TA writes letter with the Professor cosign?

[Elysian12]

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Hi everyone,

I knew one of my lab TAs quite well. She offered to write me a letter. Is this letter from her fine as long as I get the professor to cosign it? Are there any problems with this?

Thanks

 

[JLT223]

Not going to work.

 

[Elysian12]

Not going to work.

What is your reasoning? I forgot to mention I will only be using my LORs for my committee letter and will only send the committee letter off to dental schools. I see mixed responses on this topic all the time

 

[JLT223]

What is your reasoning? I forgot to mention I will only be using my LORs for my committee letter and will only send the committee letter off to dental schools. I see mixed responses on this topic all the time

The professor's word has much more weight than a TA. I don't know of a single school that would let you replace a biology or chemistry professor's letter for one written by a TA. It's just how it is.

 

[MasterOfNone15]

I did this and got into 2/3 schools I applied to so far. It should be fine, especially if the TA knows you well. My TA wrote the letter and then had the professor proofread and sign it. He did voice some concern about how much weight a TA recommendation letter would have compared to a letter from a professor but he agreed to do it as long as I was okay with it. The lab I took was very rigorous and required a lot of time and my TA knew how much work I put into the class so I felt that his letter would be more meaningful than one that came from a professor who didn't know me well and would have to use my PS/resume to write one.

 

[Elysian12]

I did this and got into 2/3 schools I applied to so far. It should be fine, especially if the TA knows you well. My TA wrote the letter and then had the professor proofread and sign it. He did voice some concern about how much weight a TA recommendation letter would have compared to a letter from a professor but he agreed to do it as long as I was okay with it. The lab I took was very rigorous and required a lot of time and my TA knew how much work I put into the class so I felt that his letter would be more meaningful than one that came from a professor who didn't know me well and would have to use my PS/resume to write one.

DAT/GPA?

 

[BeaverLover]

I've heard of applicants asking anatomy TA's to write LoE at my university, as to whether the evaluation fulfilled the two required science faculty letters idk.

 

[MasterOfNone15]

DAT/GPA?

oGPA: 3.86, sGPA: 3.78
DAT (AA/TS/PAT/Reading/any section below a 17): 22/21/23/23/no

 

[sl2obel2ts]

I signed in just to tell you this. Yes, go ahead and get a cosign. U draft it, have ur ta look at it, ur professor ok it and sign it. Ur ta signs it. It is going to be a really good letter w 2 signatures on it. That in my opinion is a better letter than a letter with one signature on it.

I did this and got into 2/3 schools as well.

 

[ajj70]

Define TA--at my school TA's are undergrads that help out profs. I know at larger schools TA's can be graduate students that actually teach the classes. Either way, I wouldn't use that as a main LOR, perhaps as an extra one at schools that accept those.

 

[MasterOfNone15]

Define TA--at my school TA's are undergrads that help out profs. I know at larger schools TA's can be graduate students that actually teach the classes. Either way, I wouldn't use that as a main LOR, perhaps as an extra one at schools that accept those.

This is a good point and didn't occur to me when I mentioned my TA letter. My letter was written by a graduate student. I'm not sure what the case is for OP.

 

[pangarocket]

It'll be fine. One my letters of rec was from a TA and the professor didn't even cosign it. As long as you have the committee letter you'll be good! 🙂

 

[doc toothache]

Certainly makes one wonder what value adcoms can place on a letter that a prof cannot be bothered to write.

 

[MasterOfNone15]

Certainly makes one wonder what value adcoms can place on a letter that a prof cannot be bothered to write.

Your rude comments certainly make me wonder why you're so unhappy with your life that you constantly feel the need to bring people down on SDN. There's no need to discredit other people's accomplishments just because you don't agree with where they got an LOR from. When your university has ~50,000 students and your bio or chem classes have 200-500 kids, it is challenging to get to know your professors well and adcom knows that. With good stats and ECs, a LOR from a TA who actually knows you is fine. The point of these letters is for someone to vouch for your character, not make up bs based off of your resume. I was accepted to 2 great schools and I'm sure adcom didn't look at my letter and value it any less. The only person who is bothered here is you, so please keep your unnecessary and unhelpful opinions to yourself.

 

[sumin5924]

Your rude comments certainly make me wonder why you're so unhappy with your life that you constantly feel the need to bring people down on SDN. There's no need to discredit other people's accomplishments just because you don't agree with where they got an LOR from. When your university has ~50,000 students and your bio or chem classes have 200-500 kids, it is challenging to get to know your professors well and adcom knows that. With good stats and ECs, a LOR from a TA who actually knows you is fine. The point of these letters is for someone to vouch for your character, not make up bs based off of your resume. I was accepted to 2 great schools and I'm sure adcom didn't look at my letter and value it any less. The only person who is bothered here is you, so please keep your unnecessary and unhelpful opinions to yourself.

Your case is clearly anecdotal. Tell me this, if you were an adcom, would you be impressed by someone who got a letter from a ~50,000 uni professor or one from a TA? You can't deny the greater weight a professor's LOR provides over a TA's.

Also, am I the only one here that didn't think Master of None was funny? :/

 

[MasterOfNone15]

Your case is clearly anecdotal. Tell me this, if you were an adcom, would you be impressed by someone who got a letter from a ~50,000 uni professor or one from a TA? You can't deny the greater weight a professor's LOR provides over a TA's.

