Letters of Recommendation

[hume4life]

If I am applying to a school, for lets say a masters in philosophy, are the letters of rec supposed to be from the philosophy department of my undergrad or can they be from any department?

[TracerTong]

Check the instructions that come with the application. Different schools might have different requirements, as might different departments within any single school.

My app: two recs from folks I worked with in industry, one from a professor in exactly my field (and specialty), and one from a professor in a completely unrelated field. I got in everywhere I applied, with nice funding, so I guess I did something right.

[luvalicious]

In general. get the best recommendations you can, regardless of whether they are in your field or sub-field. It's usually better to have letters from professors who have worked with you in your intended field of study, but a recommendation from professor/supervisor in an unrelated field who really believes that you are capable of the work is better than one from a professor in your field who is less enthusiastic.

(When I went for my MA in History, one of my letters was from a Political Science professor, and the other two were from History professors who were out of my subfield. When I went for my PhD, all three of my letters were from History professors but none of them was really in my sub-field - their interests intersected with me.)

[bobwhoops]

You'll want at minimum one, and preferably at least two recommendations from someone in your department. But it's ok to have one or two from another department, especially if the two fields are related (say physics and math). As said above, you'd be better off with a strong letter that can attest to your ability to be a good grad student from a professor in a different department than a weak letter from someone in your field.

[pcs]

I've now been successfully through the grad application process twice (once for a masters, once for a phd). In both cases, I was switching fields and thus none of my recommenders were in the same field as the program to which I was applying. For the master's I had two academic letters and one from a woman who supervised me on an international volunteering project. For the PhD letters I had my master's thesis advisor and two profs with whom I'd taken several classes. With this group I had someone who could testify to my ability to produce quality graduate level work (the master's thesis), a prof who could discuss my knowledge of research methods, and a prof who could discuss my ability to think and write theoretically. In other words, if your strongest advocates are outside of your chosen field, choose them strategically. Have them be folks who can present a well rounded picture of you as a scholar. If your field or desired programs have an interdisciplinary bent, having letters from people outside your field may even be a strength.