I'm in a unique LOR pickle.

[chipirone22]

Hi everyone!

 

 

So I'm applying to PhD programs next fall for Art History, and I'm beginning to freak out now about many things; one of the most uncertain elements of my application is the letters of rec. Hear me out...

 

While I'm going to grad school for Art History, my undergraduate career was interdisciplinary. I majored in English and minored in AH and Film, so my dilemma is that I spread myself thin with my relationships with professors. I have two glowing Letters so far--one is from an AH professor and one is from a Film professor, both of which I have taken three classes with. Otherwise, I've excelled in many different classes but have rarely taken multiple courses with the same professor. 

 

My options for the third letter are:

 

a. Ask a second art history/anthro professor with whom I received an A+ in the one class I took with her. She is also an informal advisor of sorts for my year-long museum internship at the university I graduated from, so she knows who I am and we meet fairly regularly to talk.

 

or 

 

b. Ask the director of the University art museum that I am interning for. She has a PhD and is by no means ill-equipped to write a letter, but falls into the "professional" category which I am wary to have represented when I could have a third professor. We get along very well and by the end of next spring when my internship concludes, I will have done quite a bit for her museum. Plus, it is the museum of the university where I graduated and is an application of Art History.

 

What do you think? I am just concerned that my package of letters will be too scattered if I have one AH professor, one Film professor and a museum director vs. two AH professors and one Film professor. The programs that I'm applying for are all filled with visual culture/contemporary/crit. theory faculty, so I'm not insecure about my interdisciplinary focus, but I'm still worried it will look weak. 

 

Thank you for your help!

Edited November 11, 2014 by chipirone22

[lzs]

Who knows you better? Who is more capable of, and enthusiastic about, writing a detailed and wholehearted recommendation?

[biisis]

Go with your biggest cheerleader rather than the most eminently relevant. Your research skills and work ethic are transferable, no matter what subject. Art History's interdisciplinary enough to respect museums/film work; you'll be fine!