I have a strong feeling my orgo professor is gonna say he is too busy. Would it be okay to get one from the TA?
can i ask my ta who holds a doctorate to write me a letter of rec?
- Thread starter nkafeel
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Ask your professor to write one first even if you don't think he will do it. If he says no, then ask your TA to write it up and perhaps he can cosign it.
The second option may be better if you had a lot more face time with the TA than with the professor, but you still want the weight that a LOR from a professor would hold.
The second option may be better if you had a lot more face time with the TA than with the professor, but you still want the weight that a LOR from a professor would hold.
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I tried having a good mix of letter writers. I did have a TA write one, but she had known me very well for the last 2 years and could talk about me in more specific terms. I also had full professors write letters for me, I'm sure they didn't have the level of familiarity with me that the TA did, but at least the medical schools had a letter from someone who has been successful in the field and seen many students come through his classes to say how I performed, especially in comparison to others he had seen. So this was a strategy that worked for me, not to say it's the best way to do it, but I found it really hard to get letters only from professors and tried to make it work.
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when it comes to science teachers you are only submitting 2 letters so make them count. Don't do this unless there's literally no other option you have. A TA probably know more about you than a professor but med schools won't put much weight in their opinion. It also makes it look like you really couldn't find anybody else to write a letter for you which isn't a great look
Part of the reason med schools insist on professors is because in theory profs have seen decades of students, have been involved in research( and know what it takes to do well in it and what kind of students are the ones who do well in it) and teaching and have long experience in the field of science and an idea of what it takes and an ability to be able to gauge and rank those who seem cut out for science and in theory medicine and those who aren't. Again whether or not you agree with this being reasonable med schools look at professors as trustable gauges to evaluate students ability given 20+ years of students as a reference and way to rank them. Needless to say TAs don't have that
Now it is absolutely fair game and maybe even smart to have a TA help a professor with a letter. I have friends who ask professors for letters they didn't know that well personally but who's classes they did well in and with whom they knew the graduate/post doc TA well. They asked if the TA helps with the letter could the prof look over it add/subtract stuff in it and sign it. The professors agreed although keep in mind you have to be very careful how you ask this, it's kind of like trying to allow a super busy professor to just let you write the letter because you know they won't put much effort into it but asking how is tricky and involves being smart and not coming across poorly
Part of the reason med schools insist on professors is because in theory profs have seen decades of students, have been involved in research( and know what it takes to do well in it and what kind of students are the ones who do well in it) and teaching and have long experience in the field of science and an idea of what it takes and an ability to be able to gauge and rank those who seem cut out for science and in theory medicine and those who aren't. Again whether or not you agree with this being reasonable med schools look at professors as trustable gauges to evaluate students ability given 20+ years of students as a reference and way to rank them. Needless to say TAs don't have that
Now it is absolutely fair game and maybe even smart to have a TA help a professor with a letter. I have friends who ask professors for letters they didn't know that well personally but who's classes they did well in and with whom they knew the graduate/post doc TA well. They asked if the TA helps with the letter could the prof look over it add/subtract stuff in it and sign it. The professors agreed although keep in mind you have to be very careful how you ask this, it's kind of like trying to allow a super busy professor to just let you write the letter because you know they won't put much effort into it but asking how is tricky and involves being smart and not coming across poorly
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