Quick Poll: Too many LORs?

[begoood95]

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Quick and easy, here's the break-down:

1. PI (>2 yrs of research);
2. Philosophy department head, was professor, basically is mentor;
3. Another philosophy professor, took three classes with him (Sophomore, Junior, Senior year);
4. OCHEM Professor; and
5. Anthropology professor, had 3 classes with him as well.

To me, it seems like these are varied enough to warrant the 5, though I can see why some would say the two philosophy professors might be a little much. I added the section one though, because he's had a long relationship with me, and has seen me grow over the years--as have most of these professors.

Anyways, what do you think?

 

[Fancy_Feast]

I think you could get rid of 3 and 5, maybe replace them with the head of a volunteer/ health organization you worked with.

 

[begoood95]

Is the PI considered a science letter ? Cuz I thought you needed 2 science and 1 non science professor then the rest could be volunteer, job, PI


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Yes I believe so, and I took his gen chem course so he wasn't only my PI.

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[begoood95]

I think you could get rid of 3 and 5, maybe replace them with the head of a volunteer/ health organization you worked with.

I was under the (perhaps incorrect) impression that LOR writers ought to be professors, if possible, and to steer clear of the professional world unless absolutely necessary?

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[deleted781806]

A more personal non-academic letter might be nice to replace one of the non-science faculty letters, my university required five LORs to be submitted to the pre-med office before they wrote a cover letter and submitted them all as a packet. We had a breakdown of 2 non-science, 2 science, and 1 personal letter that was generally recommended as it gives you a nice diversity of perspectives.

 

[Fancy_Feast]

I was under the (perhaps incorrect) impression that LOR writers ought to be professors, if possible, and to steer clear of the professional world unless absolutely necessary?

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It's going to depend on what your school's committee requires and the requirement of the schools you are applying to. It just seems redundant to have so many non-science professor letters (you could keep either the philosophy or Anthropology letter but you probably don't need both in addition to your mentor's letter). Not all letter writers need to be professors, some schools actually require a letter from a volunteer or medical organization.

Edit: you may actually want to look into finding another science professor as well.