Rec Letter

[sbomb]

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I'm having a dilemma about who to ask for a pharmacy school rec letter. I'm choosing between 2 professors. One is an English professor. He once told me that my writing was exceptional and that he doesn't kid around when he says stuff like that. I've kept in contact with him (chatting with him occassionally about life during his office hours). Another is a professor I've been doing research in bioinformatics/genetics for about a year. He knows me only in the research i'm capable of doing in which he's quite satisfied. For my other 2 rec letters, I'm getting a pharmacy manager to write one and a biomedical engineering professor to write one.

My rationale for the english prof is that I haven't taken many humanities courses in the last few years of college (since I am an engineering major) and its a way to show a different side of me. I'm thinking since I have so much math and engineering, asking a research prof to write a rec letter is just overkill. Then again, overkill may not be such a bad idea. What are your thoughts on the matter?

 

[eelo]

Check the requirements of your preferred school(s). some schools have specific requirements for their LORs- they want them to be from science professors, pharmacists, whatever. If your preferred school doesn't have a requirement delineating who can write your LOR, go with the one that you believe will highlight your strengths the best. If that's the English prof, go for it- at least the letter will be interesting to read. ;-)

Having said that- one of the strongest letters any of my kids got was from a physics prof, and it was fascinating to read what he wrote, so don't sell the science guys short. ;-)

 

[omnione]

All other variables being equal, a good LOR from a science professor would look better than a good LOR from someone else. I understand that you want to show another side of you, but you can do that during the interview. So, if you feel that your research advisor can convey your personal and professional strengths to be a good pharmacy student without being generic and a huge drop off from the English professor.

But as eelo said, if your English professor can really lay on an articulate description of you, then that would stand out more to adcoms who have to sift through hundreds of apps in the same format.