Letters of Rec for Fall 2016

[nooneatall]

Thinking about applying for a PhD for fall 2016. My undergrad was in Linguistics and I have been loosely in and out of the field for the past seven years.

 

It seems pretty standard that PhD applications require 3 LOR, and I just don't know how to wrangle up three strong letters. Am I the only one in this position? I mean, I'm not in the PhD program yet, how many people have 3 scholars or professors they could really get these from?

 

Any suggestions or advice?

[JayKay]

Not all three have to be from academia! It is, however, strongly recommended that two ARE. In your case, I would get in contact with any undergrad/masters professors you had relationships with and meet up with them for coffee or an official in-office meeting to talk about you and your academic and career path. I recently received my undergraduate degree and cannot emphasize enough how helpful my professors were in helping me figure out my options. By seeking their help and advice (along with their understanding of my desired academic and career path), they all agreed without hesitation to write my letters.
Although it has been a few years since you graduated (I assume), I can't imagine a professor refusing to meet with you. If you did not develop any relationships with professors during undergrad, I would suggest working under a professor or two doing research. The better the professor knows you, the better!

 

Hope this helps!

 

Julia

[nooneatall]

I am eight years out of college and thousands of miles from my professors at this point. It just seems like undergrads aren't able to develop relationships with two of three professors enough to garner these LORs. I wasn't thinking about grad school as an undergrad, but eight years later I am and I feel a little SOL.

[fuzzylogician]

Here is a broader question: why do you want to get a PhD in linguistics? You're 8 years out of school and I assume (and correct me if I am wrong) that you didn't have any research experience as an undergrad and the job you've had since graduating isn't related to linguistics either. If so, what brought about this decision to apply to grad school now? What do you expect to study in school, and what do you expect to do with your degree once you graduate? How do you know this is the right decision to be making right now? (If I am wrong about one or both of my assumptions, then the obvious go-to people for LORs are whoever you did research with and supervisors at your current job who can talk about your ability to do research and your suitability for a PhD program.)

 

Don't feel like you need to answer me here or justify yourself at all. I am spelling out these questions because they are questions that any admissions committee will have. You'll need to demonstrate that you are making an informed decision, that you understand what is involved in getting the degree and it's really what you want/need in order to further your career. No one wants to admit a student who is likely to drop out, either because they shouldn't be getting a PhD at all or because they don't have reasonably well defined research interests that fit with the school. 

 

One way to demonstrate that you have thought this through and are choosing schools that truly fit your interests is to have strong LORs from professors who support your decision to apply, think you have a high likelihood of success, and think the schools you chose are indeed good choices. If these are not relationships you developed as an undergrad and it's not something that your current job can help with, then that makes the situation more complicated. There are not many things you can do, but here are some thoughts. For one, you can make sure that the other aspects of your application are as strong as possible, and in particular that you have a strong SOP that does a good job answering these questions that the adcom is sure to have. Another is having a strong writing sample, again to demonstrate that you understand what goes into research and you're well equipped to participate and succeed in a PhD program. At the same time, I think it's unavoidable to seek out some sort of relationship with linguistics professors who can write you suitable LORs. Of course it's hard to have a strong relationship with someone you haven't been talking to for very long, but I think there are basically two options here; one is to reach out to your undergrad professors, remote as they may be. Ask to talk on Skype or on the phone. Remind them of who you are and what you did as an undergrad and seek their support in applying. Not everyone will respond, but if you are serious, you might be able to find someone who will support you. The other option is to find a local linguistics program where you are now and try and make some connections there. Again the caveat about short-lived relationships comes up; it's a bit late in the game to reach out to people who you might want to use as LORs. Since it's the summer, you can't just start attending talks at a local university or try and sit in on classes as a visitor, for example.

 

The bottom line is, I think, that it may be hard for you to get into a strong program now, since you've been away from the field for a long time and you lack some of the pieces that normally go into a strong application. You can of course still try and you might get lucky, especially if you are able to find a professor or two to write decent letters for you, and you have strong letters from your job. If not, though, I would recommend thinking about doing a Masters before you apply for a PhD. This will give you the background and experience that you are missing now. It'll help you find LOR writers and perhaps help you better define your research interests so you can write a more focused SOP. It's just hard to see how someone who's had no contact with the field for 8 years makes a comeback that leads them all the way to a strong PHD program, without first filling in some of the gaps. 

[rainbowpink]

I've encountered several people who are nervous about not being sufficiently prepared for PhD applications in one way or another but somehow feel the need to jump from an undergraduate degree or a foreign MA that is significantly different into a PhD, and the same thing I suggest to them is to go for (funded) MA programs first. Personally, I feel that it's not worth it to just hope to try to get in "somewhere" (for a PhD), even if you're funded, especially if you will have to spend some of those funded years catching up with other people.

 

In many advanced courses, depending on the course/field, we read a lot of papers from the past decade. Eight years away from the field is quite a long time when you're thinking of doing research at the PhD level.

[nooneatall]

What difference does that make? I graduated with honors and have the capability. I imagine that I will be going into the program with others who only have a bachelors as well, so we are all equally equipped, and from my research, there are very few terminal Masters degrees, and the majority of PhD degrees require you to put in the 5 years and gain the masters en route.

[rainbowpink]

I think the best thing to do is to contact professors in programs you're interested in and see what they think, since they will know better about their field than students.

[xolo]

The OP says she has had loose contact with the field the last 8 years (which might be different from no contact, as most posters are assuming).

 

OP, I think you can do it, actually, there isn't any question about that. However, I think the idea that you need to fill in the gaps is valid. There's more to a strong app than just LORs (and I don't mean GPA and GRE). 

 

I was in your shoes (actually, I was never in my field so for me it was worse). I basically went back to undergrad for 2 years and completed translation studies. That gave me my LORs among other important things.

 

If you are applying this cycle that is going to be difficult, as you are discovering.