How do you get a letter of rec from your PI if...

[bozz]

You never seen him. I've only talked to him once... and this is my second semester working at the lab. He's always in his office which is on another floor, and he teaches a lot. The work's great... the PhD student who oversees me is awesome.

But ultimately, I'll have to get a letter of recommendation from the big guy right? Would the guy even write one.. if I barely know him? I mean, I've been going 6-9 hours/week for 2 semesters.

How would I go about doing this... I'm feeling embarassed to even ask my PhD grad student for advice on what to do. Or am I just being paranoid.. and will the guy be happy to do it?

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[ChubbyChaser]

You never seen him. I've only talked to him once... and this is my second semester working at the lab. He's always in his office which is on another floor, and he teaches a lot. The work's great... the PhD student who oversees me is awesome.

But ultimately, I'll have to get a letter of recommendation from the big guy right? Would the guy even write one.. if I barely know him? I mean, I've been going 6-9 hours/week for 2 semesters.

How would I go about doing this... I'm feeling embarassed to even ask my PhD grad student for advice on what to do. Or am I just being paranoid.. and will the guy be happy to do it?

I would ask advice from the PhD student, and just go talk to your PI right away and let him know that you want one, maybe he will pay you more attention then.

 

[BigRedPremed]

Get the PhD grad student to write it and have the PI sign it.

 

[Dendrite]

Get the PhD grad student to write it and have the PI sign it.

Probably the best bet. Sometimes, both the PI and the PhD student will sign the letter.

 

[bozz]

Probably the best bet. Sometimes, both the PI and the PhD student will sign the letter.

seriously? I thought it was a joke lol.. didn't know that was acceptable.. always thought it had to be written by a faculty member

Or I'll ask the PI directly.. and since he doesn't know me, he'll probably end up asking the PhD student to write it..

 

[metalgearHMN]

not to hijack the thread or anything but amwatts who is that in your avatar?

 

[Dendrite]

seriously? I thought it was a joke lol.. didn't know that was acceptable.. always thought it had to be written by a faculty member

Or I'll ask the PI directly.. and since he doesn't know me, he'll probably end up asking the PhD student to write it..

yeah, it happens all that time.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

not to hijack the thread or anything but amwatts who is that in your avatar?

Tori Praver

Hottie isnt she?

 

[Bond8204]

Level with your PI. Explain why you'd like the letter and acknowledge that he obviously hasn't had too much experience with you to base it on, and offer for the PhD student or you to write it with his approval/editing/signiture. He might offer to have a mini interview with you so he can write it himself (if he's used to teaching so much, he's probably used to the BS of writing recs). Just be flexible for him. I bet he'll understand.

P.S. I'm dealing with the same problem, but my PI's issue is that he's very moody--friendly when he's in a great mood but pretty short with you and "busy" when he's in a bad one.

 

[Maxprime]

If a PI is too busy to know you're name, he/she is FAR too busy to write you a letter of rec. Talk to the grad student/post doc and he/she will talk to the PI. Odds are pretty high that someone else will write the letter and have the PI just sign it.

 

[Bond8204]

I agree with you but caution that it might be a little rude to ask your PI for a recommendation (even if it's just his signature) through a PhD student or post-doc.

 

[bozz]

If a PI is too busy to know you're name, he/she is FAR too busy to write you a letter of rec. Talk to the grad student/post doc and he/she will talk to the PI. Odds are pretty high that someone else will write the letter and have the PI just sign it.

So as far as the medical schools are concerned, the PI wrote it.. seems scandalous... I like....

jk lol

 

[172858]

I think going straight to the source can never hurt. I popped in on my PI (who is ALWAYS busy) and asked him about a letter and his reply was:

"You've been here over a year. Just write whatever you want and email it to me before the deadline with the address and I'll sign it and send it. Now have you made and run mass specs and nmrs on my imidazolium yet?"

Chances are, if he's a s busy as my PI is, he doesn't want to waste the time thiniing about a letter and might just defer to you. Needless to say, I THINK my letter might have been pretty good.

 

[ucsdhibiscus]

Have the grad student you work for write it and the PI can sign it/maybe write in a bit also. This works fine for medical school.

 

[CSnowFoxD]

Hey, how do you know the grad student wants to/has time to write it? He/she could be super busy too right?? haha, anyway, I think you should ask the grad student what you should do first, since he/she might have a better idea about what the PI wants (I would bet this grad student talks to the PI more than you...). I was in a similar situation a while ago--I felt really paranoid about asking the PI for a letter too. I think you should be able to talk to your grad student though. Well good luck!

 

[Maxprime]

I agree with you but caution that it might be a little rude to ask your PI for a recommendation (even if it's just his signature) through a PhD student or post-doc.

Agreed. I meant more in the lines of asking someone what to do. For people who work in gigantic labs where PIs don't know names, I just assumed the PI would make someone write the letter who knew the requester.

 

[illixir]

I was in a similar situation in my undergraduate lab. What I would do and found best was just to e-mail the PI to make an appt about getting a letter of rec. He/She'll tell you if they want to talk to you about it first or if they'll just write it and take care of it. My post-doc said he wrote a portion of mine.

 

[metalgearHMN]

Tori Praver

Hottie isnt she?

especially compared to your previous avatars