Letter of Rec. from AWOL PI

[DendWrite]

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Last year I worked for about one year with a PI on a project. With very little notice (literally a week) before the end of that summer, he informed myself and other members of the lab that he was leaving (taking another position at another school far away). Now that time has passed since he left, I've heard rumors / allegations that the reason he left was due to some sort of misconduct / political issues within the department. Anyhow, he _refuses_ to respond to my e-mails or attempts to contact him (I've been trying for several months). As far as I can tell, he has gotten out of science (no more publications when he usually had several per year, can't find his website at the new school, etc.) Short of showing up at his door with a letter of rec. form in my hand, I don't think I can get one from him. Furthermore, if he IS actually involved in some bad stuff that he hasn't told me about, then I probably don't want a letter from him.

The medical student (who is now an MD) that I worked with closely over the summer is very willing to write me a letter in lieu of the PI (he recognizes what a tough situation this is). However, is this going to be a red flag / issue? I don't want to say "The PI was not willing to write me a letter of rec." That's true, but it makes it sound like I was not good in the lab and so he didn't want to support me.

Any ideas, or has anyone been in a similar situation? I know the MD will write me a nice letter, but I can't obviously call him the "PI" if people ask.

 

[URHere]

Do you have at least two other PIs who are able to write letters for you?

The two research letter requirement is fairly firm at many schools, but as long as you have two other letters to supply, I don't see the harm in just leaving out a letter from this lab entirely. If someone asks why you do not have a letter from this lab, just tell them what you've told us: the PI switched institutions and you were not able to contact him.

While others may disagree, I personally don't think it is a good idea for research LORs to come from non-PI members of the lab. However, if you do not have two other letters to supply, your former colleague may be your best option.

For the record, I applied without getting letters from 2 of my previous labs (they were summer labs, fyi), and no one ever questioned me about it. I realize that your situation is a bit different, but I'm just throwing it out there.

 

[DendWrite]

I worked under a post-doc for another summer in the same lab that I'm in right now...however, he wasn't the PI (I now "work" for the PI but at the time I was basically doing the post-docs project with him). I don't think that counts. He can write me a letter though.

Basically, yes, I can have more than 1 research letter without getting any letters from this first lab; however, since I've stayed with the same lab for the rest of the time, I'll only have a letter from one PI. My current PI I know will write me a good letter as I've put in tons of work here; I just wanted to make sure that it wouldn't raise a red flag not to have ANY letters from the first lab.

Would you not even list the first lab experience on my resume? It was a pretty substantial amount of effort and interesting research (i.e. I enjoy talking about it).

 

[URHere]

Basically, yes, I can have more than 1 research letter without getting any letters from this first lab; however, since I've stayed with the same lab for the rest of the time, I'll only have a letter from one PI. My current PI I know will write me a good letter as I've put in tons of work here; I just wanted to make sure that it wouldn't raise a red flag not to have ANY letters from the first lab.

If you've only worked in two labs total, your situation just got a little bit more complicated...

My advice would be to weigh the pros and cons of each of your potential "non-PI" writers. On the one hand, if you need to request letters from other lab members regardless, it would be nice to have something to show for your time at your first lab. On the other hand, you have stated that your potential writer from the first lab was a medical student when you worked together. In my experience, it is rare for medical students to have any sort of real status within the lab, so you have to ask yourself if that person was really in a position to comment on your performance. Is there anyone else you know from the first lab (a postdoc, a mentor from a closely collaborating lab, etc) that you could potentially ask for a LOR?

Would you not even list the first lab experience on my resume? It was a pretty substantial amount of effort and interesting research (i.e. I enjoy talking about it).

No matter which route you take with your LOR, I wouldn't suggest leaving your experience off of your application/resume. You put in time there and you learned something from the experience. The last thing you want is for someone to assume that you have too little research experience because you were trying to downplay that year of your life.