Who should I ask!? Flakey but renowned professor or his reliable TA?

[warpspeed]

I am applying for a Ph.D. in Anthropology (Archaeology) to several well known schools for Pre Colombian Andean archaeology. I did my field school abroad in Peru with a well known professor and author in Andean archaeology and I feel as though I made a very good impression on him, both socially and academically. Unfortunately, I do no attend the school that he teaches at. I attend a smaller program that is well known for historical archaeology, specifically African diaspora in the northeastern United States. This is also the topic of my honors thesis (which is in the process of being published and presented in several places). I am, of course, nervous that I will be edged out by students who attended strong Pre Colombian schools.

My first LOR will be from my adviser, a well known name in historical archaeology who also teaches in his sabbatical semesters at one of the schools (Harvard) I'm applying to. He is well known in historical archaeology, has done field work with me and we are very close. He probably knows me the best out of any professor I've had in school and also advised my honors thesis, which he is referencing in his own works.

My second LOR will be from another anthropology professor who advised my initial efforts on my thesis as part of our senior seminar class. She was extremely impressed and would go to LOR#1 writer weekly and tell him how fantastic I was (which was fascinating because I didn't think she even liked me). She also has connections and has been invited to speak at a school I am applying to (Vanderbilt).

My third letter is very tricky. I would really like to get my letter from the professor who advised my field school as he personally knows and works with many of the advisors I'm applying under. As I stated, he liked me, and I picked up material very quickly with him. The only problem is he is kind of flakey. He's hard to get a hold of even when you're living in a field house with him, let alone across the country (his school is in southern California and I'm in New York). I really feel like he would be the best LOR but I'm nervous that it may be very difficult. He had three TA's (all PhD candidates), two of which I worked very closely with and have good personal relationships with them. One TA invited me personally to work on her excavations this summer, however due to funding we had to scrap the project to their field school so we were not able to attend.

My dilemma is whether I should spend my time chasing after this professor for the LOR (which I'm sure he'd be happy to write, he told me he would last year, however he is very busy) or if I should simply ask his TA who invited me back. I have thought about starting early and having him send me the recommendation and I submit it for him, however I am not sure that this is possible for every school. One option is that I ask both and send in the 4th letter as a supplemental item to my application just in case the professor can not. The TA would be the only person without a PhD writing a LOR. What do you think? TIA

PS. This is for fall 2011, so applications are not due for 7 months, plenty of time to start chasing if that is the best decision.

Edited May 19, 2010 by warpspeed

[<3Brains]

I'd say go with the prof. If you let him know far in advance and give him the specific deadlines for your apps, he'll get them in on time. Even the busiest profs have to write recs all the time....they know the deal. Also, on the flip side, admissions committees know that profs are busy and have (at least from what I saw this admissions round, having a flaky prof myself) realistic expectations and appropriate time lags between deadlines and evaluation time.

For the schools I applied to, it was never an option to submit the letter for your prof. He'll have to do it, but start your apps early and you'll have the chance (early!) to send him the "request" email telling him how to submit it. Most schools have systems which help you send reminders, too.

Don't lessen the strength of your app by being too careful Go for it!

[hippopotassium]

I would agree with <3Brains - chase this professor down and ask if he would be able to write you a strong letter. If so, then definitely go for it. I think it might also be advisable to ask him what his busiest times are and try to plan around them, and to send him polite reminders, if he is prone to being flaky. It sounds like you have three great letters in store for you, and it sounds like you got a lot out of your research experience. Best of luck!

[Neuropanda]

My friend was in a similar situation. He did an REU at NYU where although he was in a certain "big name" professor's lab, he barely interacted with the professor, he worked mostly with the reliable postdoc in the lab all summer.

He got the postdoc to write the letter, and he had them both sign off on it. He's now in the neuro program at JHU.

[fuzzylogician]

Ask them to write the letter together. That way you'll get the reliable TA to actually write the letter and the renowned professor to sign it. If that's impossible: ask the professor, and talk to the TA about being a last-minute backup in case the professor flakes out (and in case you don't have a better backup).