Third LOR Advice

[PsyHike]

Trying my luck here as well.

Hello, everyone!

I have finished my Master's degree last year and will be applying (again) for clinical Ph.D. programs next Fall. As of now, I have two tenured professors who agreed to write letters of recommendation, but my third choice said she will be way too busy for this during the next application season. I am now applying for volunteer research assistant positions to gain more experience and hopefully ask for the letter of recommendation when the time comes. Right now I have an opportunity to work for a Ph.D. student on a very interesting project. As far as I know, letters of recommendations from Ph.D. students don't really count in the admission process. My question is: Should I mention to this student that I am ultimately looking for LOR during next application cycle, or should I start the project and hope that I'll be able to secure a LOR with the student's supervisor next Fall?

Thank you!

[Waiting272]

18 minutes ago, NogitsuneX said:

Should I mention to this student that I am ultimately looking for LOR during next application cycle, or should I start the project and hope that I'll be able to secure a LOR with the student's supervisor next Fall?
 

That's awesome that you will get to work on a cool project! My suggestion would be to mention your intentions of applying next cycle before you join the PhD student for several different reasons. As you mentioned, LORs from PhD students are not revered as highly as those coming from a faculty. With this in mind, you can probably ask further or whether there's any opportunity to work closely with the supervisor/advisors while on the project in hopes to get an LOR from them. Another thing to consider is maybe they can recommend you to work with other faculty who are within the same department while you work with the student. 

[PsyHike]

3 minutes ago, Waiting272 said:

That's awesome that you will get to work on a cool project! My suggestion would be to mention your intentions of applying next cycle before you join the PhD student for several different reasons. As you mentioned, LORs from PhD students are not revered as highly as those coming from a faculty. With this in mind, you can probably ask further or whether there's any opportunity to work closely with the supervisor/advisors while on the project in hopes to get an LOR from them. Another thing to consider is maybe they can recommend you to work with other faculty who are within the same department while you work with the student. 

Thank you for your advice, @Waiting272 ! Would you say that I can approach this subject openly (i.e., stating that I will be applying for Ph.D. the next cycle and in need for an additional letter of recommendation), or should I go about it in a round-about way (i.e., vaguely mentioning that I will be applying next Fall and not push it further)? It may be a bit of a cultural thing as well, not sure how U.S. students and advisors respond to direct conversations. 

[Waiting272]

2 minutes ago, NogitsuneX said:

Thank you for your advice, @Waiting272 ! Would you say that I can approach this subject openly (i.e., stating that I will be applying for Ph.D. the next cycle and in need for an additional letter of recommendation), or should I go about it in a round-about way (i.e., vaguely mentioning that I will be applying next Fall and not push it further)? It may be a bit of a cultural thing as well, not sure how U.S. students and advisors respond to direct conversations. 

Not a problem! I'm not sure if you have already accepted the position or if you are still considering other places. If you have accepted to work there with the student, I think it's fair to say they already want you to be in the lab! Thus, it might be easier to ask to meet with the student and mention you hope to have opportunities to bolster your application in the upcoming cycle, where you are in the process, and then maybe ask if they have any suggestions for who to get the final LOR. This way it's not super direct, but enough info that they know where you're going. 

If you're not a part of the lab yet and are interviewing for it, then I think this is also a great situation because they may likely ask you why you want to job this lab/this project. You can mention your interests and also your future plans. When it comes time for questions, you can mention what you seek from the lab and what opportunities there are to get an LOR/what is the process for going about that in this particular lab.

Hope this helps!  

[psychology_student_]

On 4/9/2019 at 11:32 AM, NogitsuneX said:

Trying my luck here as well.

Hello, everyone!

I have finished my Master's degree last year and will be applying (again) for clinical Ph.D. programs next Fall. As of now, I have two tenured professors who agreed to write letters of recommendation, but my third choice said she will be way too busy for this during the next application season. I am now applying for volunteer research assistant positions to gain more experience and hopefully ask for the letter of recommendation when the time comes. Right now I have an opportunity to work for a Ph.D. student on a very interesting project. As far as I know, letters of recommendations from Ph.D. students don't really count in the admission process. My question is: Should I mention to this student that I am ultimately looking for LOR during next application cycle, or should I start the project and hope that I'll be able to secure a LOR with the student's supervisor next Fall?

Thank you!

Yes, dont ask the student for the LOR and just be up front with the LOR about your intentions on applying to graduate school. Make it a concentrated effort to get to know the supervisor/keep them updated on your researc progress so that you establish that rapport with them.