Letter of Rec - Professor Standing?

[ennn]

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Hey all!

I recently asked one of my professors for a LOR (she's a postdoc fellow) and she said she'd be down to write it but it would probably be better if she co-wrote it with a tenured faculty member. She said that tenured faculty letters are much more valued than non-faculty letters in medical school admissions. This made me realize that all of my letters (by random chance!) except one potentially are from lecturers who are not "true" faculty members. Will this be a detriment to my application? I feel that these people know me well enough to write me good letters but I never took their "academic standing" into account when asking so I just thought I'd see what people here think.

Thanks everyone! 🙂

 

[pfaction]

Established professors > Students.

 

[music2doc]

Established professors > Students.

Exactly. You want established faculty who know you. I would generally even suggest avoiding junior faculty (asst. professors) if possible -- go with assoc. professors or, when all else is equal, full professors. Faculty pre-med advisors, dept. chairs, etc. also sometimes have connections at other schools that may make their letters a bit more persuasive than they would otherwise be (e.g., we have a faculty member where I did my post-bacc who has sat on several different schools' adcoms as a basic science/PhD professor and PI, so very rarely do students for whom he writes a letter fail to get in at least somewhere).

 

[haveli63]

I have the same question! I asked my professor for a non-science letter and she mentioned that many schools prefer full-time faculty (which she is not). So I would like to know what everyone else thinks.

 

[An MD Hopeful]

I have a similar question, too!

I have 2 letters from professors, 1 from an assistant prof, and 1 from a lecturer.

For the schools where I only have to submit at least 3 letters, would anyone suggest that I only submit the 2 prof and 1 assistant prof's letters and not the lecturer's letter (as long as they fit the school's requirements of course), or would I be okay if I submit all 4?

 

[Caveman7]

bump.

 

[487806]

bump.

😕 The great joke is it wasn't OP who bumped the thread! Instead, a curious member decided to search and bump an almost 5-month old thread! Good job, Caveman! You make us all so proud!

In a serious note, as music2doc stated, established professors are the best.

 

[487806]

I have a similar question, too!

I have 2 letters from professors, 1 from an assistant prof, and 1 from a lecturer.

For the schools where I only have to submit at least 3 letters, would anyone suggest that I only submit the 2 prof and 1 assistant prof's letters and not the lecturer's letter (as long as they fit the school's requirements of course), or would I be okay if I submit all 4?

Hopefully it's not too late, but I would suggest the asst. prof over the lecturer. The advice is moot since the application season is mid-way already..

 

[Caveman7]

😕 The great joke is it wasn't OP who bumped the thread! Instead, a curious member decided to search and bump an almost 5-month old thread! Good job, Caveman! You make us all so proud!

In a serious note, as music2doc stated, established professors are the best.

lol. I'm in a similar predicament so I was just curious. I have 1 quarter left to go and I just need 1 more science letter. There is a teacher that I heard is a very passionate and helpful teacher, but he is not a "professor", he is a "lecturer with possibility of tenure."

 

[487806]

lol. I'm in a similar predicament so I was just curious. I have 1 quarter left to go and I just need 1 more science letter. There is a teacher that I heard is a very passionate and helpful teacher, but he is not a "professor", he is a "lecturer with possibility of tenure."

A tenured lecturer? Never heard that before. In that case, it's good to get his LOR, since your teacher had developed a strong reputation to the university and is likely well-established.

 

[occams_razor]

A tenured lecturer? Never heard that before. In that case, it's good to get his LOR, since your teacher had developed a strong reputation to the university and is likely well-established.

he is probably tenure track.
IMO you should get LORs from faculty who know you the best and can write you the strongest letter