Reputable Professor vs Very Great LoR Content

[Digger]

I need an advice to select LoRs. Assume there are 2 professors. One of them is very reputable in my field, but his LoR was "standard". Still a good one, but not very good. Then I have another lecturer, not a professor yet, in US his title is equal with an associate professor. He wrote a really wonderful letter of recommendation about me.

 

If you were me, which one sould I choose? Thanks in advance.

[zabius]

It's hard to say. If the reputable professor had direct ties to the university that I was applying to (for example, he did his own PhD there or is good friends/a collaborator with other professors there), then I would choose his letter without hesitation. Connections can really open doors for you!

 

But, if the reputed professor had no ties to the university in question, I'd probably choose the associate professor's letter instead. A generic letter won't really impress anyone unless the people on the admissions committee recognize the name of its writer, and even then it might not make as much of an impact on them as the really stellar letter from the associate professor would.

 

Most programs ask for three letters of recommendation, though. Why not choose both of these, plus an additional letter from someone else who also knows you well?

Edited April 2, 2013 by zabius

[fuzzylogician]

Normally, I'd choose the stellar letter. An ok letter from someone famous is not going to do you half as much good as a very strong, detailed letter from someone less famous who knows you well. The important question is whether the person who will write you the stronger letter is qualified to recommend you for what you are applying for - if it's a PhD program and this person doesn't have a PhD, how can they be confident that you'll succeed in one? Presumably they don't have a lot of experience sending people to graduate school who successfully completed the program. So you want to ask yourself how the letter will be perceived. If the recommendation, while good, won't be perceived as serious or carrying much weight, the ok letter from the famous professor might be better.

[Digger]

He actually does not have any connection with the grad school. Okay then, thank you very much for your replies ! My topic here has a relation to my other topic. I did not know what got into me, I sent all of them without selecting... Stupid me. Therefore, I opened this topic in order to contact the department, which LoRs should they disregard.

Edited April 2, 2013 by elevenfourth