LORs for Engineering Masters

[romeluc]

I am an electrical engineering senior, and I am preparing to apply to Master's programs in three different fields: communications engineering, embedded systems, and computational engineering. I need two LORs for each program. The problem for me is that my best recommenders are professors from my freshman and sophomore years. My grades, classroom-interaction, etc. actually deteriorated after that point.

I have identified four potential recommenders, but I ruled out one of them (a comms prof) because he indicated to me that his letter will not be very good.

My remaining options are:
1. A Microwaves professor with whom I have taken several courses and gotten A-,B+, and B. I got the A- in a 300 level course I took as a sophomore.
2. A networking professor with whom I got a B+ recently, and had at least minimal interaction.
3. A math professor with whom I got an A in a 200 level course (multivariable calculus) as a freshman, and had plenty of interaction. Math was my passion at that time. The prof also encouraged me to become a math major.

My delema is: a LOR from number 3 is possibly so much more positive than 1 and 2, but it is for a 200 level course that is not engineering. I don't think it is very relevant to any of my target fields (communications, computational engineering, and Embedded systems). And, I took that course three years ago. I was a different person, socially, academically, motivationally, philosophically, etc. Should I rule out number 3?
 

Edited November 7, 2014 by romeluc

[mustainefan]

I'm not an expert on admissions nor in any inside position but below is my opinion. I'm a student so I do not know what is typical for professors to write on LOR's either:

I think you're getting caught up on that your grade in a particular class will correlate with the strength of the recommendation. What I assume the LOR's should include are personal accounts on dedication and abilities, specificity on studying and research. I have taken classes where I did very well but never spoke to the professor - what is that professor going to say? "He got an 'A' in my class but I never knew his face." I've had other classes where I may not of done as well grade wise but I interacted regularly with the professor. I imagine that those professors are able provide a better LOR based on those interactions. Those were the professors that saw me try hard and can weigh on my abilities to be a good graduate school candidates.

Another thing to consider is some professors will fill the LOR in a matter of minutes while others will spend serious time crafting their opinion. Knowing who will spend time on the LOR to provide a personal account should also play into who you ask. Personally I think more recent is better, but sometimes based on situation it may not be. It may need to be something that should be addressed in your personal statement if your performance degraded latter on. I think admissions staff are used to students having a bad year or two; the importance is to demonstrate that you've overcome whatever challenge that had inhibited you.