Brief LOR

[EquationForLife]

Hi,

I been out of school for two years but I am now applying back to PhD programs in biochemistry. I asked a professor whose lab I worked in (at the end of my Undergrad years) for a letter of recommendation and he said he can write a "very brief but positive" letter if I liked.

Should I accept the offer? Will the fact that the letter is brief hurt me significantly? In case of reputation, he is probably one of the most well known professors in the field...hence adding to my dilemma.

My other LOR if relevant are probably going to be my work supervisor since graduate and an assistant professor I worked with. Let me know what you all think,

THanks

Darwin

[Done]

Hey,

first i do not know much about letters of recommendation, but as nobody wrote here, maybe my opinion is better than nothing.

All the schools i talked to suggested me to send in academic letters when applying for a phd program and not for a work oriented-master degree.

That is what Berkley wrote me towards the question if they just want to have professors or a mix:

Regarding the recommendation letter, we strongly encourage that they are written by faculty who know better your academic strengths. The decision to comply or not with our advice is up to you

Following this advice i would try to get as many professors as possible. Maybe u can work sth out with your professor. As he is willing to write you a recommendation the question is only why it will be short. Maybe he does not know u well enough or just is to busy to spend hours on a recommendation. (Consider how many people want to have recommendations...) So it could be a solution to provide more information in form of bullet points or even a written recommendation. If you make sure that there will be as little work as possible for the professor i would assume you have a good chance to get a non-standart letter.

Also i cannot tell u how much reputation vs content values, but i think that standard compared to all the outstanding letters they (university u apply for) get will not help much except his name is obama ;-)

Edited October 25, 2011 by Done

[runonsentence]

How did you word the request for the recommendation? Did you ask if your professor could write you a strong letter? Or just ask if he would be willing to write for you at all?

This may possibly be code for "I can't write you a very strong letter, though it will still be positive." The fact that he mentions it will be short sends up another flag.

Other possibility: he's incredibly busy (hence "short"). If you think he can endorse you strongly (you should ask this), then it could help to offer to assist in drafting the letter for him.

Bottom line: I'd consider asking someone else if you can think of someone else who knows you as well or better, but if you have few options, I'd clarify with him whether his letter will be strong and offer to help draft it if he'd like, as revising a draft you develop will take less time.

Edited October 25, 2011 by runonsentence

[Done]

How did you word the request for the recommendation? Did you ask if your professor could write you a strong letter? Or just ask if he would be willing to write for you at all?

This may possibly be code for "I can't write you a very strong letter, though it will still be positive." The fact that he mentions it will be short sends up another flag.

Other possibility: he's incredibly busy (hence "short"). If you think he can endorse you strongly (you should ask this), then it could help to offer to assist in drafting the letter for him.

Bottom line: I'd consider asking someone else if you can think of someone else who knows you as well or better, but if you have few options, I'd clarify with him whether his letter will be strong and offer to help draft it if he'd like, as revising a draft you develop will take less time.

I think that advice if the letter is strong one or not is a very good one. (I already assumed that)

But one question to u runonsentence: Giving the fact that both of his other recommenders are not the best choice to rate his academic strength, don't u think there should be at least one letter from a real professor? I am asking because i had a bunch of recommenders from different fields (university, industry...) and when i called the admission office, they all told me that these letters should come from persons who have the position to recommend me for a phd program. In this case that meant professors.

Edited October 25, 2011 by Done

[runonsentence]

Well there are some competing axioms of advice at work here: you should ask those who know you best, but you should also ask those best qualified to judge if you're prepared to do graduate work (profs, others who have gone through the PhD process themselves).

Unless you're going into a field that values professional experience (an MBA program, for example), it's best to minimize the number of professional reference writers (I've heard others say 1 is best) and focus on asking professors. However, for students who have been out of school a long time, this can be tricky.

You have to decide what makes the most sense for your own situation, knowing all of these tensions. In general, I'd say to ask as many professors as possible and use professional references once you've exhausted academic reference writers. Thus, I asked the OP if s/he had other options besides this short-letter-writer.

Edited October 25, 2011 by runonsentence