Also, am I the only one here that didn't think Master of None was funny? :/

I can deny it because I have friends that asked for LORs from the same bio/chem professors that I didn't ask and were basically told to write the letter themselves or provide their resume/PS so the professor could insert pieces into a pre-written template. I don't see any weight in that and I would guess that adcom doesn't either. With ~50,000 kids at school, there are inevitably a lot of pre-dents that are applying to dental school every year. Can you imagine how many of the same template letters from the same professors adcom in Texas have had to read? If I were an adcom, I would be impressed with a letter that genuinely spoke on the behalf of the applicant. In the case of the TA letter, the professor will co-sign it anyway so it seems better to do that than have the professor write it themselves when he/she knows nothing about you aside from the grade that you got in their class.

Edit: I do agree that my situation isn't the case for everyone because not everyone goes to a university as large as the one I went to. If you went to a small school, I'm sure a professor's letter would have more weight than a TA letter. I think that has more to do with the fact that in a small-classroom setting, it is relatively easy to get to know your professor if you put in the effort. I'm merely sharing my experience with this because when I applied, I was looking for some advice on this topic as well. Hopefully my experience can help someone out.

 

[sumin5924]

I can deny it because I have friends that asked for LORs from the same bio/chem professors that I didn't ask and were basically told to write the letter themselves or provide their resume/PS so the professor could insert pieces into a pre-written template. I don't see any weight in that and I would guess that adcom doesn't either. With ~50,000 kids at school, there are inevitably a lot of pre-dents that are applying to dental school every year. Can you imagine how many of the same template letters from the same professors adcom in Texas have had to read? If I were an adcom, I would be impressed with a letter that genuinely spoke on the behalf of the applicant. In the case of the TA letter, the professor will co-sign it anyway so it seems better to do that than have the professor write it themselves when he/she knows nothing about you aside from the grade that you got in their class.

Again, anecdotal. Just because your professors write off templates or w/e for your friends doesn't mean that applies to everyone. That's why it's up to an applicant to make himself standout from the rest and get that unique and personal LOR...isn't that the whole point?

Meh, this is pointless. We're no adcoms. Who knows what they think. Congrats on your acceptance.

 

[604553]

My lab TA wrote a fantastic LOR that the professor co-signed and no questions were ever raised. Having a letter from someone that can speak positively of you, TA or not, is better than getting a generic LOR from a professor.

 

[Elysian12]

Define TA--at my school TA's are undergrads that help out profs. I know at larger schools TA's can be graduate students that actually teach the classes. Either way, I wouldn't use that as a main LOR, perhaps as an extra one at schools that accept those.

This is a good point and didn't occur to me when I mentioned my TA letter. My letter was written by a graduate student. I'm not sure what the case is for OP.

My TA was a graduate student going for her masters. She was the teacher of my lab, not the lecture. She now has her masters.

Also, if the course was taught by 2 professors (one the first half and the other second half the of the semester) do i need both to cosign or is one fine

 

[doc toothache]

The point of these letters is for someone to vouch for your character, not make up bs based off of your resume. I was accepted to 2 great schools and I'm sure adcom didn't look at my letter and value it any less. The only person who is bothered here is you, so please keep your unnecessary and unhelpful opinions to yourself.

A letter from a priest, rabbis, preacher or mullah would serve better as "character" reference, but that is not exactly what academicians are looking for. At times, an acceptance is in spite of, rather than a result of an lor. Another case of a psychology course paying dividends.

 

[MasterOfNone15]

Again, anecdotal. Just because your professors write off templates or w/e for your friends doesn't mean that applies to everyone. That's why it's up to an applicant to make himself standout from the rest and get that unique and personal LOR...isn't that the whole point?

Meh, this is pointless. We're no adcoms. Who knows what they think. Congrats on your acceptance.

Anecdotal or not, what I'm saying is the reality for many students that go to large universities. But like you said, we're not adcoms so no point in arguing about it.

A letter from a priest, rabbis, preacher or mullah would serve better as "character" reference, but that is not exactly what academicians are looking for. At times, an acceptance is in spite of, rather than a result of an lor. Another case of a psychology course paying dividends.

Not sure what "academicians" are looking for in your letters if they're not looking for character reference. All your other credentials are listed in your app...Maybe our definition for "character" is different. I digress.

My TA was a graduate student going for her masters. She was the teacher of my lab, not the lecture. She now has her masters.

Also, if the course was taught by 2 professors (one the first half and the other second half the of the semester) do i need both to cosign or is one fine

OP, get a letter from the person who knows you best even if it is a TA. The only way I see this being a problem is if a school you're applying to specifically says no TA letters are accepted. I'm not sure what you should do about the whole 2 different professors thing. Maybe ask your TA what her thoughts are on it.

 

[Elysian12]

Anecdotal or not, what I'm saying is the reality for many students that go to large universities. But like you said, we're not adcoms so no point in arguing about it.



Not sure what "academicians" are looking for in your letters if they're not looking for character reference. All your other credentials are listed in your app...Maybe our definition for "character" is different. I digress.



OP, get a letter from the person who knows you best even if it is a TA. The only way I see this being a problem is if a school you're applying to specifically says no TA letters are accepted. I'm not sure what you should do about the whole 2 different professors thing. Maybe ask your TA what her thoughts are on it.

Okay thank you very much for your input

 

[doc toothache]

Not sure what "academicians" are looking for in your letters if they're not looking for character reference. All your other credentials are listed in your app...Maybe our definition for "character" is different. I digress.

You clearly have seen your share of lor and know your subject.

 

[MasterOfNone15]

You clearly have seen your share of lor and know your subject.

I'm sure you have too. I bet your wonderful personality and vast knowledge has landed you a spot on adcoms all over the country.

 

[doc toothache]

I'm sure you have too. I bet your wonderful personality and vast knowledge has landed you a spot on adcoms all over the country.

Ah yes! A sample of personal charm.