professors are not as pressured to make a name or do research and enjoy spending time with students. If you find one of these guys it is quite a nice experience.

 

[An MD Hopeful]

I think it is okay to get LORs from adjunct faculty. One of my 3 letters from my school was from an adjunct faculty. I think some schools prefer LORs from professors who work full-time at the school. For example, I think UCSF prefers letters from profs of upper division courses. But I think this is variable based on the school. So I'd suggest calling (anonymously) your top choice schools and asking them if they are okay with letters coming from adjunct faculty.

 

[Doctor Strange]

One of my six letters was from an adjunct faculty, so I don't know how much it weighed into things. If anything, I think it did me some good, as one of my interviewers mentioned something that I know was mentioned in his letter.

 

[deleted307836]

I asked a similar question awhile back. This was LizzyM's response:

I think that professor is code for "someone who teaches at a college or university". I do not believe that the med schools are dictating that they will accept only letters from the most highly ranked members of the academic community. I think that we also have to recognize that more and more schools are granting tenure to fewer and fewer faculty members and more teaching is being done by adjuncts who do not carry the title "Professor" but who would be appropriate letter writers.