for lor does PI and doctor = professor?

[sajum]

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so ive been doing research but the pi's not a professor. i also did some shadowing. does pi and doctor could as professor LORs? what about getting a rec from a graduate student instructor and getting a cosign by a professor, does this count as a professor lor?

for those that happen to go to universities with a huge study body, how did you manage to get like 2-4recs from Professors? i go to cal fwiw and basically the only way i know is to do research under them.

the other bs way is to 'ask intelligent questions and go to office hours" crap. does this seriously work? thanks

 

[Evergrey]

As far as I can tell, when they say they want LORs from a prof, they mean they want the person to have taught a class and be able to comment on your scholastic aptitude. In other words, your PI would give a great LOR commenting on your research ability, but you still need an actual professor talking about you as a student. I wouldn't think the shadowing LOR would really help you unless something special happened during shadowing -- after all they can only comment on what you did, so what can they say besides "Sajum was an attentive listener and he did not punch any of my patients!"

In regards to the graduate student instructor, my understanding is that if it's cosigned by a professor it should count as a LOR but may not carry as much weight as if it were a LOR from a full professor.

the other bs way is to 'ask intelligent questions and go to office hours" crap. does this seriously work?

Lol, yes. How is that BS? You're demonstrating intellectual curiosity and dedication to your schoolwork. Would you really want to get a LOR from someone who only saw you in class and knew nothing about you other than the grade you got in the class? That sounds risky to me.

 

[sajum]

As far as I can tell, when they say they want LORs from a prof, they mean they want the person to have taught a class and be able to comment on your scholastic aptitude. In other words, your PI would give a great LOR commenting on your research ability, but you still need an actual professor talking about you as a student.

are you serious? oh great i have 0 professor recs then.........

 

[RevMD]

I think a better and more practical way to classify LORs is academic vs non-academic. Academic would classify as any professor who has taught a class you took. As for non-academic, this would be any person (professor, doctor, club president, etc) that has not taught a class you took but knows you in some significant way enough to write a quality LOR. For most students, their PI or doctor will only count as a non-academic LOR and nothing more. It is a bonus if you happened to take a course your regular academic advisor, PI, or doctor taught since they will be able to write a more thorough LOR.

 

[BBender716]

so ive been doing research but the pi's not a professor. i also did some shadowing. does pi and doctor could as professor LORs? what about getting a rec from a graduate student instructor and getting a cosign by a professor, does this count as a professor lor?

for those that happen to go to universities with a huge study body, how did you manage to get like 2-4recs from Professors? i go to cal fwiw and basically the only way i know is to do research under them.

the other bs way is to 'ask intelligent questions and go to office hours" crap. does this seriously work? thanks

It seriously works. This coming from a person who attended a 35,000+ institution. Managed to squeeze out 4 LORs. 2 science, 1 non-science, 1 research.

Just visit with them. Talk with them after class, in office hours. Many are actually quite personable. You don't even need to ask questions about the material. Basically, have success in the class and really get to know the professor and, more importantly, let them get to know you!

 

[Evergrey]

I think a better and more practical way to classify LORs is academic vs non-academic. Academic would classify as any professor who has taught a class you took. As for non-academic, this would be any person (professor, doctor, club president, etc) that has not taught a class you took but knows you in some significant way enough to write a quality LOR.

Yeah that's a good way to classify it. 👍

Sajum, when are you applying? You at least have the next semester to get LORs, and you only need 2 academic LORs for a lot of schools (Ideally speaking, if you want to meet all schools' requirements, you need to have 2 academic science and 1 academic non-science LORs, and optional: maybe 1 research LOR and 1 extracurricular/volunteering LOR. It's a different story if you're applying MD/PhD of course).

 

[sajum]

im going to apply starting summer 2011

 

[familyaerospace]

so ive been doing research but the pi's not a professor. i also did some shadowing. does pi and doctor could as professor LORs? what about getting a rec from a graduate student instructor and getting a cosign by a professor, does this count as a professor lor?

for those that happen to go to universities with a huge study body, how did you manage to get like 2-4recs from Professors? i go to cal fwiw and basically the only way i know is to do research under them.

the other bs way is to 'ask intelligent questions and go to office hours" crap. does this seriously work? thanks

Getting a rec from a grad student and cosigned can work a lot of the time for a prof LOR.

I've never found it hard to get letters from professors or PIs. I also don't go to office hours unless I have to. However I do keep in contact via email.

 

[lrkoehle]

Just go to a couple of science professors and a non sci professor whose class you did well in. give them a biosketch i.e. your resume, your GPA, MCAT, how you did in their class, your personal statement is the usual.

I cannot stress the bolded part enough. I have heard plenty of stories about professors writing LORs like, "X was one of 150 students in my BIOxxx class. X got a B. I do not know X at all, and X never came to my office hours. I hope this helps you in your decision regarding X." That sort of LOR is very bad and could result in you not being further considered at any school. Oh, I want to stress that this is not just rumors I have heard. I was in a class where the professor told us straight up that he wrote a LOR like that for a student who said she just needed an LOR after he said he did not know her very well.

 

[sajum]

would it be enough if i went to office hours every other week? so probably about 8-10times at office hours during the semester. also should i be asking questions by email every week?

how do i get to know a professor 'personally'? ive only been to OH only a few times, but every time i went theres about 5-20 people there.