So I went to a local community college and developed a great rapport with my professors. Now, I'm at a big university with 500+ kids in all my science courses this year. Would I be better off getting a really personal, well written, more detailed LOR from my community college science professors? Or with a general, non-detailed but still positive letter from my University science professors who obviously don't know me from a can of paint. Both said they would write one
Community college LORs
- Thread starter jhanago
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Get them both. Personally, I would send both (if possible) but the comm college, if the guy is an actual professor (PhD), then I would think its the better letter to pick from the two
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Both of my Science LOR's were from community college professors who actually got to know me. I actually got compliments at one of my interviews on the high quality of my LORs, compared to the usual "This student took my class, he showed up most of the time, and got an A."
And I know what you mean, once I started at UCI, and was in lecture halls of 500, it was totally different than my CC Ochem class which had 14 people.
And I know what you mean, once I started at UCI, and was in lecture halls of 500, it was totally different than my CC Ochem class which had 14 people.
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By this logic, a high school science teacher might be an even better bet than a CC "professor". Why not work on being one of the 500+ kids to develop a great rapport with your university professors.
Because our University professors would rather work on research and would rather not take the time to know EACH student they encounter..duh? So are you saying that nothing in the world could make a CC letter better than a U letter? Even though the CC professors are also all Ph.D's? And yes, I do believe that if your high school science teacher knows you better than your professors, then that should be admissible. Any teacher would fly by me.
I used a LOR from a CC teacher. But I had two other LORs from university profs. I don't think the CC LOR caused me any problems.
One thing you may consider doing though is taking advanced science classes (esp if it's in your major). I went to a large university, but some of the advanced science classes have fewer students (still maybe ~60 students but a little smaller). Sit in the front, go to office hours, and the prof will begin to recognize you.
Or if your university allows you to take grad level classes, those are smaller too and you can get to know the prof better. At my university, I was able to take two 400-level classes with grad students (they took it as a 500-level class) and the classes were much smaller (one had less than a dozen students).
One thing you may consider doing though is taking advanced science classes (esp if it's in your major). I went to a large university, but some of the advanced science classes have fewer students (still maybe ~60 students but a little smaller). Sit in the front, go to office hours, and the prof will begin to recognize you.
Or if your university allows you to take grad level classes, those are smaller too and you can get to know the prof better. At my university, I was able to take two 400-level classes with grad students (they took it as a 500-level class) and the classes were much smaller (one had less than a dozen students).
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Grandma Eunice could write an LOR that would rival one written by any college professor; unfortunately, it isn't likely to be taken too seriously.
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