Who wrote your LOR's?

[SusGob711]

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Maybe it's just me but it seems difficult to develop meaningful relationships worthwhile potential LOR's with class sizes being as big as they are. Who wrote your LOR's and how did you choose them? I've got a year before I apply but I don't want to be scrambling when the time comes...

 

[Velocity]

The very first time I applied, I drew from a variety of people, anyone I felt I had any relation to at all. Professors I'd spoken with after class and during office hours; a language professor (language classes tend to be somewhat intimate); a TA... I had five letters, so the TA was more of an extra letter that I could count on for a "feel good" letter 🙂

The two semesters before I was ready to apply I became very aggressive about making connections to the faculty. Going to office hours to just talk about science in general (for science lecturers), emailing lecturers for more information about what they did, things like that. Honestly, the faculty seemed to crave student contact and they responded really well. I got to see some really neat "behind the scenes" types of things thanks to those interactions. It's almost too bad that you aren't prompted to apply earlier, if I'd known how easy it would be to make connections with faculty I might have done it a lot more and gotten more out of my undergrad...

My wife was a lot more shy about it, but she excelled in her classes far better than I did (explains why she's a med student now and I'm not ). In her case she asked people she'd worked with/under (research mentor, adviser) and she also went for a few professors that she didn't know very well, but in whose class she had done very well. In those cases the professor usually wants a CV/resume and/or personal statement. Your letter may come out sounding more generic, but hey - a positive letter is a positive letter!

Now I'm in grad school and the process is a bit harder. You know very well what the lecturers are doing, and since I have my own research project I can't really express awe and interest in quite the same as in undergrad. Luckily I have two defaults which makes the selection work a lot easier (all grad students in my program do), but the rest are open. I'll probably need to tap those professors that I don't know very well, but that I scored A's with.

It seems like one of the more intimidating parts of the process, but it's really not bad at all. Remember, the faculty are pretty used to being approached for letters of rec. It's a part of their job. Don't be shy!

 

[URHere]

I had 5 LORs when I applied (an MD/PhD requirement, not my own personal decision). These were the people I chose to ask:

Science LOR 1: My former neuroscience professor who was also my undergraduate adviser.

Science LOR 2: Former organic chem professor, who I worked as a TA under for 2 years.

Non-Science LOR: A director I took a number of theatre courses with (this fell under the "english" department at my school). I also worked for him doing some stage managing and lighting design work.

Research Letters: I also had one letter from each of my research mentors. I worked with them through undergrad and into grad school. Both were on my masters thesis committee.

I think the best letters come from people who know you as a student and in some secondary role as well. If you work as a TA or a research assistant, those professors are perfect to ask.

 

[BBender716]

Just for the sake of knowing, I am a non-science major.

Science LOR 1: Biochem prof. that I did an honors project for. Got to know him that way out of 350 people in my biochem class.

Science LOR 2: Probably the letter with the least amount of weight, got an A+ in his human physiology class, asked questions in class, talked with him afterwards often. Again, this was a 250 person class.

Non-Science LOR 1: Philosophy TA that I did an honors project with/did well in his class. Kept in touch over 3 years. Definitely more of an ancillary LOR.

Non-Science LOR 2 (Research): Did 2 years of non-science research with this prof. got to know him very well and had dinner at his house. Well known in his field.


I went to a huge university so it took careful planning and a lot of effort to really try to make these letters meaningful. So plan early and really work on developing relationships, not for the sole purpose of extracting an LOR out of them, but also to just get to know some really bright leaders in their fields.

 

[TraderDoc]

Science 1: My research mentor at my home institution who also taught my immunology course. So this was a combo research/academics letter.

Science 2: Biochemistry professor who I also had lab with. I was the best student in this class, so this was my chance to show my academic potential.

Science 3: Physics I professor who I knew very well and provided me with great guidance while in undergrad. Kept in touch for 3 years.

Non-Science Letter 1: My Honors Philosophy professor who knew I worked my butt off in the class.

Research letter: MD/PhD mentor at UCSF during my summer research internship.

I went to a private college so classrooms were somewhat smaller and made it much easier to get LORs. I was confident my letters were very strong as each was about a page and a half single spaced from what I saw. Five letters I thought was pretty excessive but I didn't want to waste any of them.

 

[Tolip]

1) The PI of the lab I worked in for ~3 years.
2) My MPH adviser / committee member.
3) Non-science MPH professor who I had two classes with, and who offered.

I didn't have any LORs from undergrad profs.

 

[Hifey]

1. Cell Bio professor...she had a long list of requirements in order to write a letter, including acing her class (A or A+), informal interview, attending 5 office hours, your personal statement, a resume, a lab report you've written etc. she was very experienced though and I think her letter was very good even though I haven't seen it.
2. Genetics prof. I only took one class with her but I also took my major's seminar with her which was only like 10 people so it wasn't hard to stand out.
3. My research professor....It was a smallish lab and I was there for like 1.5 years. wasn't hard to get this letter.
4. The manager of my volunteer program, I got to know her and she wrote me what I can only assume is a great letter 🙂

 

[confusedchild]

1) Civil Engineering Professor (he offered to write me one, so I figured why not...I only used this letter for 3 of the schools I applied to)

2) PI - Molecular Cell Developmental Biology Professor (never took a class with him but researched there for 2 years)

3) Electrical Engineering Professor (I didn't know this guy all that well, but some schools wanted a letter from my department so i walked in and proceeded to ask him for a letter w/o really knowing him. he asked my GPA/MCAT and said yah i think you have a good shot, give me your CV and i'll write you one. I thought it was going to be a generic and terrible letter but I ended up testing it out and a few schools that reply early for interview offers and got interviews for all those schools so I just ended up submitting it to 1/2 the schools I applied to)

4) Electrical Engineering Professor - submitted this letter to 1/2 of my schools. Got this letter in July as it took the guy forever to write it, but it worked out.

5) Faculty Club Advisor of Club I was president for (known this guy since freshman year, so it was a strong letter)

6) Molecular Biology and Genetics Lecturer (got A+ in both of his classes, so he was glad to write it)

7) English Composition Professor (the guy really liked me and wrote letters for me for 2 scholarships both of which I got)

Most schools I submitted five letters, letters #2,5,6,7 were submitted to almost all schools. Letters #3,4 were submitted to 1/2 the schools each, and #1, I only used for 3 schools.

 

[bannie22]

1) Neuroanatomy Prof
2) Neuroscience Prof
3) Chemical Engineering PI
4) Japanese Prof
5) Geography Prof
6) High School Teacher

 

[tinery]

I applied to an early admission program sophomore year and it required 2 letters.

One came from my research PI who I had worked with for 3 semesters and with whom I took an upper-level biology course. The other came from my professor from a Filipino language class (4 credit course that met 4 days a week and had 6 students).

 

[hawkdochopeful]

1) Advisor/ Bio prof
2) Physics prof
3) Boss
4) Coach

Didn't have to have any non-Science LORs.

 

[BlueElmo]

Professors in my science classes and my English teacher. Also, letter from my research mentor.

 

[The Enchanter]

1. Science - Graduate advisor
2. Science - Course coordinator for course I TA'd
3. Science - Prof for graduate biochemistry course I did very well in
4. Science - Neuroscience professor with whom I'd worked on a couple
projects and taken a couple classes
5. Non-Science - Prof with whom I took a class and did research as an
undergrad for a year