Need advice about LoR

[sabrinamichelle]

This is cross posted from the LoR forum, I wanted to get anthro peoples perspectives.

I have two professors that I am sure will be happy to write me letters. I am having trouble deciding who to choose for my third.

1) My school and department was very small. There were only three anthropology professors. Two are the ones I already asked, one has recently resigned from his contract at my university and is pursuing other interests. So I am wondering if I should ask him. He was increasingly unstable toward the end of my studies, and I wonder if he wants anything to do with academia right now. That seems like a huge risk to me as he is jaded and might not write something helpful, even though we were very close and I know he believes in me.

2) I took a field research course through a better known school (Wake Forest). For 3 weeks in Honduras. But this was two years ago and the professor is Emeritus. So he does not know me very well. He offered to write me recommendations, but I am not sure how reliable he would seem to an adcomm.

3) I took one undergrad course from a phd candidate (she now is a phd) and I still keep in touch with her. She now has a teaching position at another university. But again, it was only one class.

4) I have a potential great recommendation from a professor who is not in my major. He knows me well character wise and academically but not in terms of anthropology.

Which of these four options do you all think is the most promising???

[Lexicon]

I think if you have 2 anthro professors to write letters for you then you should go with the non-anthro professor who knows you well.

[Waw]

I agree with Lexicon - you should go with people who know you well and are able to write about you in more than just a general complimentary sense. It's not at all terrible if they're not in anthropology, because the LoR are more about your skills, ability to think, attitudes and things like that, which anyone who has had a long academic relationship with you could testify to.

And just as a word of reassurance about that, all of my LoR's were from people who aren't practising the disciplines I'm doing my PhD in (but who knew my work very well) - and I still got in.

[sabrinamichelle]

great to know!!! so helpful. thanks guys!