I had a conversation with a computational neuroscience PhD from our university's department and heard something interesting that I feel like sharing.
This person told me that LORs are usually not that useful even if they are coming from someone with prestige. He said that the only way to have a strong chance to get admitted to a top institute is to have your current PI write a letter directly to professor from the targeted university and asked if the professor would be willing to set up an interview and consider taking you in as a PhD student. I have heard of this kind of procedure in the econ department but not from neuroscience.
Could someone speak to the validity of this? How prevalent is this practice?