LOR for application years after graduating

[chemHolly77]

Hi,

I graduated in May 2010. My teachers readied my letters in Fall 2009. However, i had some family issues and never applied. i expect to retake my GRE and do so next year.

The teachers who wrote my letters all said they were not strong but that is because i was never chosen to do undergrad research. basically, the faculty chose the same 20 students every summer all four years i was there so no one ever really got a chance...favoritism was a real problem. anyway, i hate to bother the teachers again...and is it relevant now? would it be better to ask an employer even though its outside the field?

also i earned a poli sci degree in 1999 and am on very good terms with all those teachers, still. could they write LOR for a chem program? thanks.

[emmm]

It is a problem that none of your LORs from 2 years ago (not a long time at all) were strong. To me, it sounds as though you are not ready to apply to graduate school now. You cannot use your poli sci profs from 1999. ONE employer letter would be OK, but to not have ANY chem prof letters would be very bad. It will be a problem in the future, also, since 2010 was not far enough in the past for them to have reasonably forgotten you. You DO need to get some research experience and you NEED a letter from someone who can attest to your ability to do research. Also, if you really can't get a strong letter from any of your former profs, you should look into taking additional classes, with the goal of making a good enough impression to get STRONG letter from some profs. Without strong letters, I think you have no chance of acceptance.

[orst11]

Updating the professors who wrote your recs 2 years about new aspects of your application may help them write a better recommendation. First consider this and then possible get one from your employer. Like emmm notes having recommendations from the field you are going into is important, this goes for people who go into a different field then what they did their undergraduate degree in as well.

[chemHolly77]

Thank you so much for your input. I think I failed to mention that I am also considering applying to a poli sci political science program. would it be appropriate to ask those teachers (who remember me well) for LORs? Or should I ask the chem teachers? thanks.

[orst11]

First off, I think it may be difficult to apply to poli sci. programs given you did make the change to chemistry after some time, with that said I wouldn't say it would be impossible. Whether you apply to chem. or poli. sci. it will be beneficial to you to get recs from each respected field. Good recs. are definitely needed given you have changed fields prior.

Secondly, since you mentioned you are retaking the GRE, better scores may help with a better rec. each way.