letters of rec - faculty must be professor?

[benbuttcakes]

I understand that requirements for letters of recommendation seem to be more or less something like 3 letters of rec, 2 from science and 1 from non science faculty or something like that. Now, I am a transfer student, currently attending a university in my junior year. I was wondering, since i've only been at my university for a relatively short time (while ive had 2 years to really get to know some of my community college teachers), would it be a bad thing to get my letters of rec from my community college faculty? Is it frowned upon or unacceptable, in any way, to send a letter of rec or two from a non phd or community college faculty? Does it make a difference whether such faculty write for the non science or science letter of rec (i figure the science letter of recs, if anything are more important to them)?

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[236116]

Whoever from whereever, as long as they know you and you get the quota right.

 

[Darkshooter326]

Whoever from whenever, whereever, as long as they know you and you get the quota right.

Does it have to be? no

Should it be? YES

 

[fightinI]

Does it have to be? no

Should it be? YES

Agreed. Every good letter should have a line comparing you to other students on a general level. A letter from a professor at a 4 year institute saying you're one of the brightest kids he's met says a lot more that a similar statement from someone who teaches at a community college.

 

[cbrons]

Man I hate how I have to get 3 letters from science faculty

I have so many other faculty that would write me FAR better letters since I see them every day. One of them is my old botany teacher, so she counts as one. The other two are my research advisors, one for the biopsychology lab and the other is for the epidemiological research I do with the health sciences department. Why the hell do they require 3 from science? I'm talking about a couple in-state schools, anyway

 

[236116]

Agreed. Every good letter should have a line comparing you to other students on a general level. A letter from a professor at a 4 year institute saying you're one of the brightest kids he's met says a lot more that a similar statement from someone who teaches at a community college.

why

 

[fireflygirl]

Agreed. Every good letter should have a line comparing you to other students on a general level. A letter from a professor at a 4 year institute saying you're one of the brightest kids he's met says a lot more that a similar statement from someone who teaches at a community college.

I totally disagree. The point of the rec is for the prof to provide a statement of who you are as a person and student. They should highlight and emphasize your strengths as a human and show how those traits will make you a good candidate for med school and a great candidate for medicine. So whether that person teaches at a community college or a 4 year university, has no bearing on the kinds of things they can say about you and your relationship to that prof. What should matter is that they convey this message clearly. I would say get recs from people that can achieve just this and don't think about whether they are from your previous college or from the one that you are at now. No one is going to care who wrote the rec as much as they are going to care about what that person had to say about you.

Also, it is impotant that professors write your recommendation. I wouldn't advise getting around this, however if you do find yourself (or have in the past) in a class where you've had a lot of interaction with the TA, you can always see if the TA would be willing to co-write your rec with the prof. That way, you would get most of the insight from the person that knew you the best but would also get the signature of the prof. Unfortuntely, the profs name carries more weight.....

 

[Lukkie]

i wish my mom could write me a LOR

 

[benbuttcakes]

Also, it is impotant that professors write your recommendation. I wouldn't advise getting around this, however if you do find yourself (or have in the past) in a class where you've had a lot of interaction with the TA, you can always see if the TA would be willing to co-write your rec with the prof. That way, you would get most of the insight from the person that knew you the best but would also get the signature of the prof. Unfortuntely, the profs name carries more weight.....

Im a bit confused here. Earlier you seemed to express that letters of recommendations can be from community college instructors. Now you are saying that it is important that the letters are from professors. Do you include community college instructors in your definition of professor? In that case, it makes sense.

 

[fireflygirl]

Im a bit confused here. Earlier you seemed to express that letters of recommendations can be from community college instructors. Now you are saying that it is important that the letters are from professors. Do you include community college instructors in your definition of professor? In that case, it makes sense.

Yes, that's why I said it doesn't matter who the letter of rec comes from. It can be from the CC profs or the 4 year school profs - it just has to give you a sound picture of who you are and why you would make a good doc. I also consider the "instructors" at CC as "profs". Maybe that's not their technical term but I"m using the term loosely.

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

Yep that's what I found -- had LORs from instructors who could speak very explicitly to my motivations and academic strengths in recent pre-medical clases. These were the 3 instructors who knew my recent work best. All my courses were at a regional 4 yr college, but I'd go with the very strong letter from a CC instructor rather than a weaker one from a 4 yr school.

None of my 3 academic LORs were from full-time staff (i.e. assistant professor, professor); all were part time instructors with other full-time gigs such as working for a pharmaceutical firm or teaching in the nearby med school.

 

[Darkshooter326]

Yes, that's why I said it doesn't matter who the letter of rec comes from. It can be from the CC profs or the 4 year school profs - it just has to give you a sound picture of who you are and why you would make a good doc. I also consider the "instructors" at CC as "profs". Maybe that's not their technical term but I"m using the term loosely.

I know lots of my high school teachers who also taught at the community college. Are they professors? Same caliber as 4-year university profs (who usually have PhD). Probably not, no offense

I don't know how much weight a CC rec has, other than a character reference

 

[swamprat]

my advisor told me that medical schools like to see 2 lor from science 1 non-science and 1 clinical. Thats ideal but not a requirement.