LORs holding me back

[aagrarian]

I am a senior undergraduate in a scientific field at a state university. I am a strong non-traditional student and I have in mine a few alternative graduate degrees choices that would help me pursue the career that I have already started (in industry, not academia). I would like to attend a local state university -- no ambitions toward ivy league schools or anything. I have worked full-time in pharmaceutical research, which I realize is less ideal than having published my own research projects, but it does involve a lot of exposure to various stages of the process. I have maintained a 4.0 GPA so far with a heavy courseload and a wide variety of subjects. I have only ranges for my GRE score estimates so far, but I expect lower 700's on verbal and upper 700's on quantitative with a decent writing score. My resume is strong and I believe that my personal statement will be, also. I would think my chances of admission pretty fair...except for a few things. I returned to school to finish my B.S. around the same time that I had a baby, and in order to be home more and avoid childcare, I have taken courses online whenever available. So although my first two years of college were entirely in-person, my last year has been predominantly distance courses. I wouldn't say these courses were any easier...any math/science courses were proctored. If anything, they just allowed me to take a heavier courseload because I didn't have as many scheduling issues. The fact that these courses were online won't show up on my transcript, but they make getting LOR's much more difficult to me. I am already aware of the stigma around online classes, and I don't feel comfortable asking any professors from those courses to vouch for me if they never met me in person. So this leaves me to reach from my past for references. I have a DVM/PhD who directly supervised me working in academic research that I think would be a good choice and he is happy to do it. I have a PhD who was a friend/mentor for many years when I was a teenager. He knows me really well, but I never took any courses with him so he can attest to character only as opposed to academic strengths. I could also ask PhD researchers for whom I was an investigator in pharmaceutical research, but I am seriously limited as to academic references. The ones that I feel knew me best were from the earlier (lower-level) in-person courses, which means that even top-notch performance there was not very impressive. I feel doubtful about applying unless I can come up with solid LOR's, and I'm not sure how to do that at this point. Any suggestions?

[Eigen]

Coursework recs are never as important as research recs.

Personally, I'd say you should try to get the DVM-PhD- that's academic research- and one of the PhD researchers who you worked for in industry. Then I'd try to build some sort of a relation with *one* of your current professors for a rec.

The first two will show your capability in the research lab, which is what's really the most important.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Eigen

[UnlikelyGrad]

I agree with Eigen about the importance of the research recs. The research may not have occurred within the halls of academia, but it's still sort of academic.

When people say they want "academic" references, they mean that they don't want LoRs from people who have nothing at all to do with your field. For example, my sister, a prof, says she has seen letters from football coaches as well as dorm resident associates--stuff like that gets your application tossed on the discard pile pretty quickly.

I was also a non-trad applicant who worried about LoRs. I ended up with one stellar LoR, one strong, and one mediocre. That was enough to get me into 4 out of 9 of the schools I applied to (including one top-ten school). Given your target schools, I think that you should be fine with the LoRs you are considering, so long as you get at least one that emphasizes your research skills.

[butterfingers2010]

I am in the same boat as you. I have great grad school qualifications (sounds like you do too!) but I am really struggling to come up with the third LOR that I need. As a final shot I am asking a former co-worker of mine. I work in the field to which I am applying, and she recently graduated from the exact same type of program I hope to attend (master's in counseling). I realize that in some people's eyes this letter may not carry as much weight as one from an esteemed professor or even a supervisor, but I wanted to choose somebody who knows me well and knows that I am capable of excelling in my field. So this is my suggestion to you...think of either supervisors or co-workers (but preferably supervisors) with whom you worked with at a job/internship/lab related to your field. You mentioned the Ph.D researcher with whom you worked, and I think that's a great start. Personally I would not include people who would be solely "character" references, such as the friend/mentor you mentioned having as a teenager. You need somebody who will attest to your abilities in your field and who can provide solid examples of this in your letter, i.e. somebody you either worked with or take a class with. Best of luck. I can totally relate to how frustrating this particular aspect of grad school applications are, but know that you are smart and resourceful, and that there is a solution to this problem if you look for it!

[Eigen]

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with Jellybean's suggestion to use a co-worker.

You want someone that is looking at you from a similar position as the admissions committee, not someone who's more on your level. Someone like a co-worker may know you better, but their letter won't be taken very seriously.

The same advice applies to having post-docs write you a letter of recommendation, or graduate students (even those who have since graduated, and are now post-docs/faculty). They weren't supervising you when you were working for them, and so can't comment from that level.

If you're really hurting for recommendations, it might be something to try, but I'd really steer clear of it if I were you.