Recommendation letters from Ph.D. researchers from the same lab?

[epusher]

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Hey guys!

first of all let me tell you that im loving this place, it is a great resource and i hope i can contribute to it in the near future w/ my experiences.

on to the question now.

i did summer research in a lab where i had a great relationship with the PI as well as my direct mentor (which was not the PI), both PhD. the thing is is it ok to ask them for letters even though they work in the same place or do you guys/girls think that this will affect me or be a "waste" of "space" for other letters?


also is a letter from an english prof ok?


i know that i can get strong letters from all of these profs. thats why im so interested.

thanks in advance!

 

[Katatonic]

As long as you still have the recommended number from professors who have taught you in both science and non-science courses, I think any letter from someone who knows how you work first-hand is great. I know I'll be asking for 2 letters out of the same lab I work in (1 MD PI and 1 other, either a Masters or PhD).

 

[235009]

two letters from the same lab/job/experience is overkill....either choose the one you think knows your work the best or ask them to write a joint LOR which they both sign.

 

[WeAreNotRobots]

i did summer research in a lab where i had a great relationship with the PI as well as my direct mentor (which was not the PI), both PhD. the thing is is it ok to ask them for letters even though they work in the same place or do you guys/girls think that this will affect me or be a "waste" of "space" for other letters?

i don't think you could even GET 2 letters out of this. a lot of the time when you ask a PI to do a letter, s/he will either:

1. dish this task off to someone underneath them whom you worked with (your mentor), or
2. let you write it yourself.

and then the PI will smack his/her name and sig on it and you're all set.

 

[epusher]

Thank you all for your replies. I can understand what skinMD is trying to say, on the other hand whether or not this is possible depends on specific situations WeAreNotRobots. Maybe your right, who knows.

Although I know that this wouldn't be my case, I believe that the smartest choice is to look for other letters. Katatonic if you think this would work out for you then by all means stick to it, but think about this too!

 

[BlueElmo]

two letters from the same lab/job/experience is overkill....either choose the one you think knows your work the best or ask them to write a joint LOR which they both sign.

👍