LOR Question?

[chemdoctor]

Hello all,

I have a question about LORs. My only question is, on average how many LORs are sufficient? I looked at many of the schools that I am interested in, and I am leaning towards 3-4 LORs from science professors, and 2 nonscience.

There are two professors (Gen Chem I and Gen Chem II), that know me very well and offered to write me one. Would it be possible for them to both write me one letter? They offered to write a double letter, where both would offer their input and sign off however, I am curious as to how this would look to adcoms? Furthermore, I was told that adcoms don't like letters that were from intro or "freshmen" classes. Since these courses were taken so long ago... Is that true? I've stayed in touch and have been involved with projects with these professors so... I was just wondering. Thank you all for your help.

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[chemdoctor]

Bump

 

[highway31]

Get separate letters from them. Strong letters are important and having two strong science professor letters checks that box. Generally you should just need 2 science letters and 1 non science. Schools that want additional letters generally want them from someone else like an employer, PI, physician, etc. The letters being strong is WAY more important than them being from upper level courses.

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[highway31]

Get separate letters from them. Strong letters are important and having two strong science professor letters checks that box. Generally you should just need 2 science letters and 1 non science. Schools that want additional letters generally want them from someone else like an employer, PI, physician, etc. The letters being strong is WAY more important than them being from upper level courses.

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I should add that having 5 to 6 letters from professors is definitely overkill and most schools will specifically not want all of these letters. Does your school offer a committee letter or letter packet service? If so, you should be looking into getting one.

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[chemdoctor]

I should add that having 5 to 6 letters from professors is definitely overkill and most schools will specifically not want all of these letters. Does your school offer a committee letter or letter packet service? If so, you should be looking into getting one.

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Thank you for taking the time to respond. Yes my school has a committee and I will be getting one from them. So you think it’s OK to get letters from Chem I and Chem II when they were so long ago? I’ve got other letters in JUST in case... Orgo II (research with the professor), upper divisions. Etc.

 

[highway31]

So someone who has gotten a committee letter may want to way in here as my school did not offer one, but my understanding was most schools have you assemble your individual LORs according to whatever standard they set forth, then the committee weighs in on your candidacy and assembles all your professor letters + committee judgement into one single letter. If so, this single composite letter is the only LOR you will submit to schools. If this is the case, go with the people you think will write you the strongest letters and get the amount you need according to the committee's requirements.

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