How many letters from one professor?

[mv0027]

Does anyone know how hard it is to fill out each letter? Esp since everything is electronic now.

I'm in the very early process of considering schools. I'm not a traditional candidate so I want to apply to a good amount of schools (probably about 10 or so). I have professors that know me and like me that would be willing to write good letters. However, I'm hesitant to ask them to fill out 10 letters each (that would take forever!). If it is a simple cut and paste ten times though, no problem. Since I have four-five professors I could ask, do I need to divide up who writes which letter to which school based off matching backgrounds?

Thanks!

[Penelope Higgins]

The letter sent to each school is pretty much identical. There might be a brief set of form questions that the professor has to fill out on each one, but it is basically a "cut and paste job" as you put it. I would simply expect them to ask you for a list of schools and deadlines.

[orst11]

My professors actually did exactly what Penelope Higgins said when I recently gave them a list of schools, deadlines, how the recommendation process works for each school. All of my professors have actually just commented on me being so organized with the process.

As far as who you get your recommendations from choose the ones that will give you the best recommendation and you would think give you the most weight.

[Penelope Higgins]

orst11 raises a good point. Letters provide two pieces of information to a committee: positive things about you as a candidate, and a 'brand name' of the faculty member writing the letter. An ideal letter will have both. But in making choices about who to ask, you need to consider that nice things about you in a letter mean much more if they come from a faculty member we've heard of. This means choosing people who are known scholars, not a random grad student or visiting scholar who taught your favorite class. It does NOT, however, necessarily mean choosing only senior scholars - junior scholars, if they are recent graduates of the programs to which you are applying, they will be known quantities as well.

[gradcafe26]

Good to see this post, I was having the same concern

[adaptations]

I applied to about 15-18 schools and had applied before as well. This means I had one professor who submitted about 18 letters the first year and 15 letters another year. The professor was happy to do it and was excited that I got accepted to good schools and had good options. That said, make it as easy as possible for your professors and make sure to thank them for their effort.