Does Professorship title matter in LORs?

[StayingSteady]

Probably already been asked somewhere, but I couldn't really find it. If you have a link to another thread, feel free to post it!

Anyway, my LOR question is whether it is OK to submit a LOR from a professor whose title is "Lecturer". I always figured Professorship was given to those who've done research/published, but that if they are strictly teaching, then they'd be Lecturers. Does it matter? What if they are tenured? A lot of my professors, who have been at the school for a while, are just Lecturers, and since they are all pretty prominent in their respective depts, I was really surprised to see that they weren't full-fledged profs... and I'm a little disappointed since I know a few of them and wanted to ask them for LORs.

Also, some schools specify that they want letters from "senior faculty". Anyone have a definition for this? Does "Senior Lecturer" count? 😛

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[fireflygirl]

Probably already been asked somewhere, but I couldn't really find it. If you have a link to another thread, feel free to post it!

Anyway, my LOR question is whether it is OK to submit a LOR from a professor whose title is "Lecturer". I always figured Professorship was given to those who've done research/published, but that if they are strictly teaching, then they'd be Lecturers. Does it matter? What if they are tenured? A lot of my professors, who have been at the school for a while, are just Lecturers, and since they are all pretty prominent in their respective depts, I was really surprised to see that they weren't full-fledged profs... and I'm a little disappointed since I know a few of them and wanted to ask them for LORs.

Also, some schools specify that they want letters from "senior faculty". Anyone have a definition for this? Does "Senior Lecturer" count? 😛

I think those are fine. I think it's better to have a Lecturer write it than a TA. Also, if you do have a TA write any of your LORs, make sure that you can have the Prof or Lectuer sign off on it or jointly write it with the TA. I think med schools would rather see LORs from profs or lecturers rather than people in TA type positions. Unfortunately, it just pulls in more rank no matter how good the relationship is with the the TA.

 

[2008orbust]

Firefly is right. IF you can get them to have a senior faculty or department chair sign it too, that can help a lot.

GOod luck!

 

[Bacchus]

You want the strongest letters possible. Anyone can write your letter but avoid relatives, friends, or anyone of that nature. If a TA writes the letter have the faculty member sign it or jointly write it.

 

[Diksha]

"Senior faculty", as I understand it, means someone with a PhD 😀

 

[BrnEyes]

or department chair sign it too, that can help a lot.

I have also heard and been told to try and get letters from the most "senior" faculty members possible. I definitely have some from newer faculty, though. I still think it's better they be lower in "rank" and provide you with a strongletter than the other way around.

I'm not sure about getting a signature from the department chair, however. Unless you had the chair as a professor, how much weight would their signature carry? It might even look suspicious to an adcom member.

Bottom line, though, try and choose those letter writers who can speak to your strengths and make you stand out from the crowd.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck in the application process! 🙂

 

[MacBook Pro]

It's best to get the LORs from someone who is a tenure-track professor (assistant professor, associate professor) or a full professor. I've heard that the value of LORs drops significantly from lower ranked people. But let's say you have like 2 LORs from professors (assistant, associate, or full), and 1 from a lecturer, then I think it's fine. I just don't think it's wise to have no letters from senior faculty members.

Good luck!

 

[LizzyM]

Faculty appointments and promotions are hard to understand at first. Some schools are using adjunct professors who work part-time to avoid granting tenure tract positions that hold the possibility of guaranteed job security that goes with full-time, tenured positions. That said, the more experienced the faculty member, the higher the rank. Professor is the highest rank, then Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, then various type so "lecturer", "Instructor" etc. So, ideally, you want to take some classes (usually upper level but not always) with someone who has been teaching for 20-30+ years. These are generally senior faculty and they write more credible letters because they have decades of experience and can compare a student to the hundred (thousands) of previosu students in the faculty members experience.

 

[StayingSteady]

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies. LizzyM, this is exactly what confused me; some of my professors have been at the school for 15-20 (maybe more) years, yet they are still Lecturers (yes, they have PhDs), and that's what really surprised me. I mean, these profs are very well-respected among both students and other faculty, and while they do have tenure, their title is lower. I do go to a very largely research university, so I figured this might have something to do with it...

As far as asking them to write a letter and then get it co-signed by dept chair or senior faculty... woudln't that be a little rude to do? Isn't it basically saying, "Hey, you know me really well and I would really appreciate you writing this LOR for me.... BUT can you get someone higher to sign it too so it looks more credible? Thanks!"

And maybe I'm misunderstanding the point of LORs, but as many people have noted, isn't it to show your character more than anything? Which is why it's so important to make sure the faculty member knows you well, rather than just getting it from a higher-ranked member whose class you just got an A in, but didn't know well. Granted, I understand why a TA wouldn't be too good of a choice, but I didn't think it would make a big deal if you got a letter from the professor of the class, regardless of their title.

 

[spyderracing32]

My understanding is that faculty is anyone with a PhD. I have heard that a few years ago Hopkins requested only LoRs from tenured professors and it was met with uproar because in going to a large research university, certainly you know how difficult it is to track one down. I got a letter of recommendation from a lecturer who is a PhD. He taught my physics 1 lecture which was huge and didn't allow for a lot of recommendation, but he ran the associated lab next semester when I took it and I was able to get some face time and show the guy what I was about (even suggested a lab that is getting some serious consideration for addition to the curriculum by the program director).

So a lecturer will be fine so long as they are faculty (read: PhD). Don't go out of your way to hunt don't tenured profs if all they do is hang out in their lab.

 

[LizzyM]

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies. LizzyM, this is exactly what confused me; some of my professors have been at the school for 15-20 (maybe more) years, yet they are still Lecturers (yes, they have PhDs), and that's what really surprised me. I mean, these profs are very well-respected among both students and other faculty, and while they do have tenure, their title is lower. I do go to a very largely research university, so I figured this might have something to do with it...

As far as asking them to write a letter and then get it co-signed by dept chair or senior faculty... woudln't that be a little rude to do? Isn't it basically saying, "Hey, you know me really well and I would really appreciate you writing this LOR for me.... BUT can you get someone higher to sign it too so it looks more credible? Thanks!"

And maybe I'm misunderstanding the point of LORs, but as many people have noted, isn't it to show your character more than anything? Which is why it's so important to make sure the faculty member knows you well, rather than just getting it from a higher-ranked member whose class you just got an A in, but didn't know well. Granted, I understand why a TA wouldn't be too good of a choice, but I didn't think it would make a big deal if you got a letter from the professor of the class, regardless of their title.

Cosigning isn't much help. Do try to get letters from people who earned their doctorate more than 10 years ago and who have been teaching since then. Any professors who have been teaching for thirty years or more-- regardless of title-- are great. A LOR from a professor will talk about your academic performance, how you responded to difficulties or challenges, how much you participated in discussion or the quality of your written work, how much you took advantage of office hours or other opportunities to ask questions or go beyond the material covered in the class (showing intellectual curiosity), how well you got along with other in the classroom (particularly if the class was small and involved class discussion) or lab. Sometimes the professor will describe how you did in the class. Professors will tell us when someone did poorly on the mid-term & then worked like a dog to get the second highest grade for the final exam resulting in a final grade of B+ , and tell us that someone with a A-on the transcript had the highest grade in the class but was lazy & blew off the final. In a case like this, we tend to think more highly of the hard worker than we do of the lazy guy although one has a higher gpa than the other.