Good Recommendation Letter from History Professor vs Bad Recommendation Letter from Stat Professor

[CarolinaSmash]

who I should ask to get my last recommendation letter from. Is it better to ask a history professor I'm closer with or a stat professor I rarely talk to? I had both professors for 2 classes each and had good grades in both. The difference is that I had a better relationship with the history professor (went to office hour, got advice on paper.. etc) whereas I rarely went to my stat class and was sleeping in class when I did go (I know :/ I'm dumb).

I'm leaning towards history professor at the moment. My other 2 LoRs are from Stat and econ professors.  

 

[bayessays]

An actively bad letter will kill your application. A history prof's letter probably won't help much, but if there is any chance the other professor will say you sleep in class, you want to avoid that at all costs because you don't get in anywhere. Go with the history prof, definitely. 

[gc2012]

You would be much better off with the stat prof as long as the letter is somewhat strong. Also, there is no reason for you to speculate on whether that's the case, it's perfectly reasonable to ask point blank, 'are you willing and able to write a strong letter of recommendation for me'?  If not, then ask the history prof the same question.