recommendations

[yikes]

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hi,
i have one well known md writing a rec. one will be written by the grad student who supervised my senior thesis during undergrad. the last one will be written by our statistician, who has a master's. does that seem ok or is it frowned upon to have non md or phds write recs.
thanks.

 

[socialcog]

hi,
i have one well known md writing a rec. one will be written by the grad student who supervised my senior thesis during undergrad. the last one will be written by our statistician, who has a master's. does that seem ok or is it frowned upon to have non md or phds write recs.
thanks.

Don't ask me. I have been out of school for 12 years (and that was my master's program) and have lost all contact with profs. I have one Prof who I was an RA for a year in her lab, a medical director of a psychiatric hospital and a Clinical psychologist in private practice. The latter 2 know me primarily as a professional. The first one only knows my dedication in her lab but knows nothing about how well I do academically.

I would love to hear the opinions of the students on this topic. Not that it matter at this stage. I have my recommenders and it is too late to find new ones if not impossible.

 

[Ollie123]

Is it "okay"? Probably, though not in all situations. Definitely not ideal, but that's just how it goes sometimes...every application has a few things about it that aren't ideal, but as long as they are passable, its where they excelled that gets you in.

Check with the schools though. I distinctly remember 2 schools that expressly said "At least 2 of your letters should come from PhD level faculty members". Didn't matter for me, but it would for you in that case (though I'd bet the MD would count)

 

[JockNerd]

I'd say one non-PhD (or MD) is fine, but two is pushing it. This is coming from recommendations I got from my own faculty when applying. The prof who ran my undergraduate honours thesis seminar class was emphatic that grad students should not be letter-writers. If there's a non-PhD writing, that person should be a clinical work supervisor. This is according to her, but she's faculty so I'd give it some consideration.

Also...

WHY WAS A GRAD STUDENT SUPERVISING YOUR THESIS??

That seems odd to me 😛

 

[yikes]

it just seems better to have people write my recs who actually know me and can speak to my abilities as opposed to people don't but have advanced degrees.

 

[Squarepants]

At least one of my recs will be coming from a grad student. I work in a lab directly under the g.s., who is my supervisor, and don't work directly for the prof. I'll ask the prof too, but there's no way I'm skipping the grad student just because the person doesn't yet have a PhD.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

it just seems better to have people write my recs who actually know me and can speak to my abilities as opposed to people don't but have advances degrees.

Yes....but one of the biggest strengths of a letter is having a person who has gone through the process being able to vouch for your ability to complete the rigors of a doctoral program. It is okay to have one letter from someone who supervised you closely and can speak to specific abilities, but in the end TDs and faculty will put the most weight towards the letters from fellow PhDs, PsyDs, and EdDs.

-t

 

[yikes]

i've only worked for mds/phds (which i guess could count for phd) and straight mds, so eds or psyds aren't an option. my grad student is doing his internship and therefore should be able to speak as to whether i can complete most of a phd program. and i'm hoping that given the amount of statistics involved with research a rec from a statistician won't be too worthless. would recommendations from phd biologists i worked with 3-4 years a go be better?