Multiple LORs from Same Lab

[bsharpe269]

People on here have suggested that this is a bad idea but I would like some opinions on my situation.

 

There are two PIs that collaborate to form the research group that I am part of for my MS research. They are in two different fields but we work in an interdisciplinary research area that is at the cross of these fields. I mainly work under one of the PIs (call him Dr. X) who will be my main LOR and has been my main go to for advice about this application process. He is respected in our field and his name should be known by my POIs at PhD schools. I have also taken a class with him and ended up with an A+ in the class.

 

In addition to Dr. X's letter, I also want an LOR from the 2nd PI in our research ground (Dr. Y). He is very well known in the research area that I hope to go into and created a pretty great model that people in the field may be familiar with. I dont want to avoid getting a letter from him just because he works with Dr. X but since people on here have mentioned that it is bad to get 2 letters from the same lab, some feedback on my situation would be really helpful.

 

If it helps, I have done almost all of my projects under Dr. X's supervision but I did a couple small separate projects over the summer for Dr. Y so he could refer to different work in the LOR than the work already mentioned by Dr. X. I have plenty of other professors that I could go to for LORs like ones that I have taken classes with or the PI that I did an undergrad REU with but Dr. X thinks that a LOR from Dr. Y would go a long way at the schools I am applying to. Any advice?

Edited October 10, 2014 by bsharpe269

[TakeruK]

If Dr. X and Dr. Y are both independent professors (i.e. it's not that Dr. Y works for Dr. X; but instead, Drs. X and Y simply collaborate) then there should be no problem at all. It's pretty common for graduate students to get multiple LORs from one collaboration when they apply for postdocs etc.

 

However, even if Dr. Y works for Dr. X then it's not necessarily a bad thing either. To me, it sounds like you do work with Dr. Y and that work is independent and separate from your work with Dr. X, which I think is enough to say a letter from Dr. Y is going to provide new information that Dr. X cannot already cover. 

 

I think it would really only be a problem if Dr. Y was a staff scientist employed in Dr. X's research group and that while you might work directly with Dr. Y, ultimately, the PI is Dr. X. Or, if Dr. X and Dr. Y are jointly supervising the exact same work so that their letters would be referring to exactly the same skills/experience (although if you don't have another option in this case, this might still be better than a prof that doesn't know you as well).

[fuzzylogician]

Unless you can replace Dr. Y's letter with another letter that is as strong, I think getting the strongest letters possible is more important than getting letters from PIs from different labs. I am assuming that you will have a third letter from someone outside this lab, which could provide more breadth. The only reason I would be concerned about the choice of Dr. X and Dr. Y would be if this means that some aspect of your application is not discussed at all in your letters (e.g., no one talks about your teaching experience, if you have any; or they all talk about technique A but fail to mention or discuss at length that you are proficient in techniques B and C); and at the same time you have two letters that basically say the same things. In that case, it would seem that a better choice would be to replace one of the two similar letters with another that would be more distinct (unless it's substantially weaker, and then it's a difficult call). From what you describe, although Dr. X and Dr. Y are from the same lab, you worked with them on different projects and therefore they should have non-identical perspectives about you. Since these are different letters, I don't think you need to worry. 

[bsharpe269]

Thanks guys! The two professors are independent collaborators, neither works for the other. In fact, they work work for 2 completely different departments (one is a chemist and the other is a physicist). They are both tenured professors.

 

My third letter will be from a tenured professor unrelated to the lab. I took a couple of his classes and I did a little project project for him. He asked to write one of my letters and has become a mentor figure for me. This should be a great letter and should provide a different perspective on my background since he is much for familiar with completely different skill sets of mine than the other two.

 

The replies make me feel better about using two letters from the same lab. I could relplace a letter with one from an undergrad research mentor but my undergrad work was in a slightly different area. Since I want to stay in the same subfield for phd as these two writers are in though, they will be well known by PhD POIs and the undergrad mentors will not. My gut says that a letter from someone in the subfield who they are familiar with would be better.