References: Reputation vs Quality?

[aw42]

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I'm in a situation where I need to pick between two researchers:

One PI has enormous reputation which seems to carry weight as most of his students get in. However, the quality of the letter would be poor as his large responsibilities result in less time getting to know his students.

vs.

Another PI who has a good reputation but not star powered, but would write a great personal LOR.

how important is reputation compared to the comment in the letter itself?
0.02 anyone?

 

[Dulcina]

I'm in a situation where I need to pick between two researchers:

One PI has enormous reputation which seems to carry weight as most of his students get in. However, the quality of the letter would be poor as his large responsibilities result in less time getting to know his students.

vs.

Another PI who has a good reputation but not star powered, but would write a great personal LOR.

how important is reputation compared to the comment in the letter itself?
0.02 anyone?

I'd say the better personal LOR.

 

[Wordead]

Umm well don't the results speak for themselves? The high powered PI has his students get in. Don't you want to get in? Yes! Odds are good that the PI has had many students come through his lab in the past, and has a template rec that sounds great.

Is there no way to get both letters in? If your undergrad has a committee letter you can pretty much send in as many letters as you want (kinda). Are all of your other recs meaningful? It sounds like both letters would be valuable to you.

 

[cbrons]

How much of a star is he? Is he a local star or would it be obvious to adcoms that he is a big player on campus (i.e. the president or provost). In these cases, unless they write you a personal LOR, very little weight will be given to them because they are templated, rehashed, offer little information, and the person didn't know you so who cares? Their recommendation means nothing.

You would get hurt submitting an LOR from some busy political person unless you truly know him or her and they give you a personalized LOR. A template will be obvious to adcoms. See what Lizzy says but I'm thinking she'll agree with me...

I'm in a situation where I need to pick between two researchers:

One PI has enormous reputation which seems to carry weight as most of his students get in. However, the quality of the letter would be poor as his large responsibilities result in less time getting to know his students.

vs.

Another PI who has a good reputation but not star powered, but would write a great personal LOR.

how important is reputation compared to the comment in the letter itself?
0.02 anyone?

 

[rowerlauren]

Why not both? Some schools (Harvard) require recs from all research supervisors, so it might just be looked at better if you could have both of them.

 

[LizzyM]

I'm in a situation where I need to pick between two researchers:

One PI has enormous reputation which seems to carry weight as most of his students get in. However, the quality of the letter would be poor as his large responsibilities result in less time getting to know his students.

vs.

Another PI who has a good reputation but not star powered, but would write a great personal LOR.

how important is reputation compared to the comment in the letter itself?
0.02 anyone?

I think that you are confusing "quality" with "personal". The second writer may know you well and be able to say that you are a great person, and tell us all about your personal qualities but what really should come out of this letter is your performance in the lab. Either should be able to write a high quality letter and if it seems that the first writer has more experience with which to judge performance, or has an opinion that would be held in high regard by adcom members, then a LOR from the first PI would be superior. Keep in mind too, that a very busy PI will often consult with others in the lab and write a letter based on the opinions of others. Some will disclose this in the letter ("according to my post-doc, the applicant has ....) & some will just write that the applicant has done x, y, z and is highly regarded by other members of the team.

 

[SiR99]

I dont understand how Adcoms know all the different researchers and professors at all the different schools to be able to judge if one is that much better then the other.

How do they usually tell the difference, do they check for publications online?

Because most PI's are very busy and I thougth that if you can get a postdoc with a Phd to write the letter it would be fine.

 

[LizzyM]

I dont understand how Adcoms know all the different researchers and professors at all the different schools to be able to judge if one is that much better then the other.

How do they usually tell the difference, do they check for publications online?

Because most PI's are very busy and I thougth that if you can get a postdoc with a Phd to write the letter it would be fine.

First we look at the academic title or job title. That tells us something about rank.

In some instances the adcom member knows the writer personally or by reputation. (The world of medical science is a small world.)