What do you use for the prefix and title of your professors?!

[OneMCATAway]

ok so in the LOR section I have professors who are lecturers so should I use the prefix of Mr. or prof.?! and as the title do you say for example "organic chemistry professor" or orgenic chemist? or should I leave it blank?!! what do you guys think?!

thanks =)

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[CoolWhipp]

Prefix would be Dr.

Title may be principle investigator or professor depending on your relationship to them.

 

[ThaliaNox]

I would assume you would know or be able to find out what degree they hold, as well as their academic title. Let's say we have Dr. Sigma Bond, Ph.D, Professor of Chemistry, University of Molecular Orbitals. Their title would be either Dr. or Professor, and their title would be Professor of Chemistry. I would hope none of your professors would be have a "Mr." title.

 

[loveoforganic]

Dr. or Professor, period.

 

[Ohio SMP]

Dr. if they have doctoral degree. Otherwise, if it's a TA or something with an MS, use Mr.

As for full title, if it's an assistant professor or associate professor, avoid abbreviating it as ass. prof - instead use asst. prof or assoc. prof

 

[Bacchus]

I would assume you would know or be able to find out what degree they hold, as well as their academic title. Let's say we have Dr. Sigma Bond, Ph.D, Professor of Chemistry, University of Molecular Orbitals. Their title would be either Dr. or Professor, and their title would be Professor of Chemistry. I would hope none of your professors would be have a "Mr." title.

Your non-sciences professors might since a lot hold MS degrees. And, yes I have professors that taught me who go by Mr. in the sciences.

 

[austinap]

Professor is usually reserved for full professors. If they're a full professor, use Professor, otherwise use Dr.

 

[mmmcdowe]

ok so in the LOR section I have professors who are lecturers so should I use the prefix of Mr. or prof.?! and as the title do you say for example "organic chemistry professor" or orgenic chemist? or should I leave it blank?!! what do you guys think?!

thanks =)

The answer is in your title.

 

[FuturaDocta]

For future reference, never call your professor Mr. or Ms., even on an application or whatever.

 

[njbmd]

Don't confuse academic rank with title. If a professor is a lecturer but has earned a doctorate (any), they may be titled "Dr", otherwise, Mr or Ms is fine. A better course would be to address them in salutations as Dear Professor X and refer to them as John or Jane X, (degree).

 

[MossPoh]

Don't confuse academic rank with title. If a professor is a lecturer but has earned a doctorate (any), they may be titled "Dr", otherwise, Mr or Ms is fine. A better course would be to address them in salutations as Dear Professor X and refer to them as John or Jane X, (degree).

I was about to say, it becomes rather cumbersome to say "Assistant Professor X" 😛

 

[student1799]

I think this custom varies by school, and maybe by region as well. Just based on observation, it seems that "Dr." is most common at state schools, and in the Midwest and West. "Professor" seems more common at private schools (especially in the East, where I'm from).

Some schools have very quaint customs concerning titles. At Harvard, for example, the course catalog lists all instructors as "Mr." or "Ms." The assumption here is that everyone has a PhD, so titles are unnecessary.

In general, I think "Professor" is the safest way to go. This is considered a courtesy title (it goes with the job rather than indicating a particular professional degree), so I don't think anyone would be offended if you used it. "Dr.," on the other hand, could be a bit awkward if the person doesn't have a PhD.

 

[OneMCATAway]

Thanks everyone! I have a letter from a writing teacher who I think has an MA so I am debating to use Mrs. for her and I also have another from tutoring experience where the coordinator is a Mrs. The title for my writing instructor is going to be "writing coordinator and lecturer".. is this okay?!

another question kinda along the same lines.. if we have a letter from a school medical center but it goes to your main school career center do you list it under the institution it is from or your main school that will be sending it off?!

 

[zerial]

Wait, if a member of the faculty doesn't have a PhD and is a Lecturer, do they still get the title of "Professor"?

 

[student1799]

Wait, if a member of the faculty doesn't have a PhD and is a Lecturer, do they still get the title of "Professor"?

If you are addressing them directly, whether in speech or in writing. ("Professor, I have a question." "Dear Prof. Jones, Here is a copy of my Personal Statement ..."). But if you are referring to them on a form that requests their title, or addressing an envelope to them, then no. In that case, you would use "Jane Smith, Lecturer, Dept. of Chemistry." Alternatively, in the case of the envelope, you could simply go with "Jane Smith, Dept. of Chemistry."

 

[student1799]

another question kinda along the same lines.. if we have a letter from a school medical center but it goes to your main school career center do you list it under the institution it is from or your main school that will be sending it off?!

If this is a committee letter, you don't list the individual letters that go into it; instead, you write "Committee Packet, XXX College Premedical Office" or something like that. AMCAS and the school secondaries give specific instructions on how to do this.

 

[OneMCATAway]

all my letters are individual letters and this one is not from my school but from another (top tier) school where I have clinical experience and this is actually my only MD letter. My adviser just emailed me back and told me to indicate my main state school where I submitted all my letters to the career center and they will be mailed from there, but I am not sure if this should actually be the school that the letter is originally from (where my experience is)?! any thoughts?

 

[Cardiac]

That's what your advisor is for. Just ask him again. My school takes care of everything, but I'm sure other schools vary.

 

[OneMCATAway]

I just called amcas, turns out my adviser was wrong!! it has to be from the institution the letter writer is from 😉

 

[PremedIowa]

I would think that it would be demeaning to refer to a Lecturer, Assistant, or Associate Professor by that title. It stresses what they are not rather than what the are.

If someone is on the faculty of an academic institution, they should be referred to as "Doctor" or "Professor" regardless of academic rank.

 

[OneMCATAway]

I would think that it would be demeaning to refer to a Lecturer, Assistant, or Associate Professor by that title. It stresses what they are not rather than what the are.

If someone is on the faculty of an academic institution, they should be referred to as "Doctor" or "Professor" regardless of academic rank.

would you say call a writing lecturer with MS, "writing professor" for the title?!

 

[G1SG2]

Prefix would be Dr.

Title may be principle investigator or professor depending on your relationship to them.

Isn't it principal investigator!? Or am I just losing my head here.

 

[229141]

I never knew what the hell a PI was.

If you have your own project are you your own PI!? 😉

 

[G1SG2]

I never knew what the hell a PI was.

Haha, me neither! Which is why I love SDN =D

So, is it principal or principle!? I'm pretty sure it's the former, no?

 

[hewmanoid]

Haha, me neither! Which is why I love SDN =D

So, is it principal or principle!? I'm pretty sure it's the former, no?

Principal


Actually, what matters is one's academic degree. Anybody can be a professor these days (At my college, everyone used to call my music teacher, "Professor" even though he only holds an MFA🙄)

 

[student1799]

I would think that it would be demeaning to refer to a Lecturer, Assistant, or Associate Professor by that title. It stresses what they are not rather than what the are.

I'm not sure I completely agree with this. Academics are grown-ups, and should be able to cope with seeing their titles in print without dying of embarrassment. However, if the title is a very low-ranking one, sometimes it is more courteous to omit it completely and address the envelope to the person without a title.

If someone is on the faculty of an academic institution, they should be referred to as "Doctor" or "Professor" regardless of academic rank.

Not quite. When directly addressing the person, "Professor" is acceptable, because it's a courtesy title, but "Doctor" isn't, because it's an academic degree the person does not have.

And when REFERRING TO or addressing an envelope to the person, you must use their title, or simply their name. The one exception to this is if you use "Prof." As a prefix to their name, e.g. "Prof. Jane Jones, XXX College." In this case, it's just a courtesy title, and thus OK. But you would not write "Jane Jones, Professor," because that would imply that "Professor" is their actual title.

 

[rotatedline]

So I am filling out a letter request form through interfolio and it automatically fills the title space in with "Recommendation from Dr. XXX XXXX, Ph.D. There isn't enough room to write "Professor of Chemistry, University..." Can I leave that out or truncate the "Recommendation from" part?

 

[student1799]

So I am filling out a letter request form through interfolio and it automatically fills the title space in with "Recommendation from Dr. XXX XXXX, Ph.D. There isn't enough room to write "Professor of Chemistry, University..." Can I leave that out or truncate the "Recommendation from" part?

You shouldn't worry about this. It's just for identifying the letter for tracking purposes. The letter writer will sign the letter with their correct title.

 

[musicaldna]

The choice between Dr. and Prof., around here at University of Toronto at least, is dependent on the area of research.

Most of the professors in engineering, who have PhD and are listed as professors, go by Prof. Firstname Lastname.

Most of the professors in the bio/health/clinical field, who have PhD and are listed as professors, go by Dr. Firstname Lastname.

For example, the Pharmacy website lists the professors like following:

Dr. Firstname Lastname
Professor
Research Interests: .....