Question on LOR for PhD

[eesj]

I am applying to Stanford's EE grad program and need some advice on who to choose for my 3rd letter of rec.

My dilemma - The program I am applying to requires 3 letters of recommendation, where 1 must come from a Stanford faculty member (stating they will be your advisor). So this really leaves me with choosing 2 references to persuade the adcomm. I am now choosing between who will be the best 3rd recommendation...

LORs:

Letter # 1: Stanford professor recommending me to the program (i.e. he is backing my application as my advisor). This is really a character reference since his decision is coming from a presentation I made and an interview.

Letter#2: A past Stanford Ph.D. who I have been working/researching with for the past +3 years. This will be my strongest LOR. since he has the best knowledge of my capabilities/background, ability to research, and has a history with Stanford.

Letter#3A: Co-worker/Ph.D who I have researched with and have also worked with for 3 years. He is not well published, but has held high positions within industry. Also his Ph.D. was in applied physics versus EE.

OR

Letter#3B: Past undergrad advisor (back in 2007). A Stanford EE Ph.D who completed research with one of Stanford's most well known EE professor/researcher. Very well known in industry. I have not really interacted with this professor much since 2010 (met to discuss research i was conducting) so this may weaken this reference. But, this professor understands the importance of the LOR and is familiar with Stanford's admissions - so I feel the letter will be written with the goal in mind of persuading the adcomm.

Based on my LOR background, who do you feel will make a better Letter #3 (3A or 3B)?

[Kitkat]

So my question is this. For 3B, did you actually do research/take classes with and the like with him? Aka does he know your work, and can he say good things about you? If you did do a lot of work with him, then I would say ask that letter writer. The fact that you haven't talked much should not mean that much, just remind him of that.

If not, then I would say go with 3A. From the sounds of it he *does* know your work, and the most recent of it.

The reasoning of why I say this. While it is nice to get a major person in the field to write you a recommendation letter for your application, it won't really help you at all if they can't really say anything really good or helpful to why you would be good for graduate school. It might even backfire at you. So if 3B can't really talk to why you are good for grad school, it would be better to go with 3A who is less well know, but would know you better.

[eesj]

Thanks for your insight kitkat!

3B was my senior advisor during senior project. I havent directly researched with 3B since undergrad but have been in contact discussing my current R&D activities.

I decided to go with 3B since there is a connection to the university that I am applying to, and 3B is familiar with what the university likes to hear in a good LoR. During an onsite meeting with recommender #, he stated that he knew 3B and it would be great to receive the LoR from that individual.