Number of courses with a professor

[internetstuff]

Hello all,

Here is my situation. I am trying to choose between two professors for my third recommendation. The first is from a professor with whom I have a good relationship, and the second is from a Peace Corps supervisor. However, the third is a choice between:

One professor who was "the" Foreign Policy guy at my college. I took every course he offered but, then again, so did a lot of other students. He was my thesis advisor, but he did the same for many many other students. He was always swamped with kids at office hours and he had a lot of advisees. When I asked him for a rec, he sent me back a long form letter asking for tons of details like my GPA, languages, which courses I took with him, etc. It seems like the form he sends to everyone, and I can only assume that he just puts the data into a form letter, since he's so busy.

I only took one course with the second professor, but I got awesome grades and he and I hit it off really well. We keep in touch now (a year and a half later), sending interesting article links back and forth. he jumped at the idea of writing a rec. The difference is, I only took one course with him.

So which should I go with? The depth or the breadth? Thanks SO much for your advice, this problem is *really* vexing me.

[gellert]

I'd find out if it's possible to send more than three letters. It sounds like a letter from this foreign policy guy could be fantastic if he's a well-known name. Plus it might look odd to not have a letter from your thesis adviser. However, the letter from the other professor will be much more personalized and his enthusiasm for you will come across much more clearly than the other prof's letter, which may (or may not) sound obviously form.

If you HAVE to choose, I say go with the second. Someone who will gush about you and who seems to have a real investment in your future (otherwise he wouldn't be so eager to write you an LOR!) will have a better impact than the famous guy who barely knows you. But like I said, try to get both if possible. Foreign policy prof might even be a better choice than your Peace Corps adviser since he's in academia, though that depends on how well your Corps adviser actually knows you.

Edited September 21, 2011 by gellert