[CompBio] Only one strong LoR

[myoate]

I will be applying to PhD in computational bio in the fall and I'm a little worried about my LoRs...

I have been doing computational bio research with my current PI for two years. We have an amazing relationship and I have no doubt that his letter will be great in every way. However, I am not sure about the other two letters, since I only did research in college with my current PI.

I have three options for the other two letters:

1. CS professor I took several classes with. I loved his teaching and actually TA'd for him as well, but since I've never done research with him, he said he is willing to write a letter but cannot comment on my research skills.
2. A biologist collaborator of my PI's. I am part of the collaboration project and work closely with a postdoc in this collaborator's lab. The collaborator himself doesn't really know me, but I think his postdoc likes me. I'm actually not sure if he's willing to write one for me.
3. My high school biologist PI. I started doing research in high school and my PI back then loved me. I know it's usually a bad idea to ask high school PIs, but I did help him with some data analysis while I was in college. I actually landed a mid-author on the resulting paper, although my contribution was limited (just helped with data analysis of one experiment).

In fact, I think regardless of what I do in the end, the other two letters will be pretty insignificant compared to my main letter. My question is how much will the lack of strong LoRs (I only have one) hurt me? And any insights on which two of the three recommenders I should choose?

Any tips or advice are appreciated!

[palyndrone]

Go with 1 and 2 -- I really wouldn't use somebody you mainly worked with in high school unless it's a last resort. No harm in putting the paper on your CV though!

If your CS prof can attest to your TA skills, that could maybe give you points if your PhD program requires teaching like a lot do. Unfortunately trying to figure out how much LORs matter and who even reads them is always gonna be a total shot in the dark, but your main PI writer sounds really solid! As long as somebody can speak for your research experience, which it sounds like you have plenty of. 

[myoate]

On 3/31/2019 at 8:25 PM, palyndrone said:

Go with 1 and 2 -- I really wouldn't use somebody you mainly worked with in high school unless it's a last resort. No harm in putting the paper on your CV though!

If your CS prof can attest to your TA skills, that could maybe give you points if your PhD program requires teaching like a lot do. Unfortunately trying to figure out how much LORs matter and who even reads them is always gonna be a total shot in the dark, but your main PI writer sounds really solid! As long as somebody can speak for your research experience, which it sounds like you have plenty of. 

Thanks palyndrone! Best of luck