LOR from an ABD Professor?

[Ann361]

Hello all,

 

I would like to ask for a recommendation from a professor with an ABD (all but dissertation) degree.  I did well in her course and her research interests connect with mine.

 

I know that strength of recommendation can trump titles, but my concern is that her ABD degree is from my top choice school.  I don't know much about ABD, so can someone please fill me in on how these are viewed by admissions committees?

 

Thanks so much.

[x\/x\/x]

ABD is not a degree but rather a status; your instructor likely just has a master's degree (MA, M.Phil). Is she adjuncting while she completes her dissertation? Or did she decide to drop out completely? If it's the latter, I don't think her letter will be of much help to you, but you should suss out the extent to which she's still on good terms with faculty from her former graduate program.

[Gvh]

Eh, I think a lot depends. Obviously, the director of the NIH is going to look a lot better than a letter from your pre-doctoral TA, but I would seriously just go for the person that knows you best and can speak to the experience necessary that your program is looking for. I had a letter from an ABD "lecturer" (he had a masters but never completed his doctorate) and I got into 7/8 competitive masters programs. It also depends a little on your field/degree sought, but based on the profs I've spoken to about this, it was generally agreed that a fantastic letter from a lower-tiered person is better than a luke-warm letter from someone more important. 

[m-ttl]

Eh, I think a lot depends. Obviously, the director of the NIH is going to look a lot better than a letter from your pre-doctoral TA, but I would seriously just go for the person that knows you best and can speak to the experience necessary that your program is looking for. I had a letter from an ABD "lecturer" (he had a masters but never completed his doctorate) and I got into 7/8 competitive masters programs. It also depends a little on your field/degree sought, but based on the profs I've spoken to about this, it was generally agreed that a fantastic letter from a lower-tiered person is better than a luke-warm letter from someone more important. 

 

Mm, I was told that I should simply "get fantastic letters from full professors" (this was from a non-tenured Prof w/ a PhD) as opposed to lukewarm ones. I actually had an ABD instructor explicitly tell my class that she would be a bad choice for writing LORs because she was ABD -- but that she was more than willing to help us with the applications process if we needed it. My full professors all re-iterated this by saying they were good choices because they were tenured. 

 

So the answer my school would give you? "No, we don't recommend it. You should just manage to get good letters from tenured professors." 

 

The issue with being ABD is that they haven't completed the PhD so how can they speak to someone else's ability to do the same? (or so the logic I was told goes). 

 

The LOR might be okay for an MA (if she's strongly connected with the school and profs) but for a PhD I would perhaps just ask for an informal word in my favor rather than a LOR. 

[qwer7890]

just ask the prof directly if she thinks it makes sense for her to write a letter (best case scenario, she writes you a fantastic letter, worst case scenario, she's flattered) -- so much depends on where in the ABD process she is, and what type of appointment she has at your college/university. If, for example, she hasn't yet defended her dissertation for technical reasons... but has a full-time or even tenure-track position teaching several upper-level courses and advising BA thesis projects... then yes, it probably makes sense for her to write a letter. If she's just teaching one course while she's in the middle of work on her dissertation... then no, she probably won't yet have the clout to write an impactful letter.

Edited June 7, 2014 by qwer7890

[Gvh]

Mm, I was told that I should simply "get fantastic letters from full professors" (this was from a non-tenured Prof w/ a PhD) as opposed to lukewarm ones. I actually had an ABD instructor explicitly tell my class that she would be a bad choice for writing LORs because she was ABD -- but that she was more than willing to help us with the applications process if we needed it. My full professors all re-iterated this by saying they were good choices because they were tenured. 

 

So the answer my school would give you? "No, we don't recommend it. You should just manage to get good letters from tenured professors." 

 

The issue with being ABD is that they haven't completed the PhD so how can they speak to someone else's ability to do the same? (or so the logic I was told goes). 

 

The LOR might be okay for an MA (if she's strongly connected with the school and profs) but for a PhD I would perhaps just ask for an informal word in my favor rather than a LOR. 

 

Yeah, I totally agree that if you *can* get good letters from tenured profs, then great! But if you have a choice between mediocre LOR from top prof or fantastic LOR from ABD lecturer, go for the latter; but obviously aim for tenured profs when you can.

[arthistoryvoe2]

Agreed that with respect to the specific institution it depends on the reason for ABD status. In general, if you're applying with a BA there's no problem in having one of your letters be from a grad student who taught you in a course for which she was the instructor of record. If the grad student was a TA for a professor's lecture course and the professor is not willing to work with the TA to co-write the letter, I think this is not an advisable letter to get.

 

The only reason to go for tenured faculty as opposed to assistant professors (with the PhD) is not rank but length of time in the field and greater likelihood that they are known quantities (so a strong recommendation from someone who is known to have high standards can be especially meaningful). But an enthusiastic and detailed recommendation from a junior faculty member can potentially mean much more than a letter from a senior person that's lukewarm or lacking in detail.