If no professors are willing to write a recommendation letter for you, can a recommendation letter from TA work?

[visits_e]

What about one from a supervisor from work or academic supervisor? 

[Kleio_77]

How long has it been since you finished your undergrad? 

[MathCat]

Unless there are special circumstances, like being out of school a long time or something, I'd be concerned for your grad school prospects if you can't find any professors willing to write you a recommendation.

[Sigaba]

Unless there are special circumstances, like being out of school a long time or something, I'd be concerned for your grad school prospects if you can't find any professors willing to write you a recommendation.

FYI, one can be in the OP's position if one goes to the University California at Berkeley.

[visits_e]

How long has it been since you finished your undergrad? 

It has been three years.

[Gambaosaka1]

I had one from work (had been out of education for 4 years)...if anything it was important for me to have someone say I was mature, professional, committed and hardworking (maybe qualities I didn't have as a student).

[mvlchicago]

I think what's important in the letters of recommendation is to find people willing to talk about your prospects as a mature candidate who will finish the program. From what I've heard, one of the bigger questions an adcom has (even for the most qualified candidate) is whether or not the investment the university will make will "pan out" with a PhD who has a reasonable chance with search committees within a reasonable period of time. To this end, any recommendations you can get that will portray you as driven individual who finishes projects that you start will be helpful.

 

That being said, understand you'll be at a disadvantage for admission if you've not a single faculty recommendation. I'd say not so much because they can talk about your qualifications as a student (I think your writing sample, transcript and SoP will speak enough about that) but because faculty sort of act as professional references in your field. The people you want to work with can/will call faculty who are recommending you and say "cut the crap, what's this student about?" and so on. You'll lose that "in" so to speak. 

Based on that, I'd suggest finding people who know *the current you* best for letters of recommendation. I know some schools have a ~at least one academic reference~ qualifier; if you're applying to any of those I'd suggest emailing the grad admin/faculty for advice. I'd also suggest gently asking the faculty why they won't write letters for you: is it because you're too far out of the system and they don't think they can write anything genuinely meaningful, or is it because they seriously doubt your potential as PhD material? It's a harsh question, but it's also important if you're serious about taking this next step so you can figure out how to best position yourself if this is a move you want to make. Just some thoughts. 

Edited March 15, 2015 by mvlchicago

[visits_e]

I had one from work (had been out of education for 4 years)...if anything it was important for me to have someone say I was mature, professional, committed and hardworking (maybe qualities I didn't have as a student).

I have one from work too but the program I'm applying to says that at least one reference has to come from a professor. Did UNC Chapel Hill not require one from a professor?

[Gambaosaka1]

Sorry, I had 2 academic ones and chose to have one from work.

 

Not having at least one academic source will be tough to get away from and would look bad even if they accepted it in all honesty (in my view).

 

Have you tried every avenue to get references? I am assuming you have but what about emailing the head of the undergraduate or graduate program coordinator asking advice. Do they just not remember you? I've always had great experiences from my former professors so apologies for being confused with the idea that academics wouldn't write (even a generic) recommendation letter.

 

Feel bad for you as that is a tough position to be in! Hope you can figure it out.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Gambaosaka1

[ashiepoo72]

You definitely want at least one academic reference, but most programs straight up say they won't weigh non-academic letters as highly. I used a professional reference when I applied to my MA program, but for PhDs I'd caution you to have at least two of the three letters be from academics. I had three professors from my MA write recs for PhD applications.

I'm more concerned about why professors don't want to write you recs. Is this a matter of being out of school for awhile and losing touch? Because you should try to reestablish relationships, maybe show them some of the work you did in their classes or work you've done since, spend a good deal of time talking to them about your plans and what you've been up to. If this is because you didn't do well in your undergrad classes, you should consider taking an open university or grad course at your local university, even auditing one, and try to build a good rapport with the professor so they can write you a rec.

I don't think a TA is the right choice for a LOR. What you maybe could do is ask your TA to meet with you and the professor he or she TAed for and vouch for your performance in the class.

[Katzenmusik]

You can use a TA's letter if you are desperate and just need another letter of some sort to be eligible.  But it's not going to be taken quite as seriously as a letter from a professor who already has a PhD.

[virmundi]

It may depend somewhat on what your goals are, but a tried and true strategy for someone who has been out of school for a while is to take a few graduate level courses in your field of interest (this can be done in some programs as a non-degree seeking student) and then try to get LORs from your professors for those courses. This is not, generally speaking, a cheap option but it may be the best way to get solid academic references after you've been out of school for a while.

[Sigaba]

Some of the comments in this thread about LoRs from TAs are over generalizing. At some schools, like the University of California at Berkeley, TAs/GSAs do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to teaching undergraduates.

Admissions committees are aware of this dynamic and do not out of hand say no to applicants who have TAs writing for them.

The key to LoRs is having academics who know you and your work, and your potential.

[Professor Plum]

In the vast majority of cases, a letter from a TA carries very little weight with the admissions committee. There are some schools in which TAs do most of the grading and run sections in intro courses, but many of those schools have systems in place to deal with the issue of recommendations. (For example, in my PhD program, a professor who taught large, 150-person undergrad courses with multiple TAs had the teaching assistant draft the letter of recommendation with specific details about the student, which the professor then rewrote. That way the student got the benefit of input from someone who worked with them closely and could speak directly to their strengths, as well as the professor's name and letter-writing experience.) That is why it is vitally important if you attend a university with large sections to visit office hours and connect with someone beyond your TA during the semester you're in the class. Upper-level courses are usually much smaller; those classes, in which you presumably showed off your skills as a thinker better than in introductory courses, are an excellent place to ask for recommendations from professors.

 

Recommendations from TAs carry very little weight with the committee not only because of the writer's modest reputation but because teaching assistants--who have never served on selection committees--have little way of knowing what a strong academic recommendation actually letter looks like. It wasn't until I got to the other side of the desk, and read dozens of applications, that I began to learn the format (and particularly the specialized language) well enough to help students who asked me for letters.

 

Having one letter from a TA in your file certainly won't torpedo your application. Having three letters from TAs, or from work supervisors, would raise a huge red flag for me. My first question would be, What's wrong with this applicant that no professors were willing to write letters of support? Even pretty marginal applicants can usually find three professors to say that the applicant is a decent prospect.

[TMP]

As a TA myself right now for 44 students, I cannot imagine being able to write for them even if I take the time to get to know them.  I do have a couple of brilliant students.  I see it as my job as a TA to direct such students to the professor (and letting the professor know of such students) and engage with him on the subject matter.  Also, when you grade a lot of papers/exams, students' work blur... unless it was exceptionally good (those brilliant students above) or bad.

[Sigaba]

In the vast majority of cases, a letter from a TA carries very little weight with the admissions committee.

Based on these insights, I may have been one of the exceptions that proves the rule and/or I got lucky.

I went one for two with TAs writing two of the three LoRs for each program and I was told that I didn't get into Happyland University because of "politics" in that department.

[Professor Plum]

Based on these insights, I may have been one of the exceptions that proves the rule and/or I got lucky.

I went one for two with TAs writing two of the three LoRs for each program and I was told that I didn't get into Happyland University because of "politics" in that department.

 

I'm guessing that you had a standout writing sample and a very focused statement of purpose, and that you got in on the strength of those items without needing particularly strong recommendations. The writing sample and personal statement are really the heart of an application, anyway. It takes an unusually strong letter of recommendation from a known quantity to move the needle significantly in an admissions decision, which is why a TA recommendation doesn't carry much weight either way.

 

It's not like anyone sits in committee and says, Well, he doesn't write particularly well, and his statement of purpose is all over the place... but hey wait! Ryan Murphy, the third-year grad student at the University of Maryland, says the applicant has "great potential" based on his work in the World History survey. Maybe we'd better give this aspiring historian another look.

Edited March 18, 2015 by Professor Plum