Acceptable LOR?

[surprisecake]

First of all, i'm a final year undergraduate science student and I'm applying to graduate school for fall 2011.

I have two research guides who have agreed to write letters on my behalf. For the third letter, I asked the Dean of my school and he agreed. Even though he is officially in a teaching position too, he has never taken any classes in the last 4 years. He's basically been in an administrational position and so I've never been able to work on anything with him or under him.

However he has closely interacted with me for the last 4 and a half years because I was

1) a student body leader

2) He has attended all the presentations i've done during my course

3) He's given me advice on all my research projects, although in an informal/unofficial manner

4) All my conference presentations and manuscripts submitted for review have gone through him for approval.

Basically we've never been associated in any official capacity but he's overseen everything i've done personally and professionally for all 9 semester's i've been in school. and he's the Dean!... who is willing to write a very supportive and positive letter.

Would a letter from him mean anything at all? I do have the other 2 letters who have been very involved with my work, i've taken their classes and they have assured me that they'd write aWEsome letters.

I do have an option of the third professor who has taught me over 2 years and is very impressed by me and fond of me but we haven't done any special work with each other. So it would be very positive but a generic "great student, I highly recommend".

Who do i pick? (please say Dean)

[newms]

I think the Dean would be ok. He is able to speak about your research potential/experiences and that is what is important.

[DariaIRL]

The Dean letter sounds great. Often faculty will mentor someone unofficially, but it still counts!

[surprisecake]

thanks so much! i had no idea whether it would be appropriate.

[TMP]

Honestly, I would choose the professor. That professor has known you for 2 years in a more relevant capacity.

[strokeofmidnight]

Honestly, I would choose the professor. That professor has known you for 2 years in a more relevant capacity.

I'm not in the sciences, so my experience might not be relevant. But I'd agree with this as well. While Deans are usually also academics, in the programs that I'm familiar with, they serve an administrative role, and do not tend to have the same relationship with their students as a professor would. While this Dean might have indeed attended all of your classes, if he's not seeing your work on a regular bases throughout the semester...if he's not supervising your research, than he might not be able to speak to how development as well as a professor...even if the Dean has attended all of your presentations.

If you have a close relationship with this Dean, you might want to present him with this exact dilemma, and see what he suggests.