Who to ask for recommendations? I put myself in an awkward position!

[twincinema]

I hope this isn't too long, but I've made my situation a bit complicated so if anyone can read this in its entirety and give me great advice I would appreciate it!

I'm applying to graduate programs in film studies. My school's department is a bit small. I've formed solid relationships with two professors in my department and I know they'll be great. However, there are only 3 film studies professors (as opposed to production... not what I'm doing).

I have two choices for my third and final recommendation. My first choice is my instructor for this honors seminar in the humanities I participated in. I formed a great working and personal relationship with him, but unfortunately he's not a faculty member. My second choice is a full time professor for a women's studies course I'm taking this semester. I spoke with him and he told me he could write a pretty good letter, but obviously not the best one. He said that although I've only known him for this one semester, he could push it to a year and incorporate my work in the class with my goals for graduate school (I incorporate quite a bit of feminist theory into my work).

The seminar instructor could write an amazing recommendation about me and my studies, but he's not a full time professor (or faculty at all). My other professor does not know me as well, but he is a full time professor. I guess it really comes down to which is more important: the quality of the letter or the recommender's position?

Also I may have already asked the seminar instructor to write me one (whoops!). I asked him to do it in September and now it's November, so there's a good chance he's started working on it. Should I maybe split the recommendations between schools to avoid an awkward conversation? (I'm applying to 5) I'm not sure what I should do! Any advice is appreciated!

[emmm]

I say the quality of the letter matters more -- especially since you already have two letters from full profs.

[acrosschemworld]

Have you considered asking for 4 letters? I was also debating on who to ask for a 3rd letter, and ended up asking two people! It seems that schools prefer recommendations from someone who is on tenure-track so if you really want to stick with 3, I support choosing the full-time professor. But if you have 3 letters that fulfill the requirement and the 4th one is supposed to be great, I am sure it would only be a plus even if it does not come from a full-time professor.

[TakeruK]

Just a word of warning -- I get the sense that the LORs are "averaged out". That is, 3 great letters and 1 good letter isn't as helpful as 3 great letters. I wouldn't ask for a fourth letter unless it's as good as the other three!

[octopussongs]

to TakeruK, I hope you are right. I just picked a glowing employer recc. over a current prof. letter (whom I've known all of 8 weeks) with that idea in mind, better to have 3 solid rather than 3 solid and 1 "meh" (especiallly if any profs. said "meh" about me, it would kill any "OMG she's amazing!" from my employer. I am glad I choose to have three stellar letters above all other variables.

[rising_star]

Quality over the status of the letter writer, assuming both writers have a PhD.

[TakeruK]

I agree with rising_star -- quality over status only if both have a PhD. To octopussongs, I am not sure if your employer letter was from someone with a PhD and/or in the field you're applying to. If the answer to both is no, then even the prof you only know for 8 weeks might be a better fit. However, this statement comes from someone in the sciences and not everything might be equal in all fields.

The prof you know for 8 weeks -- is he/she a research advisor or an instructor? If they are supervising your work and/or chose to hire you then you might be discounting how well they can write you a letter. By the time December rolls around, they would know you for 3 months already, and a lot of summer research positions are only 4 months long. In addition, if they chose to hire you (or allow you to work with them), they obviously saw something good in you so they can definitely write to that. I think something like this would be more helpful than a letter from an employer in an unrelated field (if that's the case!).

Just my thoughts -- hope it helps but maybe this general advice might not work for your specific situation!

[twincinema]

Thanks for all of your input everyone! I spoke to my professor/advisor about it briefly, and he told me not to send 4 because it could annoy some schools. Also I began explaining the situation to him, and once I said the instructor wasn't faculty he cut me off and said don't use him. That was very discouraging to say the least. I was too embarrassed to tell him I had already asked him 2 months ago.

I don't know. I can see where my advisor is coming from, but I had asked him in Sept. so I'm worried he'll be annoyed if I tell him I don't need it anymore. But he must understand since he has been through this process himself, right? Or maybe some schools wont mind 4?

Also I don't know why I said I was applying to 5 schools... I'm applying to 10 haha. I guess I thought about splitting it in my head and typed that instead.