Scrutinizing the minutiae of applications

[Grunty DaGnome]

Call the department and say your name is Joe Smith.

[ecritdansleau]

As long as you have writers who will are familiar with your thesis (and who discuss it in recommendations), I wouldn't overthink it. I think the key aspect of "research/program advisor" is that you get a letter from someone who knows your work and how it/you progress over time. It seems as if, in your case, the best letter writers for this purpose didn't happen to be the chair.

[Timshel]

As long as you have writers who will are familiar with your thesis (and who discuss it in recommendations), I wouldn't overthink it. I think the key aspect of "research/program advisor" is that you get a letter from someone who knows your work and how it/you progress over time. It seems as if, in your case, the best letter writers for this purpose didn't happen to be the chair.

Thanks. I mean, at this point, it's not like I could ask him anyway. I'm just going to go with what I got and hope they notice/care.

[Tybalt]

Okay, so I am currently filling out the application for UC Riverside, and the page where you put in the info for the LORs says this: If you have been enrolled in a previous graduate program, it is required that one letter be from your research or program advisor in that graduate program.

My Masters thesis advisor is not one of my letters of recommendation because he is on phased retirement and my area of interest has changed since then and I decided to go with someone else that I had grad classes with and who is closer to my area. My other two LORs were on my committee, they just weren't my chair. Do you guys think this is okay? At this point, I couldn't ask my thesis chair anyway because it's too late. Plus, I made my decision for a good reason and I stand by it. Now, I also know that the same application is used for all students, and people in the sciences directly work under someone, so I could see why that person would be necessary because they did research together, so that might be more important for them. But for me, to be honest, I switched my focus mid-thesis, so my thesis chair became less relevant and I only met with him about my thesis like 3 times and I spent more time talking to the other two on my committee, which is why they are writing my letters.

What do you guys think? Do you think this will hinder me in any way? I could contact the department, but I really don't want to draw attention to it in case they don't even notice it to begin with because two of my LORs will be talking about my thesis in their letters anyway. I mean, what if my chair WAS actually retired. I wouldn't be able to get him to write it then, either. I'm just so frustrated by these minute things that seem to pop up out of nowhere. Ugh. As if I'm not stressed out enough.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. My thesis adviser only sent a letter to one of the schools I applied to (He's a really nice guy, and incredibly brilliant, but he was also on phased retirement, and wasn't always..."there" in many ways--almost two years in, he still wasn't sure what my name was). As such, he couldn't really speak to what I was trying to do in my thesis anyways. I made sure to get a letter from my second reader. He wasn't as big of a name (he was one year out from his own Ph.D.) but he could write a better letter about my work. The program I'm in now did not receive a letter from my thesis adviser, so it is possible. Good luck!