Letter of recommendation question

[doctorme555]

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When schools say they want letters of recommendation from faculty, does that mean they have to have a PhD? I.e. Can they have a masters or MBA? Also, at my school many of the classes are taught exclusively by graduate students (i.e. labs, summer school), with no professor. Is it appropriate to get a letter from them without a professor to cosign it?

 

[STi555]

I think its fine if the professor is not a Ph.D., but I don't know about grad students. I go to a small school so none of our classes are taught by grad students so I never thought about it. Some other people will probably be able to answer better. Good luck.

 

[UCSBMed1]

I would only use the Grad student letter or rec as a supplemental one, after you already have 3 from faculty.

 

[Pinki]

Here's a great LOR tip...might work in your situation.

The best LOR I received, according to my premed advisor, was from a grad student/TA who penned some really insightful, personal anecdotes about how super of a student I was in her lab class. She then submitted it to the main prof who quoted it in his rather bland, numbers based letter. Gave a real personal touch and yet was still signed by a PhD.