What would you say?

[SingleGirl]

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Reading all of these posts made me realize that I am in a very different position now than I was coming out of undergrad... I was playing through interviews/applications in my mind, and I realized the following...

1. The 1st professor I did the grad asst/ra/ta for was forced to resign and left our program during my 2nd semester...

2. My advisor (also the director of our program) has not gotten tenure and is being asked to leave @ the end of this semester...

Is there a polite way of discussing the reason why I likely won't have a LOR from one of those two professors? Since I've been in the field, is it acceptable that my LOR's come from professional colleagues?

What is the best way to jump this hurdle?

 

[empathiosis]

Reading all of these posts made me realize that I am in a very different position now than I was coming out of undergrad... I was playing through interviews/applications in my mind, and I realized the following...

1. The 1st professor I did the grad asst/ra/ta for was forced to resign and left our program during my 2nd semester...

2. My advisor (also the director of our program) has not gotten tenure and is being asked to leave @ the end of this semester...

Is there a polite way of discussing the reason why I likely won't have a LOR from one of those two professors? Since I've been in the field, is it acceptable that my LOR's come from professional colleagues?

What is the best way to jump this hurdle?

Just because they're not longer in your program doesn't mean they can't write letters for you. What am I missing? Don't you know how to reach them? It's really important to have letters from profs rather than supervisors/colleagues. I think one of those would be ok, but not all of them.

 

[SingleGirl]

My adviser, I can get... I just guess I'm wondering if it would still hold any weight if she's no longer with the program/director of the program.

My original mentor/adviser, I would not get and would not want. During the struggle to force her into resignation, my program and the graduate school tried to use me to give examples of her difficulties. Even though I never sold her out, I think she felt like I did and made a few comments before she left that were inappropriate.

 

[empathiosis]

My adviser, I can get... I just guess I'm wondering if it would still hold any weight if she's no longer with the program/director of the program.

My original mentor/adviser, I would not get and would not want. During the struggle to force her into resignation, my program and the graduate school tried to use me to give examples of her difficulties. Even though I never sold her out, I think she felt like I did and made a few comments before she left that were inappropriate.

Definitely get a letter from your advisor because if you worked closely with her she'll be able to write a good letter. It doesn't matter that she has moved on. Academics understand that people change jobs. They don't have to know she was denied tenure. She just needs to say that she knew you when she was your advisor at X University ... Too bad about the other person ... Are there any other profs you had more than one class with who could attest to your academic ability?

 

[SingleGirl]

Thanks, I wasn't sure how that would work and I'll try and get her before she leaves into the great unknown.

I have a few professors who were really great and who were actually phd psychs working in our social work department.

I want to write some community grants in my research area and try and get a few publications/presentations going so maybe I can recruit a few of them and see if they are interested in help/support.

Thanks for the help, I sort of panicked for a minute when I realized that my LOR wouldn't be a slam dunk this go around.

 

[erg923]

For both Ph.d and Psy.D LOR have 2 basic purposes. To confirm your character (motivation, integrity, ethics, interpersonal skills etc.) and to attest to your intellectual ability (intelligence, perseverance, critical thinking skills, ability to complete graduate level course work, and dedication to research for ph.d programs).

If you think letters from supervisors can attest to all those skills, and back them up with evidence, go for it. But I'd think it would be much safer to go with letters from faculty and professors. The people that can best attest to these qualities without bias are professors who have seen your intellectual productions first hand, and aren't just speculating about them based on their opinion or what they have seen on the surface. Program committee are also more "trusting" of letters from professor from what I have seen, so keep that in mind as well. Bottom line, I would get to get 2 from professors and one from a supervisor.

 

[SingleGirl]

Thanks, I can definitely do some professors... just not my original mentor/adviser/one who made me commit to the program.

I agreed to do the MSW based upon her research interests in health disparities and the promise that I could be active in research for the 2 years. She lived up to her end of the deal and I even got to teach an entire semester of her classes when no one else in the program was teaching yet. Then, she had a personal breakdown due to a family situation. She went sort of nuts. I tried to cover for her but she ended up missing too many deadlines and it got super inappropriate toward the end.

I think, however, that I have a more suitable prof in mind.

I can't believe I have to start thinking like this for another year of my life.

 

[Thrak]

If you think letters from supervisors can attest to all those skills, and back them up with evidence, go for it.

Small caveat to that. Some PhD programs will only accept LORs from profs printed on university letterhead. CUNY seems to be one of them.

 

[kyril]

Small caveat to that. Some PhD programs will only accept LORs from profs printed on university letterhead. CUNY seems to be one of them.

i received a clinical interview invite to CUNY CC w/ 2 profs and 1 professional letter (still MH related) but the non-clinical psych phd's may be different...

most of my programs specified that at least 2 of your letters need to be from professors.

 

[Thrak]

i received a clinical interview invite to CUNY CC w/ 2 profs and 1 professional letter (still MH related) but the non-clinical psych phd's may be different...

Mine was Social. They said two LORs for me... one was my thesis adviser, one was my current supervisor. I would have gotten dinged from there anyway, though... bad fit.