advice for my third letter

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

I was just looking for some feedback for which of two prospective professors I should get my third and final letter of rec from... 

 

I'm graduating with a BA in linguistics and I'm finishing my minor in computer science this year. At the moment, I don't have enough high-level classes or relationships with professors in computer science to ask one of them. I've been doing linguistics at my school for 3+ years and have great relationships with them. I also did 2 years before that at a community college and was in Honors and did a lot of extracirricular stuff. 

 

The two letters I already have are great. I'm really good friends with one of them (we go out for drinks every week) and good friends with the other. One just retired and was a professor here for 40 years. I took 3 classes with him, all A's, and he thought I was great. The other professor, I took a grad class with him and got the highest grade in the class. I'm confident about these two letters. 

 

But finding the third letter is where I'm having trouble: 

 

Option 1:

A professor at my current university who I've taken two upper division linguistics classes with and got A's in both. She offered to write a letter for me last year before I even asked her. I originally was planning on applying last year but decided to delay a year to get a computer science minor in order to apply to a computational linguistics track. She was really excited to help me last year when I was applying, and she was the LOR-writer who I felt the most confident about. A year later, I'm no longer taking linguistics classes so I never see her. Also, I've been e-mailing her and stopping by her office and she never responds and is never there. I can track her down because I know where her classes are, but I'm not sure if I want to. I don't want to ask for a letter if she isn't going to put a lot of effort into it, and if she can't even respond to an e-mail it makes me question her desire. It's weird because last year she was really excited. I didn't come see her for a while so maybe that might've had something to do with it. Another thing is both of the classes I took with her were basically the same class. One was called Syntax and the other was called Morphology and Syntax. It was basically the same class except the Morphology one spent the first half of the semester doing morphology. 

 

Option 2: 

A professor I had during community college. I'll start with the negatives. He doesn't have a PhD, just an MA. I had four classes with him, all A's, but they were Pre-rennaissance literature, contemporary literature, creative writing, and fiction writing. As you can see, they aren't the most difficult classes (especially the two creative writing ones) and they don't have much relevance to my program. However, there are a lot of positives that have me leaning toward him. For one, the program I'm applying to is a professional MS program, so work experience is just as important to them as academics. Well, I was much more active at my community college than I was at my current university, and this professor can attest to that. I was in the Honors program, in all these organizations, won awards, had a publication, was editor of a journal, and got selected to go to a national convention in Washington DC. He was a professor in the Honors program so he can talk about all these things in the letter. Also, I have/had a very good relationship with this professor. We were and still are really good friends. Whereas the syntax professor (option 1) was strictly my professor and we had no out-of-the-classroom kind of relationship. Lastly, since he and I had a great relationship, he could mention a lot of personal things in the letter that I wouldn't really want to spend time on in my statement of purpose, such as growing up homeless and in orphanages, having drug addict parents, working full-time while taking full-time classes, etc. 

 

Anyway, just wondering which direction I should go for my third letter: the PhD in a relevant field who was excited about writing a LOR but since then has been flaky, or the non-PhD in an irrelevant field who can speak about more personal things and all the extra stuff I did at my community college?

[Usmivka]

Are you sure there is no way to get a computer science prof to write for you? It seems like a minor worth highlighting, in that you are doing something very different but still succeeding at it. Why should the number of courses or course number matter? I'd think a strong letter can still be found. How long ago was community college? It all sounds like good stuff for a letter to speak to, but if it was more than a few years ago I'd aim for something more recent. Option 1 is not sounding super positive just in terms of response time, if nothing else.

Edited October 25, 2013 by Usmivka

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

Thanks for the quick response. I was just telling you which classes to give you some background. The classes from the community college professor were literature and creative writing, so it basically has no relevance to my program. Also, community college was only a few years ago. I've been at my current university for 3 years now. I really don't think I could get a good LOR from a computer science person right now. Application deadlines are coming up, and I'm only in my second computer science class. I took a lower-divison class over the summer that was taught by a TA, and I'm taking my first upper-divison class right now that's taught by an actual professor. However, it's just 9 weeks into the semester and I haven't gotten to know the professor at all. He doesn't take attendance, doesn't know anybody's names, and doesn't grade our tests or assignments. I'm sure in a semester or so I'd be able to get some good letters, but not now. 

[Usmivka]

Thanks for the quick response. I was just telling you which classes to give you some background. The classes from the community college professor were literature and creative writing, so it basically has no relevance to my program. Also, community college was only a few years ago. I've been at my current university for 3 years now. I really don't think I could get a good LOR from a computer science person right now. Application deadlines are coming up, and I'm only in my second computer science class. I took a lower-divison class over the summer that was taught by a TA, and I'm taking my first upper-divison class right now that's taught by an actual professor. However, it's just 9 weeks into the semester and I haven't gotten to know the professor at all. He doesn't take attendance, doesn't know anybody's names, and doesn't grade our tests or assignments. I'm sure in a semester or so I'd be able to get some good letters, but not now. 

I actually meant within CS. But you explain that here, and your reasoning makes sense to me. Too bad though. I thinkt he CC prof sounds like the better bet. A strong supporter that will go out of their way for you is better than someone who is flakey on getting back to you. You don't want to be waiting on their letter until the last minute!

 

Also, the CC prof can speak to some of your outreach activities adn leadership potential, which a prof you've only had in classes can't. In this sense he is better than your first two letters.

 

Or ask for all four, and just tell the schools which three are top priority to look at. That way if flakey lady flakes, no biggy.

Edited October 25, 2013 by Usmivka

[Sarah Bee]

Hello,

I am almost suffering from the same problem. I am applying to a master’s scholarship in 2 weeks. A teacher, who is a Senior Editor with a well-known newspaper, taught me my major subjects for five semesters. That is the longest he taught to any batch. Since we had the longest interaction, I requested him to write me a recommendation and he wrote me a very strong one. However, he is not a professor but a visiting faculty. Does not even have a PhD. I was wondering if this is considered a negative since he is neither a permanent university faculty nor a PhD? Or should I get hold of another recommendation letter from a university professor?

[IRToni]

I would say, however, not having a PhD is a huge red flag in terms of LoRs for PhD programs, since they feel that the individual writing the letter can't adequately judge whether the applicant has what it takes to succeed in a PhD program.

 

I have one professor who's really flaky, whom I still chose as a recommender, because he is very positive, and enthusiastic. His letters are actually really good, although I usually need to call him more than once, call his secretary etc. to obtain them, so don't rule out a professor just because he/she is kind of all over the place, and not very organized!

[Lisa44201]

Hello,

I am almost suffering from the same problem. I am applying to a master’s scholarship in 2 weeks. A teacher, who is a Senior Editor with a well-known newspaper, taught me my major subjects for five semesters. That is the longest he taught to any batch. Since we had the longest interaction, I requested him to write me a recommendation and he wrote me a very strong one. However, he is not a professor but a visiting faculty. Does not even have a PhD. I was wondering if this is considered a negative since he is neither a permanent university faculty nor a PhD? Or should I get hold of another recommendation letter from a university professor?

If the scholarship has something to do with journalism, I think it'll be okay. I agree with IRToni in that it would be detrimental to a PhD app, but a Master's scholarship if the scholarship is related to this person's area of expertise should be fine.

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

I would say, however, not having a PhD is a huge red flag in terms of LoRs for PhD programs, since they feel that the individual writing the letter can't adequately judge whether the applicant has what it takes to succeed in a PhD program.

 

I have one professor who's really flaky, whom I still chose as a recommender, because he is very positive, and enthusiastic. His letters are actually really good, although I usually need to call him more than once, call his secretary etc. to obtain them, so don't rule out a professor just because he/she is kind of all over the place, and not very organized!

What about for a master's program? My community college professor has a master's and I'm only applying for the MS. If I get a PhD, I'd probably get LORs from two professors (with PhDs) from my future grad school and from one supervisor from my future internship. Anyway (back to my original question) it wouldn't be a red flag if one of my LORs doesn't have a PhD since I'd be applying to an MS program, would it? 

[Sarah Bee]

If the scholarship has something to do with journalism, I think it'll be okay. I agree with IRToni in that it would be detrimental to a PhD app, but a Master's scholarship if the scholarship is related to this person's area of expertise should be fine.

Yes, I am applying to a Master's programme in Journalism. The said teacher taught me five of my major subjects and knows me well -better than my research supervisor